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Print ArticlePRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Kodak's DCS
Pro Back
Setting the Digital Standard
BY RICHARD LEWIN
TECHNOLOGY WRITER/CONSULTANT
The heart of this amazing product is the "KAF-16801CE CCD Image
Sensor," which, according to Chris McNiffe, vice president of sales
and marketing for Kodak's Digital and Applied Imaging Division,
stands for "Kodak Area Full Frame Area Array 16,800,000 Color CCD
with Blue Plus Technology."
In its effort to create the Holy Grail for studio and location
pros, Kodak has chosen Hasselblad as its first manufacturing
partner (Mamiya is its second, with the RZ67 Pro II). At a price of
about $20,000 (the CCD chip alone costs approximately $4,000), the
Pro Back is currently compatible only with Hasselblad's Model
555ELD ("Electronic Digital"), with more to follow.
KODAK PROFESSIONAL
DCS PRO BACK
SPECIFICATIONS
- ISO 100
- Bit depth: 36-bit color (12 bits per color) original capture
- Burst rate: 1 frame every 2 sec; up to 6 images buffered before CompactFlash card write or during tethered download of continuous images
- Storage: Up to 100 images with 1 GB IBM MicroDrives
- Power: (Tethered) AC; (Portable) Quantum Battery 2 Pack
- S-Video review: NTSC or PAL
- Size: 3.5 in. (90mm) tall, 3.5 in. (90mm) wide, 3.9 in. (100mm) deep
- Weight: 3.5 lbs (1.58 kg) with two cards and lens shutter sync cord
- Conforms to FCC Class A, CE Mark
- Class A Declaration, VsCCI Class A Certified
With its standard snap-on Hasselblad mount, the Pro Back features an "Image LCD" color screen for image review and menu selection. The review feature has a "Region of Interest" magnifier that's moveable over the captured image area for 1:1 close-up examination, invaluable for focus and composition review. The camera can be used portably with a Quantum 2 Battery Pack, or tethered via IEEE 1394 FireWire to a Power Mac G4, System 9.0 minimum. (Sorry, PC users will have to wait a bit.)
In portable use, the images may be written to a CompactFlash card or IBM
MicroDrive. In tethered mode, images go to the computer's hard drive. S- video output is also provided for TV image review. In an effort to make the photographer's work more efficient, the simplified menu system on the Image LCD never requires more than three button presses to make any selection.
As soon as the camera's shutter button is pressed, a 16MB file is created in the following sequence: 1) the Pro Back's CCD charges, 2) the shutter fires, 3) the shutter tells the Back there's an exposure, 4) the image is "wiped" to the CCD, 5) the image is sent to RAM. The file created is in Kodak's DCR ("Digital Camera Raw") format, and is usually converted to allow for editing with Adobe Photoshop or other imaging software.
SOFTWARE THAT'S HARD TO BEAT
Along with the DCS Pro Back, Kodak provides image viewing and
editing software called Kodak Professional DCS Capture Studio.
Besides the usual features of this type of
application—contact sheet mode, exposure control, file
conversion, color balance, etc.—it has some unique
capabilities.
First, the "Close-up" mode. Since the DCS Pro Back is used to
control extreme detail, Capture Studio provides an on-screen
"Close-up Marquee," a small "box" that's moved with the mouse, for
super-close-up pixel examination. Next is the custom-input profile
function, which calibrates the Back in the photographer's shooting
environment. The photographer can specify "Looks" profiles and
output files that are already available in the software.
A Macbeth Digital Color Chart is photographed in the studio, under
existing
lighting conditions, and the color and focus information are
retained in the software as a custom-input profile. Since
communication between the photographer's eye and the printer or
publisher is one of the most important factors in the production of
the final image, this is an extremely valuable tool because it
helps assure that what the photographer sees is what appears in
print.
LARGER THAN LIFE
Commercial shooter Akos Simon (www.akosphotography.com) works in the real
world of high-profile, demanding clients like Maybelline,
Lubriderm, and L'Oreal. Every pixel he shoots is critical to both
his reputation and his income. What attracted him to the DCS Pro
Back is its incredibly high 48MB file output size and image
quality. Since many of his images are published as billboards,
full-page glossy magazine pages, and two-page spread ads, featuring
brutally close facial shots—see his three images on this
page—he really needs the detail and control the Back
provides. The tremendous file size allows Akos to give his clients
"flesh," or extra image "air space" around the critical picture
area, allowing him to crop later to his customer's taste.
He also appreciates the Pro Back's relatively rapid shooting rate
of one image per every two seconds, since fast-moving fashion is
his specialty, and he never wants to lose the mood once he starts
shooting. His favorite Capture Studio Software feature is the
exposure compensation control. Even though he takes pride in his
ability to get the correct exposure himself, he admits the software
does an incredible job of evenly tweaking the exposure, simply and
much more quickly than he could do it manually. According to Akos,
the huge 48MB RGB TIFF file size gives a substantial image
foundation to the professional retoucher, minimizing any distortion
that might be produced by retouching.
Like every modern-day photographer, Akos always wants more from his
equipment. Although satisfied with this brilliant new Kodak
product, he has a wish list. Kodak, are you listening? A 70MB file
output size to allow for even more cropping and detail.
• A larger CCD in a rectangular format, since most images
published are not square like the Pro Back's CCD Sensor.
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