Samsung turns EVIL
Traditionally, the "affordable by mere mortals" realm of digital photography has been divvied up into two groups. First, the DSLRs, which have interchangeable lenses, look a great deal like the film cameras they're based on, and have clacking, snapping shutters and mirror boxes. Then, everything else -- the pocket cameras, the point-and-shoots, the "bridge cameras." These tended to have small sensors, but none had interchangeable lenses -- the magnifying glass telephoto "adapters" don't count.
Time to bridge the gap, with the world's most unfortunate acronym: EVIL. Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens. It turns out that one of the reasons DSLRs and their lenses are so honking big is the big flapping mirror that allows through-the-lens optical viewfinder use. But as anyone who's used a digital point-and-shoot knows, there are other ways to build a digital camera. With the newly announced NX line, now slated to sell in late '09, Samsung will produce a camera system that bypasses the mirror and optical viewfinder, using an electronic viewfinder in its place. Purists around the world gasp in shock at this, but high-level camcorders have used it for some time.
If you've been paying attention, this sounds a lot like Micro-Four thirds, the EVIL camera system used by Olympus and Panasonic. And it is. Not only that, but Panasonic already has one of these cameras on the market, the Lumix DMC-G1. The main difference here is that Samsung will use the same sensor size as its regular dSLR line, which consists of rebadged Pentax cameras. This is roughly the same sensor size as the consumer level cameras from Nikon, Canon, and Pentax, and somewhat larger than the Micro 4/3s sensor. Here they are framed against a 35mm sensor, or whatever they're calling it these days:
All things being equal, the larger sensor will mean slightly better high-ISO performance and dynamic range and a somewhat different depth-of-field, but also a slightly larger camera system. In any case, they are both worlds better than your average point and shoot sensor, which is this big:
Also of interest, the shots of the new Samsung show that it has a movie mode, a no-brainer for any EVIL camera but something that the Panasonic G1 doesn't have.
mike on August 25, 2009 at 09:10 AM
take out the battery!
take the battery out now!!