KODAK DCS560
New top-of-the-line
digital camera
by John Henshall
This
is a camera for 'Professional Performance, digital speed
and Freedom'. Kodak designed this camera to shoot high
resolution digital images anywhere -- hand held, with no
cables to trip over. The camera is aimed at a wide
market, from studio to location fashion. Kodak's
publicity shows a model being photographed in a boat --
completely feasible as this camera does not need to be
tethered to a computer.
The camera looks very much like it's
smaller (file size) brother the DCS520 (see
Chip Shop
April 1998) with one huge
advantage: the viewfinder image is large, not like a
postage stamp. Kodak's electronics are fitted into a
Canon EOS-1N body but, unlike the DCS520, Canon told me
that they will not be marketing a version of the DCS560
themselves.

My assistant, Gilly Russell, and
I borrowed a DCS560 for a day while in San
Francisco. Unfortunately my lovely
Canon-fit Tokina AT-X lenses were back in the UK and we
only had a Canon 28mm lens.
The 6 Megapixel chip produces 2008 x
3040 pixel images, over three times more pixels than the
DCS520. The CCD is so large that the focal length
multiplier is only 1.3x -- making the 28mm lens
equivalent to about 35mm.
We shot from a range of locations,
including the top of the Coit Tower, which gave us
fantastic views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate
Bridge.
I kept portraits wide, to avoid unkind
perspective exaggeration.
The DCS560 has outstanding image
resolution with a new six megapixel CCD which, like the
DCS520, has improved colour analysis. Each pixel of the
new CCD is analysed by twelve bits. Unlike the DCS460 --
which it replaces -- which had a fixed ISO equivalence of
ISO80, the DCS560 has variable sensitivity which may be
set anywhere between ISO80 and ISO200. The camera can
shoot at one frame per second for three consecutive frame
captures before it has to take a pause to write the
images to the PCMCIA card.
A
big advantage of this camera is the built in colour LCD
that lets you check composition and evaluate exposure and
histogram information on the spot, without a long
processing time. As in the DCS520, I continue to be
suspicious of the internal anti-aliasing filter which
seems to soften the images slightly. But there is so much
real data there that the images respond well to a little
sharpening in Photoshop. And no aliasing is
apparent.
All the digital technology in this
camera, including the magnificent CCD, is made by Kodak,
who have poured all their unmatched experience into it.
There are no compromises. Complimented by Kodak's
unmatched pedigree and support, the $29,995 DCS560 looks
like being a truly great product.
This article
first appeared as "John Henshall's Chip Shop" in "The
Photographer" magazine, October 1998.
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