Interview with 400D (XTi) chief engineer

[greentoe]

Dcwatch has posted the interview with the man in charge of developing the 400D:

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/dslr/2006/09/22/4641.html

In it he is asked (among other things):

New features - what motivated Canon to make the changes they did;
Dust reduction - effectiveness, how long has Canon been working on it, etc.;
Noise - is the 400D noisier than the 350D?
DIGIC III - why use II when you knew III was coming?
SD card - why use CF?
IS - why not in the body?

Pretty much most of the questions that have been asked here...

enjoy,
-gt

 

[bkirstein]

Anyone know how to view this in english?

 

[delenca]

Some pearls, courtesy of babelfish:

"EOS Kiss Digital X which appears as that successor aircraft (below Kiss DX)"

"story was asked the same straw raincoat CANON camera development center chief Ohara sutra"

""Essence of the camera, it evolved the part of content"

"Rubbish measure is eyeball functional one of the new products, but is voice from the user probably to be large?"

"The ginger, concretely - it probably will polish the essential part of the camera, it probably is to tackle some kind of theme with the notion that where?"

Automatic translation is such fun.

Easily amused,
-Alex

 

[Photobug197965]

Hope someone understand Japanese can translate the parts mentioned in the original post. I'm very curious about answers to those questions.

Some pearls, courtesy of babelfish:

"EOS Kiss Digital X which appears as that successor aircraft (below
Kiss DX)"

"story was asked the same straw raincoat CANON camera development
center chief Ohara sutra"

""Essence of the camera, it evolved the part of content"

"Rubbish measure is eyeball functional one of the new products, but
is voice from the user probably to be large?"

"The ginger, concretely - it probably will polish the essential
part of the camera, it probably is to tackle some kind of theme
with the notion that where?"

Automatic translation is such fun.

Easily amused,
-Alex

 

[Joe Mitchell]

--
Nil Illegitimus Carbororundum

 

[PatrikD]

Some pearls, courtesy of babelfish:
...

Many people in the West have the greatest respect for Eastern wisdom, such as this. Unfortunately, I didn't study philosophy at school, so I would appreciate some guidance here...

PatrikD

 

[Cristian Scutaru]

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fcda%2Fdslr%2F2006%2F09%2F22%2F4641.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Still needs lots of imaginations to understand all

Have fun
Cristian
--
http://www.cristian-scutaru.de

 

[oriomenoni]

Dcwatch has posted the interview with the man in charge of
developing the 400D:
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/dslr/2006/09/22/4641.html

thanks, now I go out before the shops close, get a Uni degree in Japanese, and get back before dinner to read the interview ;-)

 

[Glenn W.]

So if I can read through the translation with regard to in camera IS... it's not profitable for canon...

Perhaps something was lost in translation... but that's exactly why I figured they haven't presued it yet... not as much profit for canon...

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fcda%2Fdslr%2F2006%2F09%2F22%2F4641.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Still needs lots of imaginations to understand all

Have fun
Cristian
--
http://www.cristian-scutaru.de

 

[pekr]

hmm, I am not native Englishman, but from what I understand:

• ISO levels are just identical. It seems that he tries to claim, that hw wise, those levels are identical, and if it seems to be higher for XTi, it is because of SW, namely picture styles

• DIGIC III - he said that there is some added value to it, but the problem was time, which takes you to design your product. Change from implementing new chipset mainly means huge redesign. It is not such a problem for compatct, but DSLR takes longer time to design

• SD vs CF - I really can't swallow such a stupid answer from such an educated man. The reasoning give was - higher capacity CF are cheaper than SD - what a joke. They simply screwed it - 400D should have SD, period! It is cam for ppl coming from p&s mostly, which mostly do have SD. Size of CF is awfull nowadays and small SD USB reader is not larger from typical flash USB memory. Now try that with CF.

Chuck Westfall gave much more reasonable explanation IIRC (some june interview), simply stating, that SDHC was approved only recelty (June 2006), and it was not clear, what standard will be accepted. Maybe 400D was out of drawing board at that time already ...

Petr

 

[PeaceFrog]

I, for one, am thrilled that they continued with CF and not SD.

Greg

--



http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/

 

[R N]

--
==========

 

[Glenn W.]

Me too... I also think that the idea that a CF card is somehow too big... is about as silly as the idea that the camera designers choose CF cause it was cheaper....

Me, I just like CF and see no real value in changing to SD... SD is a bit too small for my tastes... In general I just don't like change and well... I see no real good reason to change over to SD.

I, for one, am thrilled that they continued with CF and not SD.

Greg

--



http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/

 

[nahmed]

I second that, till now I cannot understand how SD are better, may be they are 20 grams lighter than CF cards, but I think I can live with the weight of CF cards.

 

[delenca]

As the straw raincoat man explained, in the Canon successor aircraft we turn on the rubbish measure and the essence of the camera reveals itself, ginger concretely.

The word we must remember here is Zen.

-Alex

Some pearls, courtesy of babelfish:
...

Many people in the West have the greatest respect for Eastern
wisdom, such as this. Unfortunately, I didn't study philosophy at
school, so I would appreciate some guidance here...

PatrikD

 

[betterliving]

I know it is hard and (somewhat) expensive to change, but you need to face the music: the CF is on its last days. Nikon has already made the change. Canon will follow. Small memory will win out.
--
David

 

[timleedude]

I think that the CF cards are perfect size for handling. Especially since most DSLR users will have multiple flash cards and imagine trying to fumble with tiny SD, MiniSD or MicroSD as you are focused on a photo shoot. CF cards are much tougher, more difficult to lose or misplace, and possibly easier/cheaper to make even higher capacities.

-Tim

 

[riversen]

I would 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or whatever that. I like Compact Flash and it is a good medium that is used by higher end cameras as well, thus allowing an aspiring photographer to migrate to that camera in the future (this will personally be a long time off for me, though I would love to get a 30D or 5D down the road... LOL).

Also, I see the newer CF card with memories up to 64 GB (Samsung recently announced this) as a good thing. As the camera get higher resolutions, etc., I think we would be able to utilize them. Also, with the better and more durable Compact Flash designs, they are better suited for some photographic situations where smaller is not always better and secure. I have friends who have had compact and micro SD cards, which they broke or cracked in handling or storing them. In my mind, more room inside the CF compartment could mean better packaging, which could mean that it handles the elements, the weather, and other things better.

Anyway, I like CF and hope it stays. This was my main reason for leaving Sony (okay, the quality of the Canon was the main reason, but it did help) when I kept having to get a new MS over and over and over again.

Just my 2 cents.

--
Robert (Phoenix, AZ)

Canon Digital Rebel XT - If the beauty of this world is merely a reflection the Creator's brushstroke, then my hope is to capture but a glimpse of that exquisiteness. This is my passion and endeavor though my skills in photography are limited.

 

[Eric Sorensen]

That's what I paid for mine from Newegg.com. Plus, they are easier to hold in my big hands. There is no limit found yet to how fast they transfer, and with being bigger, they will always hold more data for less money than the tiny memory cards like SD.

--



Bossier City, Louisiana
http://www.pbase.com/ericsorensen

 

[pekr]

SD is inevitable, every other manufacturer seems to get it. What is that "too small" etc. arguments? Is camera your only device? I have car radio, mp3 player, cell phone and Ixus40 as a companion - they ALL take SD. No cables, no freaking Canon SW needed to do simple stuff as downloading photos from the camera! I just take my Ixus40 SD card, put it into VERY SMALL I-Tec SD USB reader, and while visiting friends and taking photos occassionally, I can upload photos imediatelly to every PC, without thinking a second if user has card reader or not, as his PC surely has USB ports.

That argument is called - interoperability and simplicity. How is SD too small? You just put it into camera and then you don't care. But if you want to download it, you have to have cable or reader with yourself. And I do care about the reader's size - with SD the reader's size is a no-brainer - just in my vallet.

If 400D is meant to be entry level DSLR for those coming from p&s, putting CF in there was - well, oversight at least.

450D is gonna have SD, and SD only, just face it

-pekr-