Rangefinder Magazine
Columns, August 2001

First Exposure: Kodak DCS 760 by John Rettie

For the last decade Kodak has pretty much been at the forefront in the development of high-end digital cameras based on 35mm format SLR cameras. Since 1991 it has introduced several digital cameras based on Canon and Nikon bodies. In 1995 the DCS 460 hit the market with a 6-megapixel CCD and a whopping $30,000 price tag. I remember trying one of those cameras and was impressed by the quality of the image but it was so slow in operation that it was not very practical away from a studio. It also lacked a LCD for viewing the captured image, but it did demonstrate how a 6-megapixel SLR could produce images with sufficient resolution for most professional photographers.

When Nikon introduced the D1 digital camera in 1999 it shook up the marketplace with a $5300 price tag. In order to remain competitive, Kodak had to lower its prices. With Nikon’s entry into the professional market many people expected Kodak to drop its Nikon-based versions and concentrate on Canon-bodied cameras. Instead, the opposite has happened. Kodak has stopped making any Canon- based cameras yet has continued with two versions of the Nikon-based cameras, the 2-megapixel 720x (replacing the 620x) and the 6-megapixel DCS 760, which has just come to market with a sticker price of $6995. That might seem a lot but considering it’s immediate predecessor was $29,995 barely one year ago, it’s a competitive price for professional photographers.

Anybody familiar with Nikon’s top-of-the-line F5 will immediately feel at home with the DCS 760. Essentially it’s an overgrown F5 body with an entirely new one-piece magnesium alloy frame made by Kodak that replaces the main part of the F5. The top panel used for camerasettings and the camera’s internal picture-taking components remain the same as in the F5.

Kodak DCS 760 Professional Digital Camera	The IBM 1GB Microdrive in a an adaptor card is an ideal storage card for the DCS 760.	The back of the camera is unique to the DCS 760.

As a result, the DCS 760 is able to accept all the lenses and accessories that can be used on an F5, except for lenses that have a rear element that protrudes outside the mounting ring. These cannot be mounted on the DCS 760 if it is fitted with either the standard IR (Infrared) filter or the optional anti-aliasing filter. The CCD is physically smaller than a 35mm frame so there is a magnification factor of 1.3X when using standard Nikon lenses. The 760 is a heavy beast. It tips the scales at 4.1 lbs. with battery and storage card but without a lens.

The back of the body contains two LCD screens and several extra buttons. The big screen is an improved color LCD for reviewing images after they have been captured. For the first time it is possible to zoom in on an image to check focus and details. A histogram can be displayed and images can be tagged and viewed as thumbnails. Moving around the options takes a bit of getting used too, but they are much more versatile and easier to access than before.

Screenshot of DCS Photo Desk software used for processing the DCS images.

The smaller LCD screen shows the “digital” settings for white balance, the number of images that can still be captured and a flashing icon indicating when the storage card is being accessed. Previous Kodak digital cameras have had the white balance read by a small sensor on the outside of the camera. On the DCS 760 this measurement is taken off the CCD, which is more accurate as it represents the image seen by the camera through the lens. The camera has an automatic white balance setting, as well as one for daylight (only one), tungsten, fluorescent and flash.

An additional feature, which is all but unique to Kodak, is the ability to capture short voice notes via a microphone on the back of the camera. This can be invaluable to event and wedding photographers who need to make notations while photographing.

What sets the 760 apart from other digital SLRs is its 6-megapixel (3032x2008) Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) CCD. This CCD produces an image 10.1 x 6.7 inches at 300 dpi, without any interpolation, which is more than adequate for a high-quality prints at this size or larger. Despite the size (5MB to 7Mb) of each image file the camera has a powerful computer processor on board and a hefty 256 MB memory buffer. This allows the camera to fire at 1.5 fps for up to 24 frames before the user has to stop shooting and wait for the images to be written to the storage disk. The two PC card slots can accommodate Type I, II or III PC cards and with a PC card adaptor one can use an IBM Microdrive, Compact Flash (Type I or II) or even SmartMedia or Sony Memory Sticks.

After images have been captured and written on the storage card they can be transferred to a computer via the serial port or the Firewire port. I still prefer removing the cards and using a card reader attached to a computer, as it avoids having to tether the camera to the computer.

	The DCS 760 works fine as a camera for photojournalists as it’ operational speed is much better than previous 6-megapixel cameras. Shots taken at the 15th annual Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival at the Santa Barbara Mission.

Because the images are stored in a proprietary Kodak DCR format, one has to use Kodak’s DCS Photo Desk software to “process” the images before they can be opened in Photoshop or other image-editing programs. Photo Desk offers a wide variety of options for modification of images after they’ve been captured. One can adjust exposure, white balance, color and lighting after the fact. It’s like having a second chance to get the exposure or color balance correct. Once changes have been made the image can be saved in a TIFF or JPEG format. Each rendered TIFF image has a file size of 17.5MB with 8 bits per color or 35MB with 16 bits. On my G4 Mac the program opened a folder with 62 images and displayed a contact sheet containing all the images in about 12 seconds. It takes about seven seconds to open an image and render it at full size. Individual images can be tagged and then they can be converted en masse in a batch mode.

DCS Camera Manager is another program included with the camera, which is used to control the camera from a computer. If the camera is tethered to a computer via a FireWire cable, data can be downloaded directly from the camera and stored on the computer. Better yet all the functions including the custom settings on the camera can be controlled by the computer via drop-down menus. The camera can even be fired from the computer although there is no preview image available. However images can be displayed within seconds via the Photo Desk software. Currently the software is only available for use on a Mac but Kodak says it will be available for Windows users later this summer.

	15th annual Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival at the Santa Barbara Mission.

Kodak has added a nice large molded rubber grip on the back, which is much better than the grip on the back of a regular F5. Once the camera is switched on it comes to life and is ready for firing after about five seconds. Taking a picture is then no different from using a regular F5. The shutter button feels the same and the clunking sound as the image is captured sounds reassuringly familiar.

In single shot mode one can take about ten shots fairly rapidly before the camera hesitates while it waits for the images to be written to the storage card. In any one of the continuous shooting modes images can be taken at 1.5 fps up until at least 10 images have been captured before the camera slows down. Even after the camera goes to sleep it comes back to life quickly and a photo can be grabbed immediately. This is a tremendous improvement compared to earlier Kodak cameras, which often suffered from an annoying delay before pictures could be shot.

Needless to say the images captured on this camera are excellent. In the limited time I had the camera for review I was happy with every image it captured. The colors appeared to be correct and pixelization does not start to appear until an image is blown up to 200%. Even then it is really only noticeable on sharp edges running at an angle. The ISO setting can be adjusted from 80 to 400 on the camera, and, of course, being digital it is easy to adjust the ISO during a shoot, without “changing film.” However, I did notice an increase in noise and also some artifacting at higher ISO settings and when the images are saved as JPEG files.

	Jen Chau, a Brooks Institute of Photography student

At the time of my review the camera was only able to capture images in the Kodak’s raw format. Kodak says a free firmware upgrade will be available later in the summer that will allow the camera to automatically compress images in the camera and save them as JPEG files. This will allow a user to store many more images on a card and also to be able to open them directly in other programs without having to first “process” them in Kodak’s DCS Photo Desk program.

If you’ve got a strong right arm and a budget that allows you to spend around $9000 on a camera and storage cards, the DCS 760 might be the ideal digital camera. If you’re going to use the camera for studio work or weddings, where fast continuous shooting is not required this camera is ideal. Is the camera a replacement for a film camera? I’d say yes if you do not plan to produce images bigger than 11x14. Either way it could be the ideal companion to a medium format camera for weddings.

John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder.

For More Information
Eastman Kodak Company
343 State Street
Rochester, New York 14650
1-800-23KODAK (1-800-235-6325), (ext. 19)
www.kodak.com/go/dcs760