4 GIGApixel Camera

Johnboy2978 · Feb 8, 2005

Break out the check book. It seems to capture some nice images though.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,66498,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

ksmattfish · Feb 8, 2005

The best part about the 4 gigapixel camera?

It's a film camera!

Large rolls of Kodak film, used mostly for aerial photography and geological surveys, cost $1,200 each. The film is ultra-high-resolution -- 4,000 pixels per inch -- but on a square-inch basis, it costs less than 35mm, Flint said. He cuts the film himself and loads it onto the magazines.

This guy's best skill is his ability to market. He's getting a lot of press for his "new" techniques, which have been a part of large format and ultra large format photography for over a century now.

EDIT: And at a resolution of 4000 dpi the fancy government high res film has less resolution than such exotic films as Kodak Gold and Fuji Superia.

No wonder it's cheaper than 35mm.

doxx · Feb 8, 2005

I knew it had to do with these guys:

"The images are scanned with a Leica Geosystems scanner, a special scanner used in geoscience surveys and by NASA for space imaging."

thebeginning · Feb 8, 2005

um. i want one. no wait, i want 3.

Rob · Feb 8, 2005

Not wishing to rub anyone up the wrong way, but sensationalist figures do nothing for me:

"His last trip lasted six weeks, stretched 9,000 miles and resulted in 150 images."

3 pictures per day - errrr yeah.

thebeginning · Feb 9, 2005

true. although those might just be the good ones he kept. i wonder if it says how much each picture takes up in memory...

ksmattfish · Feb 9, 2005

Here is an article about ultra large format photography

http://www.mamutphoto.com/ULF/bigulf.html

4 gigapixel guy is only going 9"x13". That's on the small end of ULF; some of these folks are shooting 20"x24" (77 gigapixels at 4000 dpi).

SQ Bimmer · Feb 16, 2005

Very interesting stuff

Mumfandc · Feb 21, 2005

Is it just me, or does a 4 GIGApixel camera seem like overkill???

Based on that sample crop, it doesn't look any better than an 22MP sensor. Considering the weight of the thing, what is all that extra resolution necessary for except probably very special cases, i.e. Mars snapshots of rocks.