Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/02

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Subject: Re: [Leica] 32 bit digital cameras
From: Peter Klein <pklein@2alpha.net>
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 20:19:13 -0800

I can hear the marketeers sharpening their word processors now:

"Is your camera *only* 16-bit?  Your photos will not have that--je ne sais 
quoi--unless you upgrade to our new, improved 32-bit camera."  Yet another 
number to razzle-dazzle 'em with, along with megapixel count.

But what we're really saying is that going from the D60 to the 10D 
represents an upgrade to Windows 98.  :-)

- --Peter "Your camera has performed an illegal operation and will be shut 
down" Klein

>At 6:50 AM -0800 2/2/04, Slobodan Dimitrov wrote:
> >The Shutterbug talk made me think about it. And I'm going from memory here.
> >They had a piece on the 4 gig flash card. In it, they say that with current
> >cameras it turns into a 2 gig card, as one would need a 32 bit system to
> >activate the 4 gig capability. That can only mean one thing, a 32 bit camera
> >might be in the pipeline somewhere.
> >S. Dimitrov

And Henning Wulff replied:

>In this case 32bit refers to the file allocation system. The 16bit
>system used on most cameras (whether they produce 8bit/channel or
>higher images) can only address up to 2Gb. The 32bit system, called
>FAT32 (for File Allocation Table) can address terabytes, and is
>necessary to make use of anything over 2Gb.

>So the Canon D60 and the 10D are both high bit cameras, in that they
>can produce RAW files than can be converted into 16bit/channel (48bit
>RGB or 64bit CMYK) Photoshop files, but the D60 is not FAT32
>compatible, and thus using 4Gb cards in it is pointless, as it can
>only access 2Gb, while the 10D is FAT32 compatible, and can make use
>of any card now and in the next number of years.


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Replies: Reply from Eric Welch <eric@jphotog.com> (Re: [Leica] 32 bit digital cameras)