Kodak DCS-14n... Wow.

[The'(Teh) Tran]

Paul W. Walters wrote:
It's just those damned DESIRES that keep needing

new stuff to satisfy them!

Paul,

It's the WANTs not the NEEDs )

If I just only get what I need, then, my wallet would be a lot fatter today.
But hey, life would be boring if we were to only fulfill our needs, right?

The'

--
'To achieve immortality, share your knowledge'

 

[Carl Feather]

Not a bad idea. By then I'll have used my S2 so much that it'll be
worth it to upgrade. But to be honest, as much as I like the new
features, the S2 really will be able to satisfy my NEEDS for quite
a while to come! It's just those damned DESIRES that keep needing
new stuff to satisfy them!

At first seemed pretty exciting, but as I think about it, that $4K is almost twice the cost of an S2, which I can't afford right now, but am saving for. And then there's going to be the high cost of enough cards to hold those huge images. And since I seldom sell a print larger than 8 X 12, that would be wasted resolution, and wasted money. And since my lenses really do go farther on an S2 or similar DSLR, it's not as good a value. And since I really try hard not to drop my camera, the metal body isn't that big of a deal.

So, perhaps what will be the best news to come out of this will be an eventual price reduction on the 6MP camers as Kodak tries to give us a reason to spend twice the money on something we probably don't really need.

The one thing that is great is Kodak's willingness to provide a machine that can be upgraded. That alone might make the purchase a smarter investment in the long run.

--
Carl Feather
Photographer/Writer
Wish I was in West Virginia

 

[John Pham]

What we really need is a digital SLR that has removable upgradable CCD. If they can make a removable hard drive why couldnt they do it with a CCD chip? Dont you folks getting tired of spending $2K+ on a body every few years ??

Not a bad idea. By then I'll have used my S2 so much that it'll be
worth it to upgrade. But to be honest, as much as I like the new
features, the S2 really will be able to satisfy my NEEDS for quite
a while to come! It's just those damned DESIRES that keep needing
new stuff to satisfy them!

At first seemed pretty exciting, but as I think about it, that $4K
is almost twice the cost of an S2, which I can't afford right now,
but am saving for. And then there's going to be the high cost of
enough cards to hold those huge images. And since I seldom sell a
print larger than 8 X 12, that would be wasted resolution, and
wasted money. And since my lenses really do go farther on an S2 or
similar DSLR, it's not as good a value. And since I really try hard
not to drop my camera, the metal body isn't that big of a deal.

So, perhaps what will be the best news to come out of this will be
an eventual price reduction on the 6MP camers as Kodak tries to
give us a reason to spend twice the money on something we probably
don't really need.

The one thing that is great is Kodak's willingness to provide a
machine that can be upgraded. That alone might make the purchase a
smarter investment in the long run.

--
Carl Feather
Photographer/Writer
Wish I was in West Virginia

 

[Carlos De La Rosa]

I agree. They did it with the palm devices.

Not a bad idea. By then I'll have used my S2 so much that it'll be
worth it to upgrade. But to be honest, as much as I like the new
features, the S2 really will be able to satisfy my NEEDS for quite
a while to come! It's just those damned DESIRES that keep needing
new stuff to satisfy them!

At first seemed pretty exciting, but as I think about it, that $4K
is almost twice the cost of an S2, which I can't afford right now,
but am saving for. And then there's going to be the high cost of
enough cards to hold those huge images. And since I seldom sell a
print larger than 8 X 12, that would be wasted resolution, and
wasted money. And since my lenses really do go farther on an S2 or
similar DSLR, it's not as good a value. And since I really try hard
not to drop my camera, the metal body isn't that big of a deal.

So, perhaps what will be the best news to come out of this will be
an eventual price reduction on the 6MP camers as Kodak tries to
give us a reason to spend twice the money on something we probably
don't really need.

The one thing that is great is Kodak's willingness to provide a
machine that can be upgraded. That alone might make the purchase a
smarter investment in the long run.

--
Carl Feather
Photographer/Writer
Wish I was in West Virginia

 

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

This will make you feel better.

Download the S2 12mp resolution chart form Phil's review on this site, and also the same chsrt from the new EOS-1Ds someone posted on the Canon forum. I did, and the differences (11 real mp v 12 super CCD interpolated) are negligible. You have to study long and hard to see any minor differences.. More bang for the buck from Fuji.

Q

Not a bad idea. By then I'll have used my S2 so much that it'll be
worth it to upgrade. But to be honest, as much as I like the new
features, the S2 really will be able to satisfy my NEEDS for quite
a while to come! It's just those damned DESIRES that keep needing
new stuff to satisfy them!

At first seemed pretty exciting, but as I think about it, that $4K
is almost twice the cost of an S2, which I can't afford right now,
but am saving for. And then there's going to be the high cost of
enough cards to hold those huge images. And since I seldom sell a
print larger than 8 X 12, that would be wasted resolution, and
wasted money. And since my lenses really do go farther on an S2 or
similar DSLR, it's not as good a value. And since I really try hard
not to drop my camera, the metal body isn't that big of a deal.

So, perhaps what will be the best news to come out of this will be
an eventual price reduction on the 6MP camers as Kodak tries to
give us a reason to spend twice the money on something we probably
don't really need.

The one thing that is great is Kodak's willingness to provide a
machine that can be upgraded. That alone might make the purchase a
smarter investment in the long run.

--
Carl Feather
Photographer/Writer
Wish I was in West Virginia

 

[Dick Lau of Calgary]

When the S2 first announced, it cost around $3500USD. Now it sell for $2400 (a 31% price drop, yes there was a D100 price race). The Kodak DCS Pro 14n’s list price is $4000, if apply the same discount of Fuji, it will be around $2760. However, I don’t think Kodak will drop the price so much, unless there is another direct competition. But I don’t think it will be such case. The D2 is not out yet and the Canon 1Ds’ price is sky high, List $8999USD. So they are not in the same game. Let say the 14n is $3000USD (25% off the list price). Then the price different between the S2 and the new beast is only $600, 25% more, It may seems a lot, but for some, it is acceptable.

Kodak make a huge price drop of its DCS family, I think it is mostly due to the use of CMOS senor and F80 body.

So is the 25% more $ is worth it? I don’t know yet. Need to see the sample to tell. Let say it about the same as S2. And the Kodak get 15% more pixel (14Mp VS 12Mp) or 230% (14Mp VS 6Mp) pick the number you like. And the best of all it is full frame. For a lot of people out there, the full frame is a major buying point.

The body seems solid and heavier (57g more) but not heavy enough for me. It used DX flash, which is bad. Lower ISO, bad. Lithium battery, bad. Slower burst rate but 1 more burst frame. Vertical grip, good. 10-pin very expensive Nikon remote. Firmware upgradeable. And it even looks better.

However, I still think what really count is the image quality, which is something we don’t know at this point. Hope we will have the sample from Phil soon.

****

I figured it would be a bit longer before a camera would come out
that really made my heart skip a beat. However, this camera really
does seem like they did their research and decided on something
that really would be a delight.

Why am I posting this in the Fuji forum? Because I own the Fuji
S2, and because prior to the Kodak DCS-14n, I believe the Fuji is
the best DSLR available (as far as picture quality).

I haven't seen the Kodaks pictures, as is true with everyone else.
But some of it's features are just really cool!

For instance:

• 1.7 fps with 8 frames maximum ABLE TO BE UPGRADED to 18 frames

maximum by adding an additional 256MB ram in the camera

• Full Frame (we knew that would be next)
• Magnesium-alloy body
• Any color space (not limited to sRGB, Adobe RGB, or anything else)
• 13.7 Megapixels
• ERI-JPEG (which allows Two stops of exposure latitude, and

extended color space)

• The camera senses what direction it's being held in, and

automatically sets the picture to be rotated to Portrait mode, or
Landscape, depending on how the camera was held when the picture
was taken

• User defined crop of the image to the following aspect rations:

3x2, 5x4, and 2x2

• And last but not least, a very reasonable $4,000 list price.

Okay, my Fuji S2 takes BEAUTIFUL pictures able to be blown up as
large as I need them to be... but still, there are some
convenience points with this new camera that are pretty cool!

What do you think?

Paul

--
**** Lau of Calgary
[email protected]

 

[SongMi]

Okay, my Fuji S2 takes BEAUTIFUL pictures able to be blown up as
large as I need them to be... but still, there are some
convenience points with this new camera that are pretty cool!

What do you think?

Here's my accessment of the current digital world of The have and the have-nots:

The pioneers who have purchased the "latest" generation of Dslrs such as the d100, s2, d60's are better off than those who are just entering in the market and are faced with wonderful $4000.00 + Dslr's such as the Kodak and the Canon.

I certanly wish that I started with the S1 or the d30 and then skip over the S2 or the d60 and rebuild/replace/enhance to kodak 14n or the canon 1ds but I wasnt ready at that time to make the conversion.

Now, the s2,d100, and d60 generation owners can set their sights beyond the latest kodaks and canons and look foward (not too far ahead, really) to replace/enhance/rebuild to perhaps to full-frame 18-24mp dslrs. By then, that is, about another year from now, the 12-14mp dslrs will have improved in terms of camera functions.

Wouldn't it be nice if the kodak 14n upgrade model can shoot at 10fps and flash at 500/sec? Then at hind-sight all those who have dumped their money on less than stellar performance 12-14mp camera will envy those with nicer cameras - more metal, more fps, higher flash sync, etc ...

In the mean time, as everyone is just get'n used to the 12-14mp the 6mp users have already accumulated many shooting hours on digital and now ready to leap for cameras that performs like the good 'ol day film icons - f5 and eos1v and the price will have settled right (i hope).

As you may have picked up on the above verbage that that I am not amused about the camera performaces of both the new kodak and the canon's latest. $4000.00 on 1.7fps, 125 flash sync? Even more stupid; for $8900.00, 3fps and 125 flash sync?

I'm not a sports photographer but I shur like a $4000.00 more a bit faster on the trigger.

--
Have a good day!

 

[Sean Keegan]

I agree with you QDB. Pretty amazing. I actually like the output of the Fuji test better seems there is less aliasing. They really look neck and neck as far as resolution goes. Makes me very happy. I have a feeling I will not be craving an upgrade from my S2 for a while, and I agree with another poster, it is nice that Nikon lets so many companies use their bodies. I like having the choices. Nikon wins no matter what because lenses are where the money is, not the camera body. Look at all the choice we have now being Nikon users: D100, D1x, D1h, soon D2, the Kodak, and the Fuji! Six choices, very nice.

Regards,
Sean

Download the S2 12mp resolution chart form Phil's review on this
site, and also the same chsrt from the new EOS-1Ds someone posted
on the Canon forum. I did, and the differences (11 real mp v 12
super CCD interpolated) are negligible. You have to study long and
hard to see any minor differences.. More bang for the buck from
Fuji.

Q

Not a bad idea. By then I'll have used my S2 so much that it'll be
worth it to upgrade. But to be honest, as much as I like the new
features, the S2 really will be able to satisfy my NEEDS for quite
a while to come! It's just those damned DESIRES that keep needing
new stuff to satisfy them!

At first seemed pretty exciting, but as I think about it, that $4K
is almost twice the cost of an S2, which I can't afford right now,
but am saving for. And then there's going to be the high cost of
enough cards to hold those huge images. And since I seldom sell a
print larger than 8 X 12, that would be wasted resolution, and
wasted money. And since my lenses really do go farther on an S2 or
similar DSLR, it's not as good a value. And since I really try hard
not to drop my camera, the metal body isn't that big of a deal.

So, perhaps what will be the best news to come out of this will be
an eventual price reduction on the 6MP camers as Kodak tries to
give us a reason to spend twice the money on something we probably
don't really need.

The one thing that is great is Kodak's willingness to provide a
machine that can be upgraded. That alone might make the purchase a
smarter investment in the long run.

--
Carl Feather
Photographer/Writer
Wish I was in West Virginia