Nikon to announce 41mp MX sensor in FEB?
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hmmmm.. heard this before.. but I think it’s starting to gain momentum… 41MP MX (medium format) sensor for a rangefinder type camera…
http://nikonrumors.com/2008/08/22/nikon-digital-rangefinder-rumor-still-alive.aspx
http://www.nikonwatch.com/2008/09/04/nikon-digital-rangefinder-mx-format-medium-format-ish/
Didn’t Nikon make a few medium format range finders in the past ?
From memory they had an excellent 6×7 wide, though they’re rare.
(my memory is shot :D)
The only thing with medium format is the market is tiny compared to 35mm – I think something like 6000 medium format digitals per year, or what Canon make daily.
I would really love a fair priced Mamiya 7 digital – now that would be awesome..
I also hear rumors that the next round of top-end full frame 35mm’s will be over 50 MP’s.
(in about 2 years time)When will it end ???
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Agree with Morsie here. 48MP is astronomical. My iMac is loaded with the full 3GB of RAM it can take; it’s a 2.1Ghz processor. It can barely run Lightroom with 10MP RAW images (of course, I have about 30,000 of them in the archive). You’d flat need a Mac Pro tower (minimum $4k with monitor, and that’s not much of an improvement over what I have – you’d need to spend $6k right now to get in the ballpark). Ouch.
Also, my interpretation is a little different. Nikon is due for a D3x. Most people expect it to have range in the 20-25MP area. That would meet the qualifications on that ad.
I certainly think Nikon needs to release its next high-res pro flagship before going to medium format, especially since they currently have four (4!) 12MP cameras on the market (D90, D300, D700, D3) with more out there (D2x) in the used arena. Canon has a flagship that can make a print big enough to fit the side of a bus.
Zach
PS If Nikon goes to a digital rangefinder, that would be great too, but I’d rather see it stay in the DX range and focus on being portable and quiet. All rumors of the old F3D prototype that supposedly was out there seem to have died, but how cool would it be to have access to all of Nikon’s manual lenses with a digital back? They could just sell the back door for the existing F3s.
Kodak came out with a 50MP sensor recently and I would not be surprised if there are more 50MP backs on the market soon. It would be cool to see it in a Mamiya back soon, as well. I don’t know about putting them in DSLR’s as you can forget about anything over ISO400-600 and that kind of defeats the versatility of having DLSR body’s. IMO
Agree with Morsie here. 48MP is astronomical. My iMac is loaded with the full 3GB of RAM it can take; it’s a 2.1Ghz processor. It can barely run Lightroom with 10MP RAW images (of course, I have about 30,000 of them in the archive). You’d flat need a Mac Pro tower (minimum $4k with monitor, and that’s not much of an improvement over what I have – you’d need to spend $6k right now to get in the ballpark). Ouch.
Also, my interpretation is a little different. Nikon is due for a D3x. Most people expect it to have range in the 20-25MP area. That would meet the qualifications on that ad.
I certainly think Nikon needs to release its next high-res pro flagship before going to medium format, especially since they currently have four (4!) 12MP cameras on the market (D90, D300, D700, D3) with more out there (D2x) in the used arena. Canon has a flagship that can make a print big enough to fit the side of a bus.
Zach
PS If Nikon goes to a digital rangefinder, that would be great too, but I’d rather see it stay in the DX range and focus on being portable and quiet. All rumors of the old F3D prototype that supposedly was out there seem to have died, but how cool would it be to have access to all of Nikon’s manual lenses with a digital back? They could just sell the back door for the existing F3s.
I’ve got a quad core 3GHZ processor with 4GB of RAM and I keep an active library of about the same number of images…here’s the deal…
SATA 3GPS drives (raid on the workstation) and eSATA or FireWire800 connected SATA 3GPS RAID arrays for the external storage.. I store NOTHING on the local machine, all of the lightroom librarys all files..
Kodak came out with a 50MP sensor recently and I would not be surprised if there are more 50MP backs on the market soon. It would be cool to see it in a Mamiya back soon, as well. I don’t know about putting them in DSLR’s as you can forget about anything over ISO400-600 and that kind of defeats the versatility of having DLSR body’s. IMO
I agree, the worst thing about the medium format stuff (for my work) is the poor high ISO performance.
No doubt they will get better and better..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Yes, they will get better and better but I think the direction is wrong, in my own opinion only. The attention seems to be more on creating smaller pixels but then they turn around and cram the sensor with as many as possible. I think that the consumer has become obsessed with the marketing campaign of pixel count and dismissed the fact that this also has a direct effect on heat in the sensor. Granted a Hasselblad H3D offers a total of 39 mp and that a newer model is due out with around 50mp, which is great for larger print campaigns but at least Hassleblad was more honest about the heat/noise limitations by only having a max of ISO400 on the body.
I know that you know this as well, 10 -12 mp works out great for ½ – ¼ page high fashion spreads but more mp works far better for full page and larger spreads, where crisp detail is far more apparent. I feel that the backs will start feeling more and more pressure with the DSLR body’s and the amount of mp that they are cramming into these new sensors but the present consumer market may slow the process down as the limitations on the ISO will also have a direct relationship. Even though I have grown sick and tired of the heavy light washed out look, if I have to shoot this way, I will rent the equipment before I drop the $40,000.00 for a more limited cookie look cutter assignment. Now, if they were to start working on sensor cooling elements, I might rethink this but in the mean time, I believe the near future holds a justifiable surrogate from digital backs to DSLR body’s with newer prime lenses.
Yes, they will get better and better but I think the direction is wrong, in my own opinion only. The attention seems to be more on creating smaller pixels but then they turn around and cram the sensor with as many as possible. I think that the consumer has become obsessed with the marketing campaign of pixel count and dismissed the fact that this also has a direct effect on heat in the sensor. Granted a Hasselblad H3D offers a total of 39 mp and that a newer model is due out with around 50mp, which is great for larger print campaigns but at least Hassleblad was more honest about the heat/noise limitations by only having a max of ISO400 on the body.
I know that you know this as well, 10 -12 mp works out great for ½ – ¼ page high fashion spreads but more mp works far better for full page and larger spreads, where crisp detail is far more apparent. I feel that the backs will start feeling more and more pressure with the DSLR body’s and the amount of mp that they are cramming into these new sensors but the present consumer market may slow the process down as the limitations on the ISO will also have a direct relationship. Even though I have grown sick and tired of the heavy light washed out look, if I have to shoot this way, I will rent the equipment before I drop the $40,000.00 for a more limited cookie look cutter assignment. Now, if they were to start working on sensor cooling elements, I might rethink this but in the mean time, I believe the near future holds a justifiable surrogate from digital backs to DSLR body’s with newer prime lenses.
amen and amen on the larger pixels!
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