Sony showcases 24MP flagship SLR prototype
updated 04:30 pm EST, Fri February 1, 2008
Sony 24MP Prototype Shown
Sony on Friday removed more of the mystery surrounding its 24.8-megapixel pro digital SLR by showcasing a prototype model that reveals some additional information about the camera. The Japanese firm refers to the new top-end model only as the "flagship" Alpha but notes that the actual camera will shoot at a slightly lower 24.6 effective megapixels due to sensor limits. Like other Sony Alpha cameras, it should still use Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lenses; it will have at least the option of a lens with a minimum f2.8 aperture and a manual focus override toggle built into the lens.
The finished version of the flagship remains on track for release before the end of 2008 and is expected to sell at a price well above the $900 of the Alpha A350 or the $1,300 of the A700 series; battery grips and other accessories common to high-end cameras should be available on launch.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2005
Approaching analog
Now we had reached analogue negative with respect to the image resolution. Studies have determined that a high-quality fine-grain 35mm negative can capture an equivalent of about 20 million dots of colour information (i.e. pixels).
Next step is to reach the dynamic range. Negative can handle 1000:1 contrast ratio. Digital sensors can resolve 256 levels of gray for each colour. I wonder how many more years until we move from 24-bit colour to something more along the lines of 96 bits?
Then again, once we print these images on paper, we squeeze them right back to 100:1 anyway (that goes for photo negative printed on photo paper, too). The analogue, film-quality contrast would still be nice for editing, though.