"nospam" wrote in message ...

In article , Dudley
Hanks wrote:

SZ (in one of his many incarnations) and I, and several others of you,
were
jabbering on about "zooming with our feet," and I pointed out that
eventually, cam manufacturers would produce cams with large enough
sensors
that they could put a good single focus lens on the body and get the
same
or better results for average users than using a more expensive lens
cheap
sensor configuration.

except they didn't do that at all. they use the same size sensor and
might have digital zoom, which is nothing you couldn't do later (and
better) on a computer. more importantly, digital zoom will never be
better than optical zoom.



Except, I never said it is better. At the time, I just said that
manufacturers would eventually adopt a single focal lens / digital zoom
configuration because it would be acceptable to most users and would be
cheaper to produce...

they aren't cheaper to produce. have you seen the prices of these
things?

plus, camera makers have been making fixed focal length cameras for
years. cellphone cameras have always been fixed focal length using
digital zoom and only recently have cellphone cameras become any good.

there's no point in these fixed focal length cameras. the idea is to
get you to buy multiple cameras for every focal length you want to use.
that's really dumb, and expensive.

a much, much better idea is make interchangeable lens compact cameras,
which lets the user decide whether they want a fixed focal length lens
or a zoom lens as needed. there are quite a few of these cameras
available.

And, yes, sensor size is quite a bit larger now than it was then. At the
time, I think the average sensor size on PS cams was around 3 to 5 megs...

that's pixels, not size.

the size of the sensor is anywhere from about the same size to much
larger but as the size goes up, so does the price. in other words, it's
not cheaper.


The way you twist around the minutest details and try to make a correct
statement sound incorrect is really quite humourous ...

Regardless of physical size, a large pixel count sensor makes possible the
ability to use a single focus lens with digital zoom configuration
acceptable for many camera enthusiasts...

If you are simply down-sizing, what's the issue? If you're just going to
produce a jpg and post it on Facebook where it's degraded again, who cares?

BTW, I agree with you totally that a good sensor with a good lens (whether
or not its a zoom) and optimal placement of the subject is the way to get
the best overall pic, especially when coupled with lossless storage and
great post processing / printing.

As for the cost, these cams are the test balloon. If they pass muster, look
for a raft of cheaper models.... Just like I predicted, many, many, years
ago ... GBFG ....

Take Care,
Dudley