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Author Topic: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?  (Read 5054 times)

Christoph C. Feldhaim

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I posted this here, because I wasn't really sure in which other forums this would fit.
So bare with me if I'm wrong in this place.

Just imagine we'd be sitting in a coffe bar dreaming about the features of our dream camera we want to have built.
With all these discussions taking place these days I thought a brainstorming / dreaming thread
would shed some light on the contents of the gearhead brainlobes in all of us.

To keep this thread clear from too much mess and misunderstandings keep the format of your answer such,
that the use case for your dream camera is made clear:
Be it street photography, travel, high-end landscape, portrait, studio or whatever.
You can post multiple cameras/lenses whatever.
And you may also post which gear currently available comes closest to your dream in your opinion.
Please don't start flame wars since this is sensible matter, as we all know from various discussions around the place.

So I'll start:

My favourite landscape camera:
- As light as possible
- Full movements
- High resolution for large prints
- Awesome dynamic range / color rendition
- Awesome groundglass or life view
Best current compromise in my opinion: Linhof Techno+Digital Back, maybe Rm3Di
 
My favourite travel/street photography camera:
- As light as possible
- Full Frame 24 MP range
- Rangefinder with EVF (Fuji style)
- Awesome Lowlight / color rendition
- Fast Autofocus
- Awesome Zoom Lenses and some fast Primes
- Control wheels (Retro Design) for Speed, ISO, Exp comp, Mode, F-Stop Rings on Lens, Stop down preview in EVF
- Excellent Auto-ISO + ETTR
Best current compromise in my opinion: Fuji X Pro 1 (upgraded Firmware) or X E2

My favourite "always with me" compact:
- As small as possible (pocketable)
- APS-C size sensor
- Fast on/off and fast Autofocus
- EVF
- Awesome Lowlight / color rendition
- Awesome Zoom Lenses (35-85 FF equiv)
- Control wheels (Retro Design) for Speed, ISO, Exp comp, Mode, F-Stop Ring on lens
- Good Auto-ISO with speed and ISO boundaries + ETTR
Best current compromise in my opinion: Canon Powershot S 120

Disclaimer: I'll upgrade my wishlist when new ideas come to my mind or I see I forgot something



Your fill out form for for copy and paste:
----------------------------------------------------
My favourite ..... camera:
-
-
-
-
Best current compromise in my opinion:
----------------------------------------------------


Let the madness begin ....
Cheers
~Chris

ErikKaffehr

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2013, 02:56:33 pm »

Hi,

I think I would like a modular camera. Similar to the Hartblei HCam or the Alpa FPS. I would like to be able to use either an electronic viewfinder or a touch monitor. Sensor would be 645, CMOS with 3.5 microns (or so) with OLP filter. That is 188 MP, but I would suggest that it is what you need for an aliasing free image. Lenses? Rodenstock HR lenses come to mind.

Walkaround camera? Pretty much like the Sony A7r, but with OLP-filter and perhaps 50 MP and 4K video. Larger battery. Lenses? A very good 24-105/4 zoom sharp into the corners.

Best camera now? I don't care.

Best regards
Erik

« Last Edit: November 05, 2013, 03:00:24 pm by ErikKaffehr »
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Christoph C. Feldhaim

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2013, 04:18:47 pm »

Addendum:

I just dreamt of a medium format modern rangefinder - a big brother of the Fuji X pro 1 with a 36*48 mm 60 MP sensor ...

allenmacaulay

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2013, 08:20:25 pm »

Do everything camera
- Updated Fuji X-Pro 1 with a 4:3 aspect ratio on the sensor. 
- Make it fast, and up the sensor resolution to the 20-25 MP range.
Best current match is the X-Pro 1

Outdoor sports camera
Olympus TG-2, but smaller.  I need something small & tough that can stand up to being beaten around and dunked while I'm doing dumb stuff.
I'm willing to live with a slightly smaller screen if that's what's needed to shrink it down.

Fancy special occasion camera
- Giant X-Pro 1.  Scale it all the way up to 6x8 medium format.  Should be somewhere in the 150-200 MP range
- Go nuts with the lenses, I don't care if they're the size of a pint glass, weigh as much as brick, and cost more than my car.
I have no idea what the closest current camera to this would be.

Retro SLR
- Stuff a full frame sensor into an Olympus OM-2SP
- Add modern matrix metering and a screen
- No video, no auto-focus, no gimmicks.  Keep it minimal, keep it small.
Closest current camera is the Nikon Df, but it's way too big & heavy
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Ed B

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2013, 10:55:31 pm »

The movements of a view camera, the focus speed, tracking and weather sealing of a 1Dx, the resolution of an 8x10 neg and the size of a Fuji X-Pro.


I can dream, can't I? :D
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Christoph C. Feldhaim

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2013, 02:06:29 pm »

The movements of a view camera, the focus speed, tracking and weather sealing of a 1Dx, the resolution of an 8x10 neg and the size of a Fuji X-Pro.


I can dream, can't I? :D

With a price tag near current compacts maybe ? ;)

Ed B

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2013, 08:55:45 pm »

With a price tag near current compacts maybe ? ;)

Wouldn't have it any other way. :D
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Hening Bettermann

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #7 on: November 16, 2013, 06:41:01 pm »

My favourite landscape  camera:
- light
- Full Frame mirrorless
- Arca Swiss type dove tails on 2 sides; hand grip could be attached to these if needed.
- Coil-cord connection to external batterie pack in my pocket
- cooperation of manufacturer with firmware 'hackers'
- their first task: a virtual shift lens: When tilting the camera up/down, there should be an option to see the the image shifted. This should of course not be written to the raw image; instead, the tilt angle in degrees should be recorded in the EXIF data.
- RGB AND CMY wheels for white balance; resulting RGB values recorded in EXIF data
- An external monitor about the size of a Galaxy S4, wide gamut,  high resolution, an color-calibratable
- amongst (or better: instead of) all the fancy (read: silly) 'picture styles' there should be one 'linear' and one 'neutral' (with a moderate S-curve)
-and of course raw-based histograms
-lenses of high IQ but low weight = slow; f/5.6 would do it for me...
 
Best current compromise in my opinion: Sony A7R

slackercruster

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #8 on: November 16, 2013, 07:58:52 pm »

Leica or Leica knockoff 28mp to 36mp FF for $3500.
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #9 on: November 16, 2013, 08:27:35 pm »

Factually speaking, the D800 already checks all the need marks for landscape, PJ and portrait work thanks to its sensor resolution/DR/size (smaller is better for landscape work), remarkable AF and the amazingly wide set of lenses you can mount on it.

Now, if we speak of want instead of need, then:

Landscape/architecture/interior:
- a 54 mp next gen D800 sensor based back with a matching carbon fibers/titanium based camera inspired from LF. The Ebony non folding is the best base for this in terms of topology, but adapted to be lighter weight and have the required accuracy in terms of focusing. I would in fact like the focus to be step motors driven so as to enable robotic DoF stacking (obviously driven by a tablet application). The camera would also have a built in robotic nodal slider automatically positioning the camera on top of its nodal point based on the lens mounted and the focusing distance to increase the speed of operation when doing panos in changing light. In terms of control, a tablet application would enable to set the close/far points of focus required in the image and propose the best combination of ISO/shutter speed/Aperture/tilt/DoF stacking/ based on input parameters like time available to shoot.

The camera would draw power from the back. The problem is that I am not sure that the lenses need to tap into the resolution of such a back...

Next best guess: a D4x with the same sensor,

All other types of photography:
- Since AF speed/accuracy is the most important thing for all other types of photography, I would go for a Nikon V2 like next gen autofocus on a FF sensor, whatever the body.

Cheers,
Bernard
« Last Edit: November 16, 2013, 08:30:02 pm by BernardLanguillier »
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #10 on: November 17, 2013, 02:06:12 am »

Bernard,

Doesn't focus stacking work with the D800 and the CamRanger?

Best regards
Erik


Factually speaking, the D800 already checks all the need marks for landscape, PJ and portrait work thanks to its sensor resolution/DR/size (smaller is better for landscape work), remarkable AF and the amazingly wide set of lenses you can mount on it.

Now, if we speak of want instead of need, then:

Landscape/architecture/interior:
- a 54 mp next gen D800 sensor based back with a matching carbon fibers/titanium based camera inspired from LF. The Ebony non folding is the best base for this in terms of topology, but adapted to be lighter weight and have the required accuracy in terms of focusing. I would in fact like the focus to be step motors driven so as to enable robotic DoF stacking (obviously driven by a tablet application). The camera would also have a built in robotic nodal slider automatically positioning the camera on top of its nodal point based on the lens mounted and the focusing distance to increase the speed of operation when doing panos in changing light. In terms of control, a tablet application would enable to set the close/far points of focus required in the image and propose the best combination of ISO/shutter speed/Aperture/tilt/DoF stacking/ based on input parameters like time available to shoot.

The camera would draw power from the back. The problem is that I am not sure that the lenses need to tap into the resolution of such a back...

Next best guess: a D4x with the same sensor,

All other types of photography:
- Since AF speed/accuracy is the most important thing for all other types of photography, I would go for a Nikon V2 like next gen autofocus on a FF sensor, whatever the body.

Cheers,
Bernard

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Erik Kaffehr
 

Telecaster

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #11 on: November 17, 2013, 01:46:55 pm »

My dream camera would have a variable liquid lens. Choose a focal length and let the camera shape a lens optimized for high spatial resolution, high acutance, softer portrait rendition, smooth bokeh, etc. Maybe even include a range of classic optical formulæ for the liquid optics to reproduce.

Keep the imaging medium large enough to allow for high quality display on 8k screens, or the future tech equivalent thereof, but small enough for carry-around use too.

-Dave-
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Christoph C. Feldhaim

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #12 on: November 17, 2013, 01:51:41 pm »

My dream camera would have a variable liquid lens. Choose a focal length and let the camera shape a lens optimized for high spatial resolution, high acutance, softer portrait rendition, smooth bokeh, etc. Maybe even include a range of classic optical formulæ for the liquid optics to reproduce.

Keep the imaging medium large enough to allow for high quality display on 8k screens, or the future tech equivalent thereof, but small enough for carry-around use too.

-Dave-

I wonder if there are optical materials with piezo properties which could be shaped ... maybe very small lenses ... for mobile phones?

slackercruster

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #13 on: November 17, 2013, 02:06:04 pm »

Leica knockoff by Fuji 28 - 36mp FF true rangefinder using leica glass $3000 or less.
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Riaan van Wyk

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #14 on: November 17, 2013, 02:12:55 pm »

A second hand 5D Mark2 and 16-35L lens.

Rob C

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #15 on: November 17, 2013, 02:25:02 pm »

Easy: Hasselblad 500 C/M with complete set of focus/back-accuracy-tested lenses, which means, of course, a fixed, full-frame digital back is understood.

Price - circa whatever I can reasonably afford at the time.

What else could I need? Oh yeah, a new computer.

Rob C
« Last Edit: November 18, 2013, 04:15:03 am by Rob C »
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Telecaster

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #16 on: November 17, 2013, 04:12:47 pm »

I wonder if there are optical materials with piezo properties which could be shaped ... maybe very small lenses ... for mobile phones?

I have little doubt this, or something much like it, is being worked on. It also wouldn't surprise me if a number of optical technologies developed for smartphone cameras make their way into larger format systems too.

It's never a good idea to ignore or dismiss hot market segments. Even if they don't steamroller your prefered tech they will almost certainly impact it.

-Dave-
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slackercruster

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #17 on: November 17, 2013, 09:03:10 pm »

Forgot to mention. If no Leica knockoff  for $3000, then  a FF Fuji XE-1 28-36 mp for $1500
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #18 on: November 17, 2013, 11:41:07 pm »

Bernard,

Doesn't focus stacking work with the D800 and the CamRanger?

The Nikon SDK enables control of focus distance in incremental mode which is why there are many softwares enabling DoF stacking. CamRanger is indeed the one I am personnally using, but they were far from being the first ones to enable this.

Now, I never wrote that this was not possible on the D800 (although incremental mode only is a real limitation), which is why I categorized it as a want rather than a need.

The main point I was making though was that there are no cameras available today that enable both full movements and automated DoF stacking. There is also no way to get access to the best in class sensors used by Nikon in their high end bodies in the form of a back.

Cheers,
Bernard
« Last Edit: November 17, 2013, 11:43:00 pm by BernardLanguillier »
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Wishful thinking: What would your dream camera and lenses be alike?
« Reply #19 on: November 18, 2013, 01:18:01 am »

Hi,

One thought that crossed my mind is that it would be quite possible to make tilts automatic. Suspend the sensor on a movable platform with microadjustments and and let the photographers choose a few focusing points, using touch screens. Camera/DB software can calculate necessary tilt using contrast sensing AF. The same mechanism could be used for auto aligning sensor and lens.

The downside is that this would add some complexity and would be used by very few.

Best regards
Erik


The Nikon SDK enables control of focus distance in incremental mode which is why there are many softwares enabling DoF stacking. CamRanger is indeed the one I am personnally using, but they were far from being the first ones to enable this.

Now, I never wrote that this was not possible on the D800 (although incremental mode only is a real limitation), which is why I categorized it as a want rather than a need.

The main point I was making though was that there are no cameras available today that enable both full movements and automated DoF stacking. There is also no way to get access to the best in class sensors used by Nikon in their high end bodies in the form of a back.

Cheers,
Bernard

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