Report from Japan: Hints of new DSLR's from Minolts, Pentax and Olympus

Gossip at:

http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?article_id=766&section_id=5&page_number=6

Built-in Image Stabilization in future Minolta, Nikon, Canon and Pentax
DSLR camera bodies.

Nikon to produce only DX size DSLR's, but I imagine Fuji will produce a
full-frame model.

Deryck

 

My hunch is that the Minolta DSLR will have built-in IS by having the sensor move to compensate for vibrations. To do
this however, the body would need to know the exact focal length of the lens (including zoom position). Does anybody
know if Minolta AF lenses already provide this information, electronically, to the body?

 

Another report suggests a 1.3 crop, 7 Mpix (DiFlex 7) is one rumored
name). Yes, it is likely that the A1 IS will carry over. The A1 image
stab is NOT the same as, eg: Canon IS. The image stab is translational
in the A1 not rotational as in Canon IS or Nikon VR (which are entirely
lens based.) If the A1 IS ends up in the new Minolta it will not really
need to know the FL (IMO ... I've been wrong once or twice).

[[Maxxum AF lenses provide zoom info for the flash zoom heads. I don't
know how good the resolution of this info is ... the flash heads
themselves (eg: 5400/5600) have 4 or 5 zoom positions.

(D) lenses certainly provide distance (focus).]]

Can somebody translate the following: the online "auto" translators
mung many words.

wfieger - 28.07.2003, 13:15 Uhr
Inoffiziell: Minolta Diflex 7
Offenbar hockt Minolta mit einer neuen - ihrer ersten - digitalen
Spiegelreflex-Systemkamera in den Startlöchern. Und als Lohn für die
späte Geburt wird es diese Kamera in sich haben: Man munkelt von 7
Megapixel Auflösung und einem etwas größerem Format als üblich: Der
Verlängerungsfaktor beträgt nur 1,3. Das erweiterte Minolta AFD-Bajonett
ist zum bisherigen AF-Bajonett kompatibel. Das Gehäuse ist sensationell
kompakt und wiegt nur 550g (ohne Akku und CF-Karte). Neben CF-I und -II
Karten werden auch SD-Karten verwendbar sein. Ein besonderer Clou ist
der große 2,5" Monitor, der auch bei Sonnenlicht noch deutliche Bilder
produzieren soll. Einzigartig: Im Videomodus wird mit 640x480
gearbeitet, wobei unabhängig vom verwendeten Objektiv ein digitaler
10-fach Zoom mit Bildstabilisator zur Verfügung steht. Weiters gibt es
Zeitraffer und Zeitlupenfunktionen. Das Gerücht stammt aus Japan,
Minolta Europa weiß nach Rückfrage nichts davon und konnte auch keinen
Markteinführungstermin nennen.

 

Minolta lenses provide focal lenght info to the body. They transmit some
other info too - i forgot wich one.

m.

sensor move to compensate for vibrations. To do

lens (including zoom position). Does anybody

 

I disagree. The system would have to move the sensor a larger distance to compensate for the same vibration depending

 

I think the better rumour mill items were the mentions of LED flash systems in
camera phones. Also, there is a mention of zoom lenses in camera phones. Should
sell millions of these next year. I'm still waiting for the video and still
capability in the phones, which should be 2005.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
Alliance Graphique Studio
<http://www.allgstudio.com>

 

A: the Canon IS and the Nikon VR work by tilting certain lens elements
inside the lens. The sensors for this are in the lens. this is
rotational movement and it is the better system (v. Minolta). Of course
you have to buy the IS / VR lenses for this and they are not cheap.

B: The Minolta AS (Anti-shake in the A1), moves the digital sensor in
the x,y plane inside the camera body. Hence, it will help, but cannot be
as good as the Canon or Nikon system as most camera shake is in fact
rotational (pitch, yaw, roll), not translational (up, sideways,
fore-aft). The inclusion of this feature in the rumored Minolta DSLR
body is an assumption, but quite likely I would think.

Your intuition would be correct if the Minolta system looked at
rotation, but AFAICT it looks only at translation. See the A1 demo on
the dpreview site.

Alan.

 

I disagree. The system would have to move the sensor a larger

Ah, I see. In that case, I'm skeptical of how well the AS system performs in the A1.

 

Does anybody

Yes - every Maxxum/Dynax lens withl etter "D" (distance) can do it.

 

Yes, i recall some Minolta literature that stated that the lenses
provided "i" series cameras (2nd generation AF cameras) with up to 12
steps of focal length information. This included the first generation
lenses as well as the later ones. The lenses also provide
magnification, which is essentially distance combined with focal
length, although I don't know what the resolution of magnification is
on the earlier lenses. Of course the "d" lenses give very accurate
distance info.

I have also read disussions on some of the dimage 7_ and A1 forums
that the AS in the A1 does actually include rotational motion as well
as translational, although when I viewed the demo on dpreview, I
couldn't tell if there was rotational motion. At the film (sensor)
plane, the rotation would have to be pretty small due to the very
limited depth of focus at the image plane.

Tom