The enhancement that will undoubtedly be the most welcome for prospective users is its greatly improved noise performance, thanks to a redesigned CMOS sensor chip, a change in fabrication provider, and a redesigned analog electronics board. At the same time, Kodak has improved the SLR/n's image processing, revamped the calibration algorithms to improve responsiveness, and improved its power management. Other SLR/n enhancements include a unique long-exposure/ultra-low ISO mode that lets you capture up to 60-second exposures at ISO 6 for exceptionally low image noise and unique time-exposure creative effects.

The net result of all these enhancements is a markedly more usable camera than the 14n, with most of that prior model's most serious limitations successfully addressed. Kodak still faces stiff competition in the full-frame d-SLR market from Canon's EOS-1Ds, but at least now they have a product that actually can compete, based on its not-insignificant merits. (And Kodak's proven track record of delivering continual enhancements and upgrades for its cameras through ongoing firmware releases holds the promise of future improvements and feature enhancements.)

But the very best news for current Pro 14n owners is that Kodak is offering an upgrade program, by which existing 14n models can be upgraded to nearly full SLR/n functionality and image quality, by swapping out the sensor and analog electronics board. Referred to as "14nx" models, the upgraded cameras will lack only the SLR/n's power management, and the slight processing speed improvement resulting from the new model's higher processor bus speed. All other features and functions of an upgraded 14n will be identical to those of a new SLR/n. This is unprecedented in the digital SLR world, and should give great comfort to current and future Kodak pro SLR owners. While not cheap, at a projected price of $1,495, the upgrade program is certainly a better deal than simply scrapping a current camera and buying a whole new one - and given what we've seen of the SLR/n's improved performance, we'd say that the 14n upgrade constitutes a very worthwhile investment.

Following is a list of key differences between the Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n and its predecessor, along with a detailed spec sheet and numerous photos of the new camera.

• New Sensor and IR filter: This is clearly the most significant change since the 14n. Here's a summary of differences between the 14n's sensor and the new chip in the SLR/n:
  • Design Rules: The SLR/n's sensor was designed with a new set of design rules, and fabrication was also moved to a different silicon foundry. The net result is what appears to be a very significant reduction in image noise levels.
  • Pixel Layout: The SLR/n's sensor has a different pixel layout, with symmetric photodiodes. This reduces the effect of greatly varying angles of light incidence on the sensor's color calibration. The 14n's sensor (and apparently most large image sensor chips) showed color shifts across the focal plane, particularly with very wide angle lenses operating at minimum aperture. The 14n dealt with the problem by carrying different "calibrations" for different focal length lenses, but an imperfect match could produce odd position-dependent color shifts. The new sensor in the SLR/n largely eliminates the problem, greatly reducing the need for custom lens calibrations.
  • New IR filter: In something of a departure, the SLR/n uses a dye-based IR filter, rather than the dichroic type used by the 14n and most other digital cameras. The dye-based approach sacrifices about a half-stop in light sensitivity, but reduces optical artifacts caused by internal reflection with the dichroic filter. (The problem being most apparent with lenses with elements that projected back into the camera body. The 60mm Micro-Nikkor was apparently particularly prone to producing a bright glint in the center of the frame when stopped down, the result of internal reflections in the near-IR range of wavelengths.) The long pass-band (e.g., visible light) "tail" of the dye-based filter's spectral response also apparently helps offset the higher red-sensitivity of the sensor itself, producing more balanced output levels between the red, green, and blue sensors. In the raw silicon, there's about a two-stop difference in sensitivity between the red and blue channels. When you combine this with the heavy color cast of incandescent light sources, the total variation in response can reach four or even five f-stops. You'd thus expect the dye-based IR filter to be particularly helpful when shooting under incandescent light sources, and the SLR/n does indeed appear to do a better than average job with such lighting.
• New Analog Board: Also likely a key contributor to the reduced image noise. Both the improved sensor assembly and analog board are available to current 14n owners as a $1495 upgrade.
• Higher ISO Capability: This is the result of the new sensor and analog electronics, but deserves mention in its own bullet point. The 14n had an ISO range of 80-640, and ISOs above 400 were only available at lower resolution settings. The SLR/n as an ISO range of 160 - 800 for JPEG, extending to 1600 for RAW only. The SLR/n's high-ISO capability is still markedly inferior to many D-SLRs, but it's a long ways ahead of that of the 14n.
• Faster Digital Processing: While both the 14n and SLR/n use the same TI DSP chip for their image processing, the bus speed between the processor and memory has been increased for the SLR/n, which should provide a modest increase in cycle times and buffer-clearing performance. (The processing speed boost and the improved power management mentioned below are the only two features of the SLR/n that aren't available to 14n owners under the for-pay hardware upgrade program.)
• Greatly improved power management: In the 14n, the power-hungry DSP chip was cranking away at full throttle whenever the camera's power switch was turned on. This led to very short battery life, even if you weren't actively shooting pictures - and turning the camera off to conserve power was often a difficult decision, because it took so long for it to wake up when it was powered on again. In the SLR/n, Kodak has figured out how to truly put the processor to sleep when it isn't being used, and to wake it up very quickly when the shutter button is half-pressed again. The net result is dramatically improved battery life over that of the 14n. (As mentioned above, this is one of the only two SLR/n enhancements that isn't available to current 14n owners as part of the hardware upgrade program.)
• Improved calibration management: One of the complaints about the 14n is that it seemed to be perpetually wanting to take a time out to recalibrate itself, and startup in particular was a very slow process. In the latest firmware though, Kodak has made the camera much more intelligent about it chooses to recalibrate itself, and how much calibration data it attempts to generate on startup. Specifically:
  • At startup, the camera only builds dark frame calibration data for "normal length" exposures. (Exposure times of a half-second or less.)
  • For shots longer than 1/2 second, the camera now captures an adaptive dark frame on the fly.
  • The camera is now more conservative about when it decides to recalibrate. Now, the camera will only run a calibration sequence if the ISO is changed, if there's been more than a five degree temperature shift, or if the camera sits for more than 12 hours in sleep mode.
• "Longer Exposure" mode: This feature has already been in the 14n firmware since about September of 2003, but deserves separate mention here, as it's such a significant extension of the camera's capabilities. In a special mode, with very specific longer exposure times, the SLR/n averages together multiple shorter exposures to result in very long overall exposure times, with very low effective ISOs, and very low image noise. Effective ISO can range as low as 6 (!), and exposure times as long as 60 seconds in this mode, with amazingly low image noise.
• Improved Firewire transfer rate: The SLR/n's Firewire subsystem has been enhanced, with the result that it can now do sustained transfers as fast as 12 MB/second. Kodak claims that this is as much as 8-10x faster than other D-SLRs, although we haven't independently verified this fact. (In point of fact, we don't think there are any memory cards on the market yet that can transfer data this fast themselves, so the issue may be largely moot.) Although Kodak didn't mention it in our briefing on the camera, we'd have to think that this is a third feature that wouldn't be included in the paid hardware update program for the 14n, since it involves the digital circuitry.
• Greater burst lengths: The SLR/n now offers burst lengths of 18 frames in 13.5 MP RAW mode, and 16 frames in 13.5 MP JPEG. (The version of the 14n we tested had a maximum burst length of only 6-7 frames in RAW mode.) RAW + JPEG mode unfortunately isn't improved as much, still being limited to 5 frames per burst, up from the 4 frames offered by the 14n. It's not clear whether the improved burst length performance is a function of increased buffer memory size, improved buffer management, or both.
• Digital and Camera setups can be saved for rapid recall. The SLR/n lets you record up to 10 camera setups for later recall, said setups including not only digital parameters (white balance, image sizes, etc), but camera settings as well. (This is another item that we're unsure whether it applies to 14n models with firmware upgrades.)
• New "Expert" noise-reduction mode: This is properly a function of the Picture Desk software, not the camera itself, but it deserves mention. The new "Expert" noise-reduction mode in Photo Desk more aggressively desaturates the chroma component of noise, while still preserving luminance data. The net result is that there's much less "flattening" of fine subject detail, even though noise levels are still significantly reduced. Since this is an enhancement to Photo Desk, rather than a camera attribute, it should apply to 14n images as well. Don't expect your 14n images to look like those from the SLR/n though, as there's still a lot more noise coming off of the 14n's sensor in the first place.
• Exposure tweak in 0.1 EV increments: In our review, Dave was pretty critical of Kodak over the 14n's limitation of 0.5 EV steps for exposure adjustment. Even given the better than average headroom in Kodak's DCR RAW-format files, he really felt that 0.5 EV increments of exposure adjustment were way too coarse. While it doesn't fully address the problem (because requires you to delve into the LCD menu system), Kodak has added an option to the Image menu that lets you tweak the exposure +/- 0.5 EV independent of the camera's exposure system, in 0.1EV increments. We don't know if this is a true shift in the exposure itself, or if it's just a tweaking of the parameters in the RAW files (we suspect the latter), but it's welcome nonetheless. - But as noted, we'd still much prefer to see finer gradations of exposure adjustment available directly via the camera's exposure-adjustment control.
• Port for LED in memory compartment cover door: This is pretty insignificant, but it's there, so we felt obligated to mention it. A small plastic light pipe now allows you to see the card-activity LED from the camera's rear panel, even when the memory compartment door is closed. Handy and welcome as a way to know whether the camera is done processing an image or series of images, but obviously not a critical feature.

Kodak Professional DCS Pro SLR/n
Dimensions	Height: 131 mm (5.16 in.) Width: 158 mm (6.22 in.) Depth: 89 mm (3.50 in.)
Weight (without batteries or memory cards)	907 g (2 lbs) without memory card and battery
Image sensor	36 x 24 mm, 12 bit, RGB CMOS Imager Total pixels: 13.85 million Effective pixels: 13.7 million
ISO range	Manually selectable - 160 - 1600 (Raw) in 1/3 EV increments or 160 - 800 (JPEG or Raw + JPEG) in 1/3 EV increments
Lens mount	NIKON F-Mount
Auto-focus system	TTL phase detection system, detection range: EV -1 to EV 19 (ISO 100 at normal temperature)
Number of focus points	5
Auto-focus sensitivity (ISO 100 with f/1.4)	-1 to 19 EV
Auto-focus assist	Integrated white light
AF Area mode	Single Area AF, Dynamic AF (Dynamic AF with Closest Subject Priority is available)
Focus lock	Available
Shutter	Electronically controlled, vertical travel focal-plane shutter
Shutter speeds	2 sec. to 1/4000 sec. (constrained in Shutter Priority and Manual Exposure modes), Bulb mode
Maximum flash synchronization speed	1/125 second
Capture modes	Single frame, continuous
Metering system	TTL full aperture exposure metering, three Metering systems available: 3D Matrix Metering, Center-Weighted Metering, Spot Metering
Metering modes	3D Matrix, Center-Weighted, Spot
Metering sensitivity (ISO 100 equivalent with f/1.4)	EV 0-21
Exposure Compensation	±3EV in 1/2 EV steps
Flash Exposure Compensation	±3EV in 1/2 EV steps
AE Lock	Yes
Exposure modes	Programmed Auto, Shutter-Priority Auto, Aperture-Priority Auto, Manual
Viewfinder	Fixed eye-level pentaprism
Viewfinder magnification (50 mm lens @ infinity)	0.75X
Diopter adjustment	+0.8 to -1.8 DP
Viewfinder eyepoint	17 mm
Viewfinder coverage	Approximately 92% horizontal and vertical
Viewfinder information	Focus indication, Focus Area, Metering System, AE Lock indicator, Shutter speed, aperture, Exposure mode, Electronic Analog Exposure display / Exposure Compensation display, Exposure Compensation / Flash Exposure Compensation value, Flash Exposure Compensation indicator, Exposure Compensation indicator, Flash Ready indicator, Focus brackets/Spot Metering area, Reference Circle for Center-Weighted metering, On-demand grid lines
Top Status LCD (backlit)	Shutter speed / Exposure Compensation value, Flash Exposure Compensation indicator, Exposure Compensation indicator, Flexible Program indicator, Flash Sync mode, Auto Exposure Bracketing, Focus Area, Battery power, Custom Setting, Aperture, Bracketing Bar graph
Digital LCD (backlit)	Capture information (interactive): White Balance, ISO, CF and SD Cards, JPEG quality, Raw and JPEG resolution, Crop aspect ratio, Microspect ratio Review information (read only): Current image number, current folder number, Crop aspect ratio, White Balance, Resolution, ISO Tool tips
Image LCD	2.0", 130,000-dot, low temperature polysilicon TFT LCD
Focus Screen	NIKON Clear Matte Screen 2 with focus brackets and on-demand grid lines
Custom Settings	Mirror Prerelease Bracket Order Grid Lines Focus Area Light Focus Area Wrap Focus Area Lock Soft Press AE-L Single Servo AF Continuous Servo AF AE/AF Lock Command Dial Meter Off Time Self Timer Time Top LCD Light AF Assist illuminator
AE Bracketing	2 or 3 exposures, 1/2 EV steps
Depth-of-Field Preview	Yes
Remote Control	Mechanical remote release or NIKON compatible remote releases
Self timer	Yes (Time set by Custom Setting)
Electronic Strobe	NIKON Speedlight accessory shoe, standard ISO-type compatible, D-TTL compatible with supporting Speedlights
ERI-JPEG image resolution	13.5 MP: 4500 x 3000, 6 MP: 3000 x 2000, 3.4 MP: 2250 x 1500, .8 MP: 1125 x 750
Raw resolution	13.5 MP: 4500 x 3000, 6 MP: 3000 x 2000, 3.4 MP: 2250 x 1500
Image file formats	DCR (Raw archive file), user-selectable compression level (ERI-JPEG)
White Balance	Automatic, Daylight, Fluorescent, Tungsten, Flash, Custom, Kelvin
Video output	NTSC or PAL selectable
Host interface	IEEE 1394 (single 400 MB/s port, 1394a-2000 small form factor interconnect)
Accessory interface	NIKON 10-pin compatible accessory interface
Removable storage	1 Type II CF+ compatible CF card, 1 SD / MMC card
Orientation sensor	Detects ±90° rotation about optical axis
Host software	KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Photo Desk, KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Camera Manager, KODAK PROFESSIONAL Extended Range Imaging File Format Module
Lens aperture	Instant-return type with Depth-of-Field Preview button
Built-in Speedlight	Activated by pressing the Speedlight Lock-Release button, guide number 17 (at ISO 200), flash coverage 28 mm or longer lens, ISO range 160 - 1600
Flash control	Controlled by 5-segment TTL Multi Sensor
Flash Sync mode	Front-Curtain Sync, Red-Eye Reduction, Red-Eye Reduction with Slow Sync, Slow Sync, Rear-Curtain Sync
Red-eye reduction	Yes (AF assist lamp)
Ready light	Lights up when flash is fully charged with built-in Speedlight
PC Sync Terminal	For attaching optional Speedlight
Drive mode	Single frame or Continuous shooting
Date and time	Date and time is associated with each image file. Can be reset.
Power source	KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro Battery or KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro Charger / AC Adapter
Power switch	Power On and Off positions
Exposure meter	Shuts off automatically after 8 seconds if no operations are performed. Activated by lightly pressing the Shutter Release button.
Battery power confirmation	In Top Status LCD when Exposure meter is on
Tripod socket	1/4 inch (.635 cm) JIS standard
Two-Button reset	Reset to factory settings
More Photos
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