Pfft. There's no compromise between sensor noise and quality of the wide angle lens. These are two mutually exclusive concepts in photography.
Sensor noise (which results in unuseable ISO800/1600) is a result of using CCD chips that are too small. Small chips have denser and smaller pixels, which means the surface area for light gathering is reduced per pixel, which means higher snr. That's what happens when you try to cram 8MP into a 1/2.5" CCD for marketing purposes. The (discontinued) fuji f30/f31fd uses a 1/1.7" CCD and is only 6MP. Its ISO1600 is comparable to that of entry-level DSLR's.
A good lens is a good lens, which is great.
But there's no reason why Panasonic couldn't put in a 6MP/7MP 1/1.6"/1/1.7" CCD instead of the ridiculous 8MP 1/2.5" CCD to actually produce decent high ISO images. Except for marketing purposes. A high MP sounds so much better, and if they actually increased the CCD size and reduced the MP, they'd be cannibalizing their own entry-level DSLR sales. Note it's the same for every other company, including Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Put the good wide-angle lens on top of a good sensor, and it'd be an amazing camera.
So no, the drawbacks are not a compromise. It's a business decision and has nothing to do with limitations in technology.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LordAdmiral @ Sep 14th 2007 4:49PM
Pfft. There's no compromise between sensor noise and quality of the wide angle lens. These are two mutually exclusive concepts in photography.
Sensor noise (which results in unuseable ISO800/1600) is a result of using CCD chips that are too small. Small chips have denser and smaller pixels, which means the surface area for light gathering is reduced per pixel, which means higher snr. That's what happens when you try to cram 8MP into a 1/2.5" CCD for marketing purposes. The (discontinued) fuji f30/f31fd uses a 1/1.7" CCD and is only 6MP. Its ISO1600 is comparable to that of entry-level DSLR's.
A good lens is a good lens, which is great.
But there's no reason why Panasonic couldn't put in a 6MP/7MP 1/1.6"/1/1.7" CCD instead of the ridiculous 8MP 1/2.5" CCD to actually produce decent high ISO images. Except for marketing purposes. A high MP sounds so much better, and if they actually increased the CCD size and reduced the MP, they'd be cannibalizing their own entry-level DSLR sales. Note it's the same for every other company, including Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Put the good wide-angle lens on top of a good sensor, and it'd be an amazing camera.
So no, the drawbacks are not a compromise. It's a business decision and has nothing to do with limitations in technology.