E.J. Sadler
Active member
The mirror and shutter are legacy mechanical components that cause a number of issues with DSLRs.
As much as I love a good optical viewfinder, there are plenty of times when it falls short - medium distance low DOF wide angle, tilt shift, low light.
I have no doubt that at the rate display technology is improving, a fully electronic viewfinder will be as good, or significantly better than an optical viewfinder. Zoom in to check focus, focus assist, light level boost for low light, and the coolest - a detachable remote viewfinder.
I shoot all the time with the camera away from my eye, it would be nice to retire my Jedi framing technique and actually be able to see what I'm getting.
Without a mirror, you could have access to the great wide angle rangefinder lenses that don't deal with the optical compromises of a large flange distance. But of course, with such a low flange distance, an IMS would still allow you to use any just about any glass out there.
Although no mirror box would allow for a smaller physical size, I have a feeling that space will be used for heat sink/cooling systems.
Loose the shutter. The RED has shown that there is no need for a mechanical shutter. We shoot enough that all of our bodies are on their third or fourth shutters. Not that Canon shutters are cheap, it's just that 3-4K images a week wears them out. I could live without having to replace the shutters, and without having to deal with the inherent dust issues.
Also, no shutter could mean significantly higher flash sync speeds. Using flash to knock daylight down a few stops always has some issues. You can't shoot higher than 1/250th, so you either need to shoot at F11, or stack the NDs. Either way, you wind up needing a boat load of power. Battery powered studio strobes can do it, but that's a lot of weight to carry around all the time. Canon's high speed sync will sync up to the maximum shutter speed, but since it's multiple firing the flash to follow the shutter slit as it passes over the sensor, you loose most of your power. High speed flash sync coupled with low flash duration flashes would allow you to create imagery that just isn't that easy or even possible to do today.
The other great thing about losing the shutter would be a zero noise stealth cam. Combine this with a detachable viewfinder, and you could shoot without anyone even knowing they're in the image. We already use a RED just to shoot stills in noise intolerant environments, it would be great to have something a little smaller and stealthy.
When does the reservation list start, and how many can I buy?
As much as I love a good optical viewfinder, there are plenty of times when it falls short - medium distance low DOF wide angle, tilt shift, low light.
I have no doubt that at the rate display technology is improving, a fully electronic viewfinder will be as good, or significantly better than an optical viewfinder. Zoom in to check focus, focus assist, light level boost for low light, and the coolest - a detachable remote viewfinder.
I shoot all the time with the camera away from my eye, it would be nice to retire my Jedi framing technique and actually be able to see what I'm getting.
Without a mirror, you could have access to the great wide angle rangefinder lenses that don't deal with the optical compromises of a large flange distance. But of course, with such a low flange distance, an IMS would still allow you to use any just about any glass out there.
Although no mirror box would allow for a smaller physical size, I have a feeling that space will be used for heat sink/cooling systems.
Loose the shutter. The RED has shown that there is no need for a mechanical shutter. We shoot enough that all of our bodies are on their third or fourth shutters. Not that Canon shutters are cheap, it's just that 3-4K images a week wears them out. I could live without having to replace the shutters, and without having to deal with the inherent dust issues.
Also, no shutter could mean significantly higher flash sync speeds. Using flash to knock daylight down a few stops always has some issues. You can't shoot higher than 1/250th, so you either need to shoot at F11, or stack the NDs. Either way, you wind up needing a boat load of power. Battery powered studio strobes can do it, but that's a lot of weight to carry around all the time. Canon's high speed sync will sync up to the maximum shutter speed, but since it's multiple firing the flash to follow the shutter slit as it passes over the sensor, you loose most of your power. High speed flash sync coupled with low flash duration flashes would allow you to create imagery that just isn't that easy or even possible to do today.
The other great thing about losing the shutter would be a zero noise stealth cam. Combine this with a detachable viewfinder, and you could shoot without anyone even knowing they're in the image. We already use a RED just to shoot stills in noise intolerant environments, it would be great to have something a little smaller and stealthy.
When does the reservation list start, and how many can I buy?
