Dicomed Field Pro.

The FLAAR photography crew just returned from six months extensive photography of Mayan antiquities in Guatemala and Honduras. Here is a report on whether a digital camera can withstand such rough treatment. It sure helped to have a Dicomed Field Pro when you are constantly on the road.

Here is the entire Dicomed system being offloaded onto the beach at Punta de Palma, near Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. This is near the southern border with Belize, in Central America. The camera survived the entire expedition. Heat, humidity, constant use, did not seem to phase it.

When people ask whether the quality of digital photography approaches that of film, I have to bite my tongue before I comment that Dicomed quality exceeds aspects of the quality of even 4x5 inch format film. To demonstrate this, I show them a scene of Guatemala City, with a wide angle lens, where they can zoom in to read the words on a billboard which is two and a half kilometers from where I took the snapshot.

Every contract which I have won in the last year has been largely due to being able to offer the quality of a Dicomed digital photography at close to 4 x5 inch format.

The Digital Camera Back insert is pictured in the image to the left. This is the Dicomed version adapted by Better Light to allow the Dicomed to do panorama and circumferential rollouts.

This portable suitcase carries the processing unit for the entire digital system. The cable at the left goes to an Apple Macintosh PowerBook 3400 (240 MHz, 144 MB RAM), where you can view the images in Adobe Photoshop.

The double cables in the middle go to the Dicomed insert . The insert fits into the back of any standard 4x5 inch camera. So when we speak of a "Dicomed digital camera" what we really mean is a Dicomed insert with its Dicomed processor.

The entire system is portable, indeed both the PowerBook and the Dicomed operate on a battery. Extra batteries are available for each system, so you can use it anywhere.

The entire Dicomed system suitcase fits into the overhead rack on an airplane, so the Dicomed can go anywhere in the world

All of this is managed by the software, in this case by Better Light, since this particular Dicomed unit is retrofitted with a Bayhouse turntable, Better Light panorama and turntable capability.

Design updated April 9, 2001.
Updated March 3, 1999; additional links added Jan 23, 2000.