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High Speed CD Writer and Cameras by John Rettie

The annual PMA show came and went in February without causing much significant digital photography news. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that Canon did not announce a new professional digital camera body and Nikon did not announce a new version of the Coolpix 990. Nikon, however, did surprise everyone with the news that it is upgrading the D1 with two new versions, the D1X and the D1H. Both models get new processing algorithms that Nikon says will improve the color of images, white balance, exposure and will fix bugs when used with the SB-28DX flash system.

The Olympus E-100RS is a compact size digital camera with an impressive 10X zoom lens aimed at the user who needs a fast operating camera.

Other D1 improvements include a more accurate LCD screen with zoom capabilities and the ability to play back images while still set in capture mode. The D1X gets a new CCD with 5.47 megapixels but as it is physically the same size as the chip in the current D1, it has the same multiplier effect on lenses. The D1H uses the same 2.74-megapixel chip as in the D1 but operates at a still faster speed, operating at 5 fps with a capture buffer for 40 frames.

Unfortunately, users of the current D1 camera will not be able to get a firmware upgrade as the improvements made to the camera are so extensive that they need more than just a software fix.

It’s kind of ironic that in the ongoing battle between Canon and Nikon for the hearts and pocketbooks of professional photographers, especially sports and photojournalists, that Nikon seems to continue to lead the way in digital cameras by such a wide margin. There is still no hint from Canon as to when its pro digital camera body will see the light of day.

Other news from PMA was limited. It did include new printers; such as the Epson line of Photo Stylus models discussed briefly in my column last month, and other items. One of these was a new portable storage device, called the NixVue Digital Album that will be sold by Jobo USA. It is a battery- powered 10GB hard drive packed in a small handheld case that can transfer images from CompactFlash, SmartMedia and other storage cards. The unit can be hooked up to a computer for downloading later or to a TV for viewing images without using a computer. Not surprisingly the Nixvue Digital Album was a winner of one of the DIMA 2001 Innovative Digital Product awards at PMA.

Possibly one of the most significant announcements made was a cross-licensing agreement between Eastman Kodak Company and Olympus Optical Company that includes the mutual cross-licensing of patented digital camera technologies. Each of these companies owns more than 1000 patents relating to digital cameras and digital photography systems. Kodak’s include megapixel camera architectures, fundamental and advanced image processing algorithms, CCD and CMOS image sensors, and convergence devices—such as digital camera/printer devices, digital camera/PDA devices, and digital camera/cell phone devices. More than any other companies, these two have been at the forefront of developing and introducing innovative digital cameras for consumers and professionals during the past few years.

	Olympus’s newE-100 RS has similar specifications to the Canon Pro90 but operates at a faster speed but delivers lower resolution.

For example, of all the new digital cameras I have mentioned in this column, the new Olympus E-10 has resulted in my receiving more e-mails than any other before. It’s not surprising as it is the first camera on the market for under $2000 with a 4-megapixel CCD and optimized lens system in a professional-featured camera body. That’s a magical price point that is allowing more and more photographers to switch to digital.

Olympus E-100RS
At the same time that I was reviewing the E-10 I also had the opportunity to try out the Olympus E-100RS digital camera. I should point out straight away that it is not a professional camera but its specifications are such that it demonstrates the power possible in digital cameras. Although it sounds more like the name of a sports car, the RS in the name stands for Rapid Shot, which is appropriate as it’s the sports car of digital cameras.

Speed of operation has long been the bane of many digital cameras but it’s no problem with the E-100RS as it can capture still images at 15 frames per second and can even start taking pictures before the shutter button is fully depressed. Its speed means it is also a fairly competent camcorder for recording MPEG video clips. Besides its speed of operation it also has some impressive other standard features such as a 10X zoom lens and an image-stabilization system.

Olympus has designed the lens for this camera that is optically optimized for a digital camera. It refracts the light so that it falls perpendicularly onto all pixels, not only near the center but also at the edges, of the CCD. The 10X zoom lens offers a range from 6.8–70mm, which is equivalent to 38–380mm on a 35mm camera. With the image-stabilization system I found that I could hold the camera steadily at shutter speeds as low as 1ž20 second, even at full telephoto setting. Instead of a an optical viewfinder, the E-100RS has a video viewfinder more in keeping with a camcorder.

Disappointingly, the camera only has a 1.5-megapixel CCD that produces 1360x1024 images. In a world where most high-end consumer cameras are now up to 3-megapixels and even $400 digital cameras have 2-megapixel sensors, it’s a bit of a surprise that this $1499 camera has such a small number of pixels. The reason is simple—in order to give it this incredible speed of operation, the number of pixels being processed for each image has to be kept to a minimum.

The zoom lens on E-100RS includes an image-stabilization system that allowed me to hand hold the camera at 1ž40 second to capture this image in Las Vegas.

The camera includes an 8MB SmartMedia card, which can hold just one frame at the best quality setting or up to 16 seconds of video at the lowest setting. Like several other Olympus cameras the E-100RS includes two slots for holding a SmartMedia and a CompactFlash card. This is a really useful feature for those who have one or other of these cards. An added benefit is that images can be copied in the camera from one card to the other. It’s a flexible solution in a marketplace where these two storage cards dominate, as it preserves future as well as past compatibility.

For photographers who are never going to print an image bigger than 4x6 or only plan to produce images for use on the Internet, the camera might be acceptable. Its ability to capture short video clips also makes it useful as an occasional-use camcorder. With its uncanny ability to start capturing images as soon as the shutter button is touched makes it a potentially useful camera for sports/action photographers.

Although I cannot recommend this camera for professional use, it is a good indicator of the potential speed gains that will be seen in future digital camera. Once Olympus and others can figure out how to use a more powerful processor with more RAM, a bigger CCD can be used so that professional quality images can be captured at up to 15 frames per second.

LaCie FireWire CD-RW Drive
In mid-February I finally got round to backing up my computer files from the second half of 2000 for long-term storage. Instead of using my old 2X SCSI CD-R, I was able to try out a LaCie 12X/
10X/32X FireWire CD-RW drive. The confusing name means that this drive is capable of writing a CD-R at a speed of 12X, CD-RWs at 10X and read CD-ROMs at 32X. So instead of having to wait over 30 minutes for the drive to write a full 650MB disc, the high-speed drive writes one in under six minutes. This six-fold increase in speed certainly helped me as I wrote 12 discs in one afternoon. The drive worked fine although I did get one bad disc but I was not able to discern what caused it to fail during verification. I suspect it was a bad file in one of my folders as I erased some suspect files and everything worked fine the second time around. The drive includes Toast 4.1 for the Mac and both EasyCD Creator and DirectCD for the PC.

	LaCie’s FireWire CD-RW drive can burn a 650MB CD-R in less than six minutes thanks to its 12X speed.

These newest 12X drives are so fast that they have to either be internal drives or connected by FireWire to a computer, as USB is too slow. Newest Macs all have FireWire ports built in so hooking up the LaCie drive was no sweat. I had hoped to try the unit out on my PC but after getting a PCI FireWire card I discovered that I had an earlier version of Windows 98 that will not support FireWire drives. I had to return the LaCie drive before I was able to upgrade my PC. To be honest I don’t want to install Windows ME as many printers and scanners are incompatible with Microsoft’s latest operating system. Windows 98 Second Edition is what I need but it’s no longer sold so I will have to seek out an old copy. I’ll have to let you know how easy it is to use FireWire devices on my PC in a future column.

Belkin Regulator Pro Battery Backup
With the distinct possibility of suffering from power cuts in California since the beginning of the year, computer users have been concerned about losing work should the power go off. Not surprisingly, the shelf space given over to uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) in computer and office supply stores has grown.

Two of my three computers have been hooked up to a TrippLite and an APC unit for the past few years. During that time I have suffered from a couple of power cuts but have lost power many times because of overloading circuits. What’s more, every time the photocopier is switched on I hear the unit beep, which shows that it has automatically smoothed out the dip in voltage caused by the surge of juice going to the photocopier. Apart from obvious power cuts, the ability to prevent damage from surges, spikes or brownouts is valuable as electronic equipment does not take kindly to fluctuations in electrical power.

During the time I have had the two UPS boxes, the TrippLite has performed flawlessly. The APC, however, is dead at the moment. It quit working after four years and the warning lights do not indicate a new battery is required, although I suspect that’s what is required.

The Belkin UPS has two battery protected sockets and four (two power and two telephone) surge-protected sockets as well as a cable connection to a PC for monitoring the power supply.Nikon has introduced a new range of film scanners with some impressive specifications. Above, Coolscan® lV ED with adapters and holders and, right, Super Coolscan® 8000 ED.

Like so many electronic components, newer UPS systems are smaller and better. The new Belkin Regulator Pro Silver Series Standby UPS I am now using is half the size of the old TrippLite unit, even though it has the same 650VA/390W capacity. This is enough juice to keep a PC and a large monitor going for up to 25 minute should a power cut occur. It includes two sockets protected by the internal battery as well as two others, which are just surge protected. An additional pair of ports can be used to surge protect a modem’s telephone cable.

Software is included that monitors the UPS and automatically shuts down the computer in an orderly fashion should power be cut. Belkin also offers a $75,000 connected equipment warranty with the 650VA model that is added security and it offers a data-recovery program should the unit fail to protect equipment in a power cut.

Even if you don’t live in California, a UPS is a worthwhile investment for piece of mind. After all, I’ll bet there are few photographers who have not suffered from power cuts even if they’re just caused by someone switching on a toaster, which is one of the biggest drains on electrical systems.

John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been using a camera as a professional for 31 years, a computer for 21 years, and has combined his knowledge of both for the past eight years. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder.