Ready for the latest high-end digital camera?

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 06/28/2004 9:58 AM  |  Life

Zatni Arbi, Contributor, zatni@cbn.net.id

Ready to cough up US$5,000 for a new camera? Frankly, I am not, and perhaps I never will be. Certainly Canon did not include me when they were thinking of the target market for their new professional digital camera, the Canon EOS 1D Mark II.

But, first, let us recall what the EOS 1D was. This first digital SLR camera from Canon was introduced in September 2001, and it was obviously intended for photography professionals. At that time, four megapixel was considered more than enough, and this camera was capable of capturing that many pixels with a speed of eight frames per second continuously. It used a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor to record the images in front of its changeable lens. The EOS 1D has a lens mount that can accept around 60 different Canon EF lenses.

The camera appeared when professional photographers were still not convinced of the merits of going digital. Its competitors at that time came from Nikon (D1X) and Kodak (DCS-760). The EOS 1D certainly played an important role in pushing digital SLR cameras into the professional world. These expensive cameras have now become part of the essential gear for this group of ultra-picky photographers as they do their job.

It took Canon almost three years to update the masterpiece. That was quite a long time for this company, which usually introduces product updates within a year of one another. But the results, at least spec-wise, are pretty impressive.

More pixels

What has the two years wait brought? First, the Mark II has 8.2 million effective pixels, twice what its predecessor was able to capture. Its maximum image size is 3504 x 2336, as opposed to the EOS 1D's 2465 x 1648. To put this in perspective, three megapixels would be sufficient to print a great photo on an A4 piece of paper.

But, do not get misled by the figures. More pixels do not necessarily lead to better images. As people have experienced, more pixels may cause more noise and less sharpness. You really have to test the cameras to find out if this is the case. Besides, professional photographers may want to print their images on a large-format printer rather than on a desktop photo printer.

Another striking difference between the Mark II and the first generation of the EOS 1D is actually the use of CMOS instead of the CCD to capture the image. CMOS requires less power and, according to Canon, it makes less noise than the CCD. Canon has decided to use CMOS for all its future digital SLR cameras.

Other changes are not so obvious. The Mark II uses the newer DIGIC II image processor. The buffer size has been raised from 21 frames to 40 frames in JPEG format, or from 16 frames to 20 frames in RAW format. It now accepts Secure Digital cards in addition to the CompactFlash traditionally used by Canon digital cameras. Strangely, though, the Mark II uses USB 1.1. instead of the faster USB 2.0 for downloading image files to the computer.

Test driving this professional camera certainly requires vast knowledge in photography. Who knows, maybe Datascrip, Canon's sole distributor for Indonesia, will be kind enough to let us at least explore the world of professional photography. By the way, the US$5k price does not include the lens and VAT.

Color Communication

Recently, Datascrip also introduced the Canon ImageRUNNER C3100. I do not think I will be test driving this product as it is a multifunction device about the size of a full-size commercial photocopier. The toner, which is in five colors, is oil-free.

This enables us to scribble on the printout with a pen without smudging it. Top resolution level is 2400 x 600 dpi.

Other functions of this device include scanning, network printing and faxing. Intended for workgroups and small departments, you will receive an e-mail notifying you if your printing job is completed. This is a real time-saver.

To accommodate large printing jobs, the device is also equipped with a 40 GB hard disk, so that we can dump our printing job over the network and then go back to our work. Processing is done by two 250 MHz CPUs and 512 MB of RAM. It is like a computer in itself.

What about the speed? Prints in black and white can be churned out at a rate of up to 31 pages per minute (ppm), which is quite decent. If you print in color, Canon promises this machine can churn out 7 pages per minute. Scanning an A4 page at 300 dpi takes 1.4 seconds. Copying take a bit longer at almost two seconds per page.

With the ability to handle different sizes of paper, the ImageRUNNER C3100 is clearly a jack-of-all-trades. Not surprisingly, it will cost your company US$13,500 -- or US$15,000 if you throw in the duplex automatic document feeder as well. Now you know why I am not interested in test-driving this particular newcomer.

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