Walter S Matthews
Senior Member
In the semoconductor world the the three magic words are bigger, faster and cheaper but in the photo detector realm, the economic rules have changed. If semiconductor manufacturing giant X delivers you a memory with twice the number of memory elements in a chip, that operate at almost twice the speed but which is the same size as the one they delivered two years ago you are happy and you will buy the chip. However much memory you have, you are happier with twice that amount and the free market has shown almost unlimited appetite for more and more memory.
In photography more mega pixels meant better image quality and in the infancy of the business the race was simply about how many mega pixels were available. However, more than 96% of the images that are being made today are 4x6 prints and I don't believe anyone can tell from the print at 4x6, whether there were 3 MP, 4MP 5MP, 6MP, 7MP or 8MP on the detector. Perhaps some people might want to make an enlargement from the images and in that case there really is a difference but for almost all photography, it really doesn't matter as long as you pass the minimum threshold which is the point where you eye cannot see pixels any more.
So what has fuji done? Well, they have produced a detector that many of the most spohisticated critics in the world acknowledge delivers something that is not available anywhere else, from any other camera system. I for example, believe I can almost match the DR of the S3 with RAW images from my Kodak 14n. But I have to work at the image in PS to get it. But, fuji didn't deliver that detector in a state of the art SLR camera body and the hue and cry from this forum has been, "are they stupid, don't they understand what we need?" For those of you who feel that way, you need to look at who sells the most cameras, in total numbers and in total dollars and you will find that Fuji is doing very well indeed. Moreover, they now have an edge over every other camera maker because they have an exclusive and monstorously well protected by patent law detector that does in fact deliver something that no other detector maker can deliver. Moreover that detector has been put in front of the worlds most meticulos and detailed analystists-professional and serious amature photographers in the form of the S3 and although the camera actually sucks-compared to the Canon 20D or the Nikon D2X, the images, in JPG, as they come out of the camera are second to none and they are visually better than anything you can get anywhere else other than from a film camera.
Maybe Fuji will make us a bedtter camera body and maybe they will not, however, my bet is that they are now going to redo all their consumer camera line and advertise to the people who never get more than a 4x6, just how much better their pictures will be if they use the Fuji extended DR camera rather than whatever they are currently using. Moreover, a 4x6 print from a 3mp Fuji with the same detector technology that is in the S3 will be better than that same print from any of the high end consumer point and shoot jobs that will cost more than twice as much.
Fuji now has a real advantage, it is something that will become more and more obvious with time. I predict that they will now concentrate that advantage into the consumer point and shoot arena, advertise the difference and for almost all amature shots, it will make a real and obvious difference. The most difference will be shown in the pictures of the worst photographer. The less a person knows about photography, the more the fuji detector will help. Flash shots where the flash is just too close, shots into the sun, people standing in bright sunlight half in and half out of the shade. We may not be happy with the S3 camera body but for the primary market of Fuji corporation, we have been and many of us will continue to test and to show that even for high end photographers that do not make dumb amateur mistakes, the Fuji detector really does improve images.
Fuji is in the business of selling systems that make 4x6 prints and for that market they now have a real breakthrough that has been tested by the best and most critical group of people in the world. Us.
In photography more mega pixels meant better image quality and in the infancy of the business the race was simply about how many mega pixels were available. However, more than 96% of the images that are being made today are 4x6 prints and I don't believe anyone can tell from the print at 4x6, whether there were 3 MP, 4MP 5MP, 6MP, 7MP or 8MP on the detector. Perhaps some people might want to make an enlargement from the images and in that case there really is a difference but for almost all photography, it really doesn't matter as long as you pass the minimum threshold which is the point where you eye cannot see pixels any more.
So what has fuji done? Well, they have produced a detector that many of the most spohisticated critics in the world acknowledge delivers something that is not available anywhere else, from any other camera system. I for example, believe I can almost match the DR of the S3 with RAW images from my Kodak 14n. But I have to work at the image in PS to get it. But, fuji didn't deliver that detector in a state of the art SLR camera body and the hue and cry from this forum has been, "are they stupid, don't they understand what we need?" For those of you who feel that way, you need to look at who sells the most cameras, in total numbers and in total dollars and you will find that Fuji is doing very well indeed. Moreover, they now have an edge over every other camera maker because they have an exclusive and monstorously well protected by patent law detector that does in fact deliver something that no other detector maker can deliver. Moreover that detector has been put in front of the worlds most meticulos and detailed analystists-professional and serious amature photographers in the form of the S3 and although the camera actually sucks-compared to the Canon 20D or the Nikon D2X, the images, in JPG, as they come out of the camera are second to none and they are visually better than anything you can get anywhere else other than from a film camera.
Maybe Fuji will make us a bedtter camera body and maybe they will not, however, my bet is that they are now going to redo all their consumer camera line and advertise to the people who never get more than a 4x6, just how much better their pictures will be if they use the Fuji extended DR camera rather than whatever they are currently using. Moreover, a 4x6 print from a 3mp Fuji with the same detector technology that is in the S3 will be better than that same print from any of the high end consumer point and shoot jobs that will cost more than twice as much.
Fuji now has a real advantage, it is something that will become more and more obvious with time. I predict that they will now concentrate that advantage into the consumer point and shoot arena, advertise the difference and for almost all amature shots, it will make a real and obvious difference. The most difference will be shown in the pictures of the worst photographer. The less a person knows about photography, the more the fuji detector will help. Flash shots where the flash is just too close, shots into the sun, people standing in bright sunlight half in and half out of the shade. We may not be happy with the S3 camera body but for the primary market of Fuji corporation, we have been and many of us will continue to test and to show that even for high end photographers that do not make dumb amateur mistakes, the Fuji detector really does improve images.
Fuji is in the business of selling systems that make 4x6 prints and for that market they now have a real breakthrough that has been tested by the best and most critical group of people in the world. Us.
