Camera Labs

By my calculations the new D3 has something close to a 1200x800 LCD screen, while VGA is 640x480.

A lot of people were upset to discover that for these LCDs RGB pixels are considered individually. So, for the D3 and D300 we have 640x480x3 = 921600 while for the D40(x), D80 and others 320x240x3 = 230400.

Darrin

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Nikon D40 | Nikkor 18-55 VR | Nikkor 55-200 VR | Voigtländer Ultron 40mm SL-II | Nikon Speedlight SB-400

Now my trusty SonyEricsson Handphone screen is as clear as Nikon D40x/D80 as it comes with 262k TFT ! With 176 X 220

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Nikon D7000 and a bunch of Nikkors

Yep, digital camera screens have long counted individual pixels, such as the common 230k models and hecne Nikon's justification of describing its new one as a 922k model.

But yes, this does translate into 640x480 full colour 'pixels' like a VGA monitor.

If it reassures you, we've seen one of these screens and it looks fantastic - a big leap over 230k models...

Gordon

It's all just one gigantic scam!

Well no more so than when they used describe monitors and TVs as being, say, 21in when they only let you see closer to 19!

But yes, the specs can be deceiving. The important thing is the new screen on the D300 and D3 is four times more detailed than the best of the other digital camera screens, and it looks really good for it!

Gordon

PS - hey, you also know when the manufacturers say a sensor has, say, 10 mpixels, that they're counting the total number of photosites on the sensor?

So the image that you get at the end may have 10 million full colour pixels, but it was derived from a sensor with 10 million photosites which are typically covered with either a red, green or blue filter (or cyan, magenta and yellow). So each photosite isn't actually capturing a full colour dot.

The only exception is the Foveon technology (and a new one Nikon was recently reported to be working on) which capture RGB full colour at every photosite. But then they think this lets them effectively mutliply their subsequent resolution by 3 to play in the same marketing park as everyone else!

Having the extra pixels should be great for manual focussing with Live View but I have a horrible feeling that to gain any benefit I'd have to put my reading specs on.

Perhaps the manufacturers could incorporate a flip out magnifying glass rather like the ones they used to have with the very first TV sets.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Fascinating, I didn't know, I'll try to find a little time to read exactly how this works. If you have a mitute, could you give a brief explanation of how we finally get a full colour dot for each pixel out of a single color photosite? Thanks!

As for the 3'' VGA resolution screens, I'm looking forward to seeing them, such resolution in a relatively small screen seems like a giant leap forward.

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Nikon D90 | AF-S 18-200 VR II | AF-S 35mm f/1.8 | Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 | SB-600 | Gorillapod + Manfrotto 484RC2

There is a good explanation of this at the Cambridge in Colour website.

There is a master index of tutorials here. The page which gives a clear explanation with lots of illustrations in answer to your question is here.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thank you very much, that was some enlightening read. As almost always, the principle in which the demosaicing technology is based is as simple as imaginative and effective (simplicity ends when the time comes to technically apply those principles, of course)

Bye

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Nikon D90 | AF-S 18-200 VR II | AF-S 35mm f/1.8 | Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 | SB-600 | Gorillapod + Manfrotto 484RC2