Every developer has a favorite technology
Which of these imaging technologies would you like to highlight?
- Horiuchi
- The high-resolution image that reaches all four corners of the wide-angle frame. This is an indication of high-quality optical performance. Also, I'd like people to notice the beautiful blur effect of the background.
Apparently, you are using a special technique to provide a beautiful blur effect.
- Horiuchi
- That's right. We used an eight-blade iris to adjust the amount of light. The more circular the iris is, the more beautiful the blur effect becomes, like when sunlight filters through trees or decorative lighting. Considering that a typical television broadcast camera uses around six blades, the background blur effect is very pretty when using the new lens to shoot scenes at night.
Comparison of iris shapes
The eight-blade iris provides a beautiful,
natural blur effect that is nearly circular in shape
- Koizumi
- From my position in CMOS sensor development, I would like to highlight not only the beauty of the background blur effect at night, but also the high-sensitivity performance, which ensures the entire image is beautifully captured in dark settings. That's where the strength of this sensor can really be seen.
- Nakayama
- I agree. We're confident that the high-sensitivity performance and broad dynamic range are in a class apart. At the initial outset of product development, there was some resistance within the company toward reducing the number of pixels, but we were very pleased that we were able to provide the image quality that we had envisaged and argued for.
I would also like to highlight image stabilization performance. Televisions used to playback video at home have recently become quite large. If you watch a high-image-quality video that shakes on a large screen, the negative effects are exaggerated and can create a sense of motion sickness. However, Canon's optical image stabilization technology ensures minimal camera shake, even when shooting while walking.
Canon's strength is its thorough pursuit of performance
Through these developments, what areas do you feel to be Canon's strengths?
- Horiuchi
- Regarding lens development, one of Canon's strengths is, as an optical products manufacturer, the company's culture of accumulating knowledge and design know-how, and of placing emphasis on high quality and high performance. We can't be beaten in terms of optical performance. We'll do anything to ensure this in technological development. The zoom lens with three moving lens groups is also a result of the team working together with passion and a sense of mission.
- Koizumi
- I think Canon's greatest strength is its system allowing developers to collaborate with each other within the company. We improve performance by seamlessly and effectively utilizing our own specifications and other related specifications. We also strive to make improvements up until the last moment of development. I don't think that would be possible in a project team including people from outside the company.
- Nakayama
- I think Canon's strength is its ability to draw out the highest levels of performance. As all imaging devices are developed in-house, it's possible to provide feedback immediately on issues and requirements from the perspective of concurrent product development. This makes it possible to conduct development that fully draws out the performance of both lenses and sensors.
We'd like more users to have access to the performance and functions available to professionals
Finally, what kind of advances do you think will be made in Canon's consumer video camcorders in the future?
- Koizumi
- It's fine that camcorders can capture beautiful still images, but I prefer a product that specializes in video. The areas I'd like to focus on include enabling more beautiful video capture even in the dark, further expanding the dynamic range, and enabling shooting at higher speeds.
- Horiuchi
- The zoom lens with three moving lens groups that we developed is still only used in high-end consumer products. We'd like to expand its use across all products. I think that users will recognize Canon's optical prowess in video camcorders once professional-grade technology becomes more popular.
- Nakayama
- I hope that user awareness changes with the arrival of this camcorder. It is a model boasting performance and functions like those used by professionals, so I think it can be used to shoot videos you could rightly call "creation." I hope that this creates a trend towards creating full-fledged video works that go beyond the scope of simple home movies, and that there will be more opportunities to present such works.
That really would mark the fulfillment of a developer's dream, wouldn't it. Thank you for the fascinating discussion today.
- The more I listened to the three developers, the more I felt their strong desire to enable general users to make use of the performance and functions available to professionals. I'm certain that there were substantial obstacles in development. These could not have been overcome without strong resolve. I felt that they have ushered in an era in which anybody can shoot beautiful video without any specialized knowledge.
