The next Foveon camera?

Doppler9000 wrote:

tarmov wrote:

Jozef M wrote:

The point of my thread is to show that the competition from high-resolution Bayer sensors, in general, is getting so high against the future FF Foveon, that there is really no point in making a FF Foveon camera.

I don't see how you could make such a point at all.

Foveon sensors still retain specific advantage in well-lit conditions. And that is also evidenced by jpeg compression ratios, which is a quick measure of signal (assuming the absence of noise). The competition would first have to get equal to Sigma cameras on compression ratios, only then could one assume resolution or image quality superiority over Sigma.

Couldn’t one look at resolution directly to see if resolution was superior?

Forget those damn jpegs, it's about well-developed raw photos from high res Bayer sensors, made with excellent lenses.

My jpegs come from my raws.

And making a FF Foveon camera for a few thousand Foveon fans and lovers of this special rendering, that makes no sense, that won't get you out of development costs.

I have no specific desire for full frame cameras. My wish is for a camera optimized for 5k or 8k output screens. I don't care much for intermediate resolutions or going beyond 8k (unless it would be 10k or 16k).

5k and 16k are rather different. The latter is 132.7MP, the former 14.7.

If camera models with production volumes at a few thousand were economical in the early days of digital photography, then it could also be economical in the future.

The competitive landscape is rather different today. Profit margins are squeezed by phones, and the remaining camera makers vying for the shrinking market. Do you have anything to support your statement that takes this into account?

But the longer this wait goes on, the more unlikely it becomes.

I don't see the logic in that reasoning. If the Foveon layout has some specific advantage, then it would likely still have that advantage in the future.

The relative advantages of the Foveon have declined as Bayer sensors have continued to improve. Here, as above, you seem to be basing your assertions on an assumption of a static competitive market. In 2023 and beyond, the market for a slow camera with moderate resolution that works only at ISO 100 or 200 seems rather small.

-Tarmo

The SD 15 was a slow camera with moderate resolution (4.7 MP images competing against the likes of the Canon 50 D, which was 15 MP and tge Sony A55, which was 16 MP). It had a better screen and about three times the buffer of the SD 14, but it was far from what most people would call a competitor to many other similarly priced cameras of the time.

Did it flop? No. It sold. It didn't break records, but it sold, and today it's considered one of the best cameras ever made by Sigma.

Relative advantages my nether regions!

It was just better . . . for one reason . . . image quality.