Denton Taylor wrote:
>So, today I visited the NYC PhotoPlus show
>This year, Oly had a huge display. [...] they see digital as the way to
>come back and wrest leadership again from the N&C crowd.
A dangerous strategy, IMHO. Should today's photographers move from film
to digital, they may choose to stay loyal to their Ni/Mi/Ca origins, esp.
if some system compatibility between analog and digital is built in (e.g.
lens mount, flash, etc.) OTOH, if a whole new generation of users with
no roots in traditional photography is attracted to digital, then who's
to say that digital photography won't become a mere sub-component of the
emerging digital video, where btw only C*non currently has any presence
to speak of (other major players are not in photography)?
>Then I had an interesting discussion with IPIX, they have many patents
>for stitching images using Nikon 8mm fisheyes and turning them into
>immersive images. They told me they were very anxious to test a Zuiko
>8mm but had not been able to find one. [...] They also said
>(are you listening Gary?) that other fisheyes like the Sigma either were
>not true 180deg or had more than 1 stop light fallof from center to edge,
>making them not optimal. There were other optical factors he mentioned
>that were beyond my range of understanding.
Hmm, I don't buy any of the above. First, both the M*nolta and Sigma 7-8mm
fisheyes are spec'ed at 180deg. Second, light falloff of up to 2.5-3 stops
can be measured, and then easily corrected in software. Lastly, if IPIX
could find lawyers competent enough to secure a US patent, they ought to
be able to find an 8mm fisheye Zuiko/Rokkor-X/Sigma/whatever. Heck, B&H
and KEH could be retained for such a search, and would probably charge
a tiny fraction of what IPIX must've paid to their attorneys.
(Hey Denton, wouldn't you sell to IPIX your Zuiko 8mm for, say, $3K? Ok,
then how about $5K? What??!! $10K??? Oh you greedy @#$%$&#%&...)
;-) ;-)
Cheers,
/Gary Schloss.
Studio City, CA
schloss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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