Analogue to Digital

Bob Moog and The Canon 5D camera featured in this month's editorial in The Technofile by MC Rebbe The Rapping RabbiOn Sunday 21st August, synthesizer legend Dr. Robert Moog, passed away at the age 71. Having built his first electronic instrument, a Theremin, at the tender age of 14, the boy genius went on to design, produce and ship some of the world’s first modular synthesizers before graduating from Cornell University, in the summer of 1965, with a PhD in Engineering Physics…but that was just for starters…

In 1970 he changed the face of music forever with his creation, the Minimoog. The first (relatively) affordable and (relatively) easily transportable self contained keyboard synth, it captured the hearts and the imagination of an entire generation and was, quite simply, the sound of the seventies!

The impact Moog had on music…and even pop culture, cannot be underestimated. Without him electronic music as we know it might never have happened. If you wanted to find an equivalent in computing, you’d probably have to roll Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Clive Sinclair and that bloke who invented Moore’s Law (Moore) into one. As for music, perhaps the only real equivalent would be legendary guitarist Les Paul, inventor of…The Les Paul Guitar (but not the guitar itself) and home recording…but try finding a hip T-shirt with his name on it…

In 1977, Bob Moog left Moog Music to setup ‘Big Briar’, who, to this day, continue to produce innovative musical equipment, now, once again, under the name Moog Music, after Big Bob regained the rights to use his surname in 2002…which he promptly celebrated with the release of The Moog Voyager…a Minimoog for the new millennium.

Bernie Worrel, The Prodigy and MC Rebbe have all used/been inspired by Moogs. What more do you need to know? I say give Bob Moog a posthumous lifetime achievement award at this year’s GRAMMYs and I may just start a campaign!

And so from analogue to digital, with the news that in October, Canon will bring back one of their most successful cameras, The EOS 5…as…yes…you guessed it…the EOS 5D. Originally released in 1992 as their penultimate SLR, the EOS 5 (known as the EOS A2E In The States) became a firm favourite with semi-pros and enthusiasts and enjoyed an unprecedented production run of 11 years. It was finally discontinued relatively recently, but this October, The EOS 5(D) will, like a phoenix from the ashes, return to reclaim its heritage as the penultimate full frame sensor SLR in Canon’s lineup.

Yes you heard right…The EOS 5D will feature a 12.8 Megapixel full frame sensor and the same Digic II processor found in it’s big brother, the EOS 1Ds II, housed in a new compact magnesium alloy body weighing in at only 810g and while, with a SRP of £2500/$3300, it ain’t cheap, its price is significant for two reasons:

1) Until recently, anyone considering the switch to digital had a straight choice. Either pay a grand or so for a semi pro body that, because of its smaller than 24x36mm image sensor, would magnify the focal length of their existing lenses, requiring additional outlay on new digital lenses (many of which, truth be told, are of semi pro, not pro standard), or shell out 7…or more recently 5 grand for a full frame Canon 1Ds/1Ds II. Since many can’t justify the expense of the latter and don’t like the constraints of the former, they’ve decided to stick with good old film. But at only a grand more than a top end 35mm film body the 5D may just be the camera that makes many convert.

2) The original 1Ds was released in November 2002, at a price of 7 grand and featured an 11.1 full frame Megapixel sensor. Just under 3 years later you can get the 5D with a 12.8 Megapixel sensor for £2500, which should mean that within a couple of years or so, Canon will be offering a full frame sensor camera for around the grand mark and that really would be major news. If I were Nikon or Pentax, I’d either be very scared, or putting a lot of money into R&D…but since I’m not, I’ll instead put lots of money into RnB… Of course the 5D doesn’t solve the problem of digital latitude (though Canon do say that its sensor, which uses an updated version of the technology found in the 1Ds II, does feature improved latitude), nor does it solve the problem of colour rendition, which in my book has only ever been properly addressed by Foveon (and I’ll say it ‘till I’m blue, red and green in the face), but put it this way, if the EOS 5D lives up to its promise, then it’s the first digital SLR that I would seriously consider spending my shekels on, as a 5D slung over one of my shoulders would be sure to compliment the EOS 5 slung over my other.

MC Rebbe

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