Camera Sony may launch PELLIX cameras this year

adder

Skilled
Sony to launch A33 & A55 PELLIX cameras this year

Well looks like a potential good news for people who want DSLRs to take videos.

The PELLIX cameras have a fixed mirror which is semi transparent just like old film based canon EOSRT launched in the late 1989.unlike normal SLR and DSLR where the mirror moves in order for the light to hit the film or sensor.The PELLIX sensor is fixed .read more in wiki Pellicle mirror - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KenRockwell in the canon 5D review said"If Hollywood uses the 5D Mark II to shoot major motion pictures, then why isn't it good enough for me, especially if I'm already carrying it?

Simple: DSLRs have no real autofocus! They all claim some sort, but it doesn't really work, at least not if the subject is moving, which is the whole point of movies.

Worse, manual DSLR focus won't work in real-time because the finder goes black while shooting video. You can't see much looking at a 3" LCD as things move around
.

Now the advantage in using a PELLIX mirror is that you can now use Phase detection autofocus vs other dslr like nikon,canon which use Contrast autofocus.
r

some of the possible advantages of using this design
The mirror is fixed so there will be no moving parts. That should help you to get sharper images (like on rangefinders)
3) The camera will be more silent!
4) The camera can take pictures (stills!) at over 10fps
5) can possibly use optical viewfinder ,(current DSLR that shoot videos have one drawback which is they can't use the Optical Viewfinder)
Source sonyalpharumors
Below is sonys patented design.
thesonypellixmirror.png
.
 
EOSHD.com adds a bit more
New Sony Alpha HD A33 and A55 cameras to get optical viewfinder and phase-detect AF in video mode

A pellix (or pellicle) mirror is a semi-transparent mirror employed in the light path of a camera, splitting the light beam into two separate beams, both of reduced light intensity.

Light passes onto and through the 'half' mirror, with a light loss of just 1/3rd of a stop. This enables a light beam to be split off into the top of the camera, at the same time as a beam powering the main CMOS sensor in a 'mirrorless' live view mode for video.

Shooters will now be able to film through an optical viewfinder whilst recording, and it doesn't stop there...

The secondary beam goes into a phase-detect AF system, for the fastest auto-focus of any video capable HDSLR to date. In a nutshell - for the first time video will benefit from a DSLR speed continuous phase-detect AF system and super-reliable AF tracking at over 24fps. I suspect (but cannot yet confirm) that Sony will have silent AF motors in compatible lenses, whilst older lenses will still function in video mode but AF noise will be picked up on the onboard mic.

As well as lighting a phase-detect AF system, the beam from the mirror goes into the traditional DSLR pentaprism optical viewfinder - all at the same time as providing the main sensor with an image just 1/3rd of a stop less bright than with a full mirror flip!

I believe this technology will steal Sony a leap on mirrorless camera systems like the Panasonic GH1 with it's EVF, and especially on traditional mirror based video DSLRs like the 5D Mark II which uses a complete mirror-flip to activate live view mode and video recording. This means the optical viewfinder and phase-detect AF features deactivate completely.

It is extraordinary that a device which has been around since the 1960's has now seemingly been locked out by Sony and patented for their video capable DSLRs. It has huge advantages for such a system, and other manufacturers (most notably Canon and Nikon) must be kicking themselves for not being quicker and more innovative in recognising the potential of this device.

I really do like to see this kind of innovation, rather than always squeezing the last 3% from the camera's imaging performance.Revolution rather than evolution!
 
Though I dont know much about pellix mirror, from the above post 2 things that dont sound great..

1. Loss of light while recording... i.e. things would go hectic in low (sometimes artificial) light..

2. Viewfinder will be way dull...
 
ashvarybabul said:
Though I dont know much about pellix mirror, from the above post 2 things that dont sound great..

1. Loss of light while recording... i.e. things would go hectic in low (sometimes artificial) light..
2. Viewfinder will be way dull...
Lost of light in pellicle mirror posted by sonyalpha and eoshd is solely based on wiki article of the old canon film based slr made in the late 80s ,the mirror used in 2010 could be very much different in performance,but as far as viewfinder it will still be better then EVF.
 
Back
Top