Digital still/movie camera for the 21st Century

Dateline: 11/4/2008
Bob Kiger - Author / Editor, Videography Lab

Time for quality in point & shoot digital/still "devices

Update May 14, 2009

With the growth of 1080p HD TVs around the world a natural viewing environment was created for Assets produced at full HD resolution, so the quest was on for the state-of-the-art videography point and shoot camera.

We acknowledge that, to achieve most desirable features, we had to give up on the waterproof specification. We are sure that, after reading this review, there will be a marketeer who will make a user friendly waterproof housing. So the Canon PowerShot SX1 IS is shown above fully extended to show all features.

We've only had the camera operational for about 12 hours but already it is shining in performance. It is extremely small and light considering it's firepower. [1080 30p movies and 10 Megapixel Raw stills.] But that is only the beginning.

It is equipped with a 20:1 wide angle zoom lens. We have gone from panorama to reach out and touch distant palm trees. The "C" batteries have been constantly maligned but thusfar the cheap batteries included with the camera have performed all tasks faultlessly. This includes not only shooting movies and stills but playing them back on the HD TV.

What a dream it is to be able to view your "dailies" at full resolution anytime you desire. We don't even have to tie up computers to process the HD. The Canon PowerShot SX1 IS has an optional AC power cord so you can screen HD content all night if you've got it on an SDHC card.

So the camera acts like a movie player via HDMI plugs and the signal can also be directed at surround sound systems. Wholly Home Movie!

The picture and sound quality is simply awesome!

We miss having an audio input on the camera to receive closeup radio mikes. Why not Bluetooth?

For the entrepeneurs within earshot, there is a crying market for a SDHC player that would go directly into the TV. If you exist . . . write us.

The Canon PowerShot controls are most intuitive for photographers who grew up with SLRs, but it's not an SLR. Instead it has a rangefinder that is in fact a mini screen that allows the videographer to make adjustments in darkness and privacy. This feature we presume is also saving battery life, because it only kicks in then the main LCD is swung to the off position in the back of the camera body. Slick engineering.

SO WHERE'S THE BAD NEWS?

Canon PowerShot is a low end product for the Canon Corporation. They will have to elevate many features up to their Rebel and high end SLR digital cameras and leave Canon PowerShot at it's current stage of development.

Not to worry. The "cat's out of the bag" as far as desirable features for videographers. The real surprise is how many people are seeing themselves as videographers. They are literally using the tool kit of videography to enhance their own life paths.

Because of this inertia, the feature sets of futue Platforms is wide open.

And now we return you to yesteryear when we were raving about the Pentax Optio W30

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Specifying a quality digital camera has been our goal for 35 years. Videography Labs originally tested the Pentax Optio W30 for two reasons:

1. It is waterproof and shock resistant
2. It conforms to the new SDHC standard

After substantial field testing we have overall admiration for the Pentax Optio WP30 but suggest that it is only the beginning of a new generation of digital imaging devices. Here is our laundry list of features that would make this camera (and others to follow) classics.

First and foremost is a wider angle lens. The current lenses on most simple digital cameras are comparable to a 35mm lens on a 35mm SLR in angle of view. Most serious photographers prefer something more like a 28mm lens. This would enable the videographer to capture interiors and panoramas more effectively.

Pentax heard our call and released their Optio W60. Unfortunately they took one step forward with the equivalent of a 28mm lens on a 35mm SLR. In doing so they botched up many common sense features for any camera. See Common Sense & New Hybrid Technologies section below.

Second is the capability of an external microphone. Cinematographers have long known that it is sound that makes the movie. Often the subject is a distance from the camera and we want a clean sound track of their words or sounds. Our solution is quite doable with existing technology. Make future digital cameras Blue Tooth capable and therefore capable of wireless receipt of an external Blue Tooth microphone. A current review of Blue Tooth products has shown no candidates in this category. Further, by internalizing the Blue Tooth capability we preserve the waterproof feature while increasing sound quality in special instances.

No point and shoot camera has yet to adapt wireless microphone capability as of this date.

Third is to provide Raw Data capability. Upscale digital cameras have widely deployed Raw Data for maximum post production image control. This format should be included in quality point and shoot cameras as well. It can be chosen by the user with internal programming, so those who just want snapshots can choose standard jpeg recording. Those who seek enlargements or have a workflow that includes extensive post production should have the Raw Data choice.

No point and shoot cameras have adopted raw imaging as of this date.

Larger and more sensitive imaging chips. Samsung recently announced limited deployment of a 10 Megapixel cell phone. Alas, due to bandwidth restrictions, the testing was limited to South Korea. We are not advocating that our ideal digital still/movie camera be a cell phone. In fact, we see acquisition with quality as the dividing line at this time. It takes only minutes to transfer a high quality still or movie to a platform where it can be properly post prepared for the desired audience and that process is best done on a separate platform. The reason for larger and more sensitive imaging chips is that a lot of Zoom functions are currently relegated to the chip level and (by adding overhead) quality is preserved for the final still/movie. One of my favorite video engineers had an adage . . . "there is no substitute for resolution" when it comes to cameras . . . still or movie.

The Pentax W60 did increase it's still imaging to 10 Megapixels.

Adoption of 1080 30p as a recording format. There has been a near panic rush to develop 1080p (60 fps) progressive format as the high definition standard. This has created an unrealistic burden on bandwidth for all digital movie cameras and recorders. The simple adoption of the 1080 30p as a digital movie standard would allow full 1920 x 1080 pixel raster with half the bandwidth (recording overhead) required with 1080p. It also eliminates the annoying vacillation between intermittent fields of 1080i.

Audiences have lived for over 100 years paying good money to watch movies that were recorded at 24 fps which has proven to be the threshold for "persistence of vision". TV viewers have watched their programs for over 60 years at 25 fps (PAL) to 30 fps (NTSC) with no complaints other than intermittent fields. The problem of intermittent fields became prevalent when digital TV enabled instant playback of critical moments . . . like whether the tight end in an NFL game had his foot on the line before stepping out of bounds. The 1080 30p standard is rock steady and has half the storage and handling requirements of 1080p. It makes the high definition revolution easier to implement with todays technologies.

Since we originally published this article a slew of camcorders have adopted the 1080 30p standard, in most cases simply calling it "1080p" Bravo . . . but Pentax has not yet adopted with it's Optio waterproof cameras. Their new Optio60 has a kluged 720p at 15fps. It is unusable for sync sound recording.

Simple Bluetooth or IR remote to trigger camera from a remote position. We have just conducted testng of our new "FaceCam" and a 20 year issue popped up. When the user cannot see the camera at the time they press record, they cannot assure whether the device is recording or stopped. Many a helmetcam shot has been lost because the camera was on when the operator thought it was on. The addition of a simple remote with a bright blinking light when the camera is recording would eliminate this issue. Note: Since we have already specified Bluetooth for remote sound recording, we suggest that a Bluetooth enabled wireless remote would be the simplest solution.

Update August 8, 2007 We recently tested the "AC adapter" for the Pentax Optio WP30 and found it to have a designer defect. This plug in device does not charge the batteries in the camera. We spoke with Pentax engineering and they said that a conscious decision was made to not allow battery charging because of fear that people would plug in and than take the camera into the water. That is vidiotic engineering. A simple disclaimer would cover this problem. And besides, they can still plug in the camera and take it into the water. The consequences would be destruction of the camera because the water tight seal would be open and electrical shock. The inclusion of a battery charging capability when plugged into AC is almost universal for portable videographic devices. We highly recommend that this feature be added. We also recommend that there be a shut off for the LCD to give the lithium-ion batteries a better chance to go the full life of an 8GB SDHC card. Right now the batteries can only achieve about 60% of the media's capability.

On the PLUS side of the Pentax "AC adapter" is the A/V cable that comes with it. This allows the videographer to view content, both still / movies on any TV set without having to use a computer. Very handy!

With this post we have given Pentax a "brief window of exclusivity" to make the feature corrections and become the first classic videography still / movie camera.
As of this 8/22/2007 update the brief window of opportunity is closed.

There are other manufacturers, notably Olympus, that have waterproof cameras. We talked with a Kodak rep whose immediate response was "they don't see the market for such waterproof cameras". Duh! Tell that to the many people who lost their digital camera to a few raindrops or a quick dip in the pool or sink.

Where do most families go when they are out being happy and full of Kodak memories? To the beach or the lake or the river or the streams to cool off. Waterproof also means that nasty sand particles are not drawn into the camera body when they attach to a protruding lens on a non-waterproof camera. We can easily see why Kodak has almost become a non-player in the digital videography market. As graduates of Rochester Institute of Technology we have always had an affinity for Kodak, but it appears that these days, the venerable Kodak is run by vidiots.

Common Sense Features: In their "upgrading from W30 to W60 Pentax moved the tripod hole to the extreme edge of the camera and way away from the lens. Common sense says you put the tripod hole under the lens so a pan is a pan on center of the focal point. With the silly Optio W60, a pan is actually a swing and it runs against every tenet of classic photography.

Pentax also took a very sensible design where one could access the battery and SDHC card from a side door while the camera was mounted on tripod or other mount. Their "upgraded" W60 accesses battery and SDHC cards are on the underside of the camera. This can be the difference between getting the shot or not if the photographer needs to make a swap.

New Hybrid Features: The popularity of touch technology in the Apple iPhone compels us to recommend a hybrid of a waterproof 1080p 10 Megapixel still/movie camera with the iPhone to create one device that will give modern humans a single device that would perform the lions share of tasks require to live productively in "the age of videography".

In upcoming reports we will show a reasonably priced workflow for handling the enormous volume of content that such devices record and how to make it manageable. We will also introduce incremental device changes that are leading to the "Classic videography device for the 21st Century".