I've been reading specs on this new Canon that's coming out Q3 and I'd like a more technical response as to quality, workflow concerns, enlargeablity, sample images, and how the file would respond to Quantum Mechanic and Genuine Fractals. Will this at all approach the quality of capture of its big brother DCS 520 that costs 10 times more? This camera is supposed to be $1,500.

-- Phil Pool (goode@igalaxy.net), May 26, 1998

Answers

Comparing the Canon Pro70 to the Oly D600-L, the Kodak DC260 and the Nikon CP900:

The new Canon Pro70 has a 1/2 CCD and the second fastest shutter of the bunch (1/8000). The Zoom only goes from 28mm (f/2.0) to 70mm (f/2.4) (equivalent to 35mm camera) making it the shortest lens of the bunch. The burst mode is the best with 4 frames a second- fastest of the group. Does not appear to have spot metering. It records sound. It will sell for about $1000 from reports (list at $1500) making it the most expensive of the group. It takes two CF cards at once (big deal- I know how to remove and replace these). Same resolution as the DC260. It apparently has no built in flash.

Just looking at specs, I would choose the DC260, but still await the reviews on production models.

-- Randy Glass (frcn@cncnet.com), June 14, 1998.

Don't forget the Pro70 has no internal flash but has a hotshoe for use with a 220EX or 380EX (the specs on the latter are impressive). This will cost you more but give you a far superior flash.

Other Pro70 features that the competition won't: uncompressed output format, aperture priority and program mode exposure control, TTL viewfinder, ISO 400 available for half-size images, remote shutter release port, 10 bit CCD.

If the results are as good as the specs I will be seriously tempted to sell my D-600L and get a Pro70. I might miss the (slightly) longer lens of the D-600L but neither is truly a long lens, and I will definitely use the wider wide end (28mm vs 36mm) of the Pro70.

-- Ben Jackson (ben@ben.com), June 17, 1998.

I'm very excited about the specs for the pro70. It seems like the state of the art is finally reaching a practical price point. Things I like include the speed of the lens, the hot shoe flash, an LCD screen that actually works (we hope!), the 2 CF slot system (you need 2 to juggle images from one card to the other) and Canon's reputation. I'm waiting for this one.

-- John Foote (jonfoo@ptinet.net), August 11, 1998.