digital cameras
The Sony DSC-R1, Fuji s9500 and Samsung Pro 815Prosumer digicams - closing the gap?
The release of three new fi xed lens digital cameras (the Sony DSC-R1, Fuji s9500 and Samsung
Pro 815) and the dropping prices (and sizes) of budget digital SLRs has revived a dilemma that
has been growing steadily for photographic enthusiasts or ‘prosumers’ seeking professional quality
images at an affordable price. Which camera is the right one for me? The dilemma has never been
more diffi cult for the consumer than it is today. Sony have added further fuel to the fi re with the
revolutionary new R1 which is one of the most signifi cant new digital cameras released in 2005
(together with the Canon EOS 5D DSLR and Nikon D200).
A HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT OF DIFFERENCES OF OPINION
It seems photographers are destined always to fall into two different camps or ‘modus operandi’.
If we take a brief look at history there were those who followed and promoted Daguerreotypes
and then there were those who saw the advantages of Fox Talbot’s Caloptypes (two distinctly
different ways of creating images), then followed wet plate vs. dry plate, sheet fi lm vs. roll fi lm
and then of course analogue vs. digital. The digital revolution began an argument in the 1990s
between the relative merits between fi lm and digital. The push to digital capture has not so much
been driven by quality however as by the dollar. Consumers embraced the digital revolution
as soon as prices for these new electronic wonder toys dropped below a thousand dollars and
early adopters to the digital revolution have either been oblivious to the quality issues or have
decided to compromise quality for speed and convenience. With fi lm manufacturers rapidly
shutting up shop and cameras that sport 8 megapixel sensors now an affordable reality, the
argument of whether the photographic enthusiast captures with a fi lm camera or digital camera
is pretty much dead in the water. Now the consumer is getting fussy - we like small, we like fast
and we like quick - we want it all and we want it now! The battle that is now raging is whether
the photographic enthusiast buys a fi xed lens feature-rich ‘Prosumer’ camera or a digital SLR
(DSLR) camera.