The BigShot did not meet the quality requirements for the high-end photography applications it was designed to handle. Blackstock added that Dicomed did not design or manufacture the BigShot. Engineering and production were handled by Loral Fairchild, which is primarily a defense contractor. Companies like this do one thing really well, noted Blackstock, and that is sell overpriced and under-performing products to large customers, generally the Defense Department. Dicomed paid a pretty heavy price for this.
Future products take note.
The lessons learned by Dicomed s pioneering efforts in attempting to bring a 16-megapixel camera to the market should be heeded by other digital camera makers, said Blackstock. Besides the development now going on at MegaVision, in a few months Phase One will be launching its new LightPhase H20, and Eastman Kodak now sells the DCS Pro Back. Both cameras use a 16.6-megapixel image sensor manufactured by Kodak s Image Sensor Solutions division. Blackstock s main concern is how the new crop of cameras will deal with color aliasing, as well as the dynamic range required by imaging professionals. Philips CCD used in digital camera backs today has by far the highest dynamic range, he said.