CPN (Canon Professional Network) has released an interview with Tsunemasa Ohara. A brilliant engineer whose team developed the first every digital EOS camera, Ohara is now Senior General Manager for the Canon Photo Products Group. Here are the interesting bits…
CPN: Has the lift-off of the EOS Movie function in EOS DSLRs, and the way in which it has been so widely used throughout the world, come as a surprise to you?
TO: Obviously, it (the response) has been more than we expected. With regard to the movie function in digital SLRs the most important point is the same as for still images – the high image quality. So, less noise and a wide dynamic range should be appearing in movies as well otherwise it (the movie function) doesn’t make sense in digital SLRs. That’s the starting point. This kind of idea eventually will be accepted, more than expected, in the movie world.
Ed: The interview (which you can read in full here) is very sanitised and does not give too much away, although it seems Ohara enjoyed trail-blazing the first digital EOS onto the market 9 years ago. I would like to hear some real insights from such an engineering genius in the future, Canon.
CPN: In terms of your work with the EOS range over the years is there one thing, or one camera, that you are most proud of having achieved?
TO: My most memorable camera is the EOS-1D because it was the first digital EOS-1 series model. Before the EOS-1D was the DCS series that we launched (in conjunction with Kodak). It was a digital SLR that achieved many of the original EOS-1 features. At that time (2001) four megapixels and eight frames per second was a tremendously advanced technology compared with earlier (digital cameras). It was a very challenging technological target and, finally, in combination with the technology, myself and my team achieved it. This was quite epoch-making and made sense to the professional world. Of course the target in terms of hardware and performance was very high, but after achieving it the satisfaction was much higher than usual.
CPN: What would you like to achieve in the future? Do you have a dream camera you’d like to develop?
TO: I can’t tell you. It’s my dream, so I can’t tell you. (laughs)
Ed: I can give you some ideas Tsunemasa!
I believe the 1DS Mark IV features a new 32MP CMOS sensor with the same HD video mode powered by dual DIGIC 4 processors as we have currently. It will line-skip the high resolution sensor. This will be revealed at Photokina in just over 2 weeks time.
The 5D Mark III will follow 12 months from now. It will bring to consumers the new sensor and AF from the 1DS, but pair it with a DIGIC 5 processor designed around a video core, as well as a purely photographic one. The video encoder will be very high powered and deliver a huge increase in HD video quality, possibly along with the option for raw video. This all takes time to develop, and it appears Canon have their DIGIC department and CMOS division out of sync by 12 months which I find quite odd.
Yet this is how Canon released the previous 1DS and 5D – the 12 month gap between DIGIC 3 and 4 allowing Canon to introduce HD video onto the 5D, with the flagship 1DS sensor for less money. So there must be a good reason for the out-of-development-sync of the two divisions.
I also expect Canon to release a lower resolution low-light monster to compete with Nikon’s increasing ability to corner the low-light market, with cameras like the D3S. I expect this will be the EOS 3D, with a full frame 14MP sensor and extraordinary sensitivity.
Let’s wait and see if I am right!
Read the full interview on the Canon Professional Network here
