Hacker News Reader

Comment by foolrush | Hacker News Reader

Cannot think of a larger, albeit seductive, load of codswallop.

Techno Utopianism ideologies appear predicated on the belief that technological advances can always implicitly trump physical design constraints.

The well trodden technological aesthetic differences of larger sensors, and / or spherical or anamorphic lens elements immediately spring to mind. The article appears lacking a significant bit of insight into the mathematics behind optics and creative image capture.

If anything, the lesser capable world of smartphones etc. have provided the agency to give people a means to pique their interest in photography and expand their tools.

Suggesting a demise would seem to be anchored against evidence to the contrary[1].

[1] http://www.robgalbraith.com/content_pageecb5.html?cid=7-1166...

View on HN

NEX has the same size sensor as mainstream DSLRs yet the camera is much smaller and lighter. It will be interesting to see what the NEX-FF format looks like.

Rumor is that the NEX FF will not be much larger than a current NEX-7. The Sony RX1 is also a good example of how small you can make a fullframe mirroless camera.

In addition, the VG-900 shows that the e-mount will accommodate a 35mm sensor. Mind you, the e-mount lenses are almost universally crap, but I've had good luck using my NEX-7 as a digital back for my M glass.

What is strange in the rumors is that the full-frame NEX is supposed to include antishake as well. Anti-shake and fullframe was supposed to be the combination that couldn't work on the NEX bayonete size.

E-glass has been pretty crappy so far. They're now launching a few good ones. I'm excited about the alpha mirrorless opportunities though. Maybe we'll finally be able to have a SLR-like body that's agnostic to mount.

In terms of physical constraints, Ming Thein says that a mirrorless camera is easier to take with you all the time. The Olympus EP1 with a pancake can be in shirt pocket, which means you can take a picture anytime, whereas a DSLR requires a camera bag, a solid back that requires strong will. So physical constraints definitively encourages photographers to take mirrorless cameras, which give the quality of regular SLRs in compact camera format.

In terms of the aesthetic differences of larger sensors, he doesn't negate that SLRs will disappear. If you want the maximum quality, and can put the time to prepare, than getting an SLR like Nikon D800E with a great lens makes a lot of sense, with a full-frame aesthetic. Expect though that most of the work produced could be from a smaller Olympus or Fujifilm camera.

Cheers,

Reply on news.ycombinator.com