Do you still use an "obsolete" camera?

[MEPER]

I have just ordered rechargeable AA batteries to be used in my Coolpix 990 (3.34 MP). I tought it could be fun to see what such an old outdated camera can do today.
When it was released it got fine reviews.
Regarding sensors it is a shame that Nikon does not have its own factory(or own a company making sensors) and development and not forced to use eg. Sony which makes their own cameras using same sensors. Now we know that Sony makes a 60MP sensor we can with about 100% probability guess that we see a 60 MP Nikon camera using same sensor. I think sensors like Foveon would be more successful if Nikon was behind as they have more money to invest than eg Sigma. Development is just too slow so they are always behind with speed, resolution, ISO performance etc. But I like the technology that is behind the Foveon sensor and the tonality in the images I have seen.

Maybe the reason I still use my old D5200 with Toshiba sensor.....which is a little bit unusual…….at least I think it is a Toshiba as the roumors seems to be reliable.

[Matthew Currie]

According to several sources, the D5200 and D7100 used the same Toshiba sensor,  though the D7100 dropped the aa filter and the 5200 did not. Not sure why, since the 7100 gets along quite fine without it.

[Kenneth Rich]

I have a recurrent fantasy , where I go into a camera store and say to the technician, "I have a Df here, with a 16mp sensor. What upgrades do you have?" And the technician says, "We can do 25, 40 or 50 mp for two hundred, three hundred and fifty or five hundred bucks respectively.  Takes about a week, presently."

[MEPER]

According to several sources, the D5200 and D7100 used the same Toshiba sensor,  though the D7100 dropped the aa filter and the 5200 did not. Not sure why, since the 7100 gets along quite fine without it.

I think the AA filter in D5200 is relative weak but ensures I never see moiré artifacts in my images. I know a weeding photographer who used Nikon cameras without AA filter and he had from time to time problems with the white wedding dress that often showed moiré.

In the old days a Nikkormat could make same image quality as a F5. It all was depending on the film used and it was always fun when Fuji came out with a new film version. There was also a short period in the early digital days when there was something called "digital film". An digital "insert" you could put into a film camera. But that never was a success but a shame this development was stopped. For cameras with hinaged back it should be possible to make something that would work but price may be comparable with a new body or maybe the camera manufactures just want us to buy new cameras.

 

[Hugh_3170]

I think that this is the answer.

Leitz spent a lot of effort on one of their R series SLRs that had a digital back - not sure if it made it to market.

........................ or maybe the camera manufactures just want us to buy new cameras.

 

[Birna Rørslett]

I have a recurrent fantasy , where I go into a camera store and say to the technician, "I have a Df here, with a 16mp sensor. What upgrades do you have?" And the technician says, "We can do 25, 40 or 50 mp for two hundred, three hundred and fifty or five hundred bucks respectively.  Takes about a week, presently."

Dream on. The sensor is no as important to the camera as its entire internal ecosystem of electronics, processing power, and sheer ability to move data around at the highest speed possible. Thus changing a sensor will not improve anything if the other components cannot follow suit. An illustration of the well-know Law of the Minimum.

On a tangential note, I never saw the Df as being "obsolete". It is still able to churn out better images than I am able to let it make. I have used the Df since 2013, yet it still is my Nikon DSLR favourite.

[MEPER]

It seems the MP count is not that important any more for still images but what is important is the quality of each pixel. So I guess the Df camera can make higher quality images than the latest 64 MP Samsung phone cameras. Does it make sense to have 64 MP in a phone camera?    …..Samsung claims that they soon will go beyond 100 MP. It is very small sensors so hard to believe that they can produce "clean" images in low light conditions. So in the phone world there is a MP race going on. Nikon even go to lower MP for the DX sensor. From 24 to 21. And the D6 is a FX with only about 21 MP to have very high quality pr. pixel.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/10/1/20892995/64-megapixel-phone-camera-realme-xt-hands-on

I remember when Canon released a 11 MP DSLR and I looked at a A3 print from the cameras file it looked very good. Like medium format quality. Then I told myself that 11 MP is enough and when D2X was released I got one. But as development continued I could see that especially in high ISO performance the newer sensors was much better and with even higher pixel count. I think D2X is still very good today at its native ISO.

[Kenneth Rich]

Birna, you are a fantasy slayer! And when you say," It is still able to churn out better images than I am able to let it make," I am reminded that "it" is for me, definitely my F2SB, forlornly sitting on the shelf, forsaken for my Df, my latest camera, my last camera, my dream become reality camera, all fantasies aside, truly a "Diamond as Big as the Ritz."

[Airy]

On a tangential note, I never saw the Df as being "obsolete". It is still able to churn out better images than I am able to let it make. I have used the Df since 2013, yet it still is my Nikon DSLR favourite.

Same here, except I bought it in 2014.

[MEPER]

I took a Coolpix 990 with me for a short walk. It is 20 years old now and has a CCD sensor at 3.34 MP where about 3.1 MP are effective pixels.
I was surprised that it could still make pictures and long time since I have had a CF card in my hands.
I think it was considered a quite good compact camera when it was released. 3 MP was "something" at that time but MP's went quickly up after that.

[Fons Baerken]

April 15

When spring in April



Df - Nikkor-P Auto 105mm f/2.5

[Mike G]

Very nice Fons. A very peaceful scene!

[MEPER]

I was out again for a short walk and took again the obsolete 3 MP Coolpix 990 with me.
I wonder how it would compare with latest Huawei top model smartphones with Leica camera......

[MEPER]

What makes an obsolete camera like the Coolpix 990 not too obsolete is that is uses standard AA rechargeable batteries so it is easy get new ones. The old original Nikon branded batteries are completely dead many years ago. I keep them just for fun. Maybe a collector will find them fun to have one day…..also the CF card is outdated.

With new cameras it is a pain that it seems a slightly different battery is developed every time and an spare one is not cheap.

Standard batteries exists in many form factors so should be plenty to select from. E.g. standard 9V type (8.4V rechargeable) exists.
We also have AAA and AAAA types. I know that Nikon have some extra communication with the battery but I think I could live without that.

The attached image is also shot with CP 990 :-)    ...the real name seems to be E990.

 

[Fons Baerken]

Very nice Fons. A very peaceful scene!

Thank you Mike