Hasselblad Leads

Having not fully investigated your link if you're asking if nikon will ever go into medium format digital the answer is... maybe. There were some pretty heavy rumours about it right before the economy fell, rumour is that when the economy fell nikon put it on the shelf...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/mx.htm

http://nikonrumors.com/category/nikon-mx/

 

On the positive side, Nikon has great experience in making lenses for medium and large format photography. The 80mm f/2.8 Nikkor on my Plaubel Makina 67 is certainly my sharpest or equal to my sharpest medium format lens.

On the other side, Nikon has been building 35mm and digital 35mm bodies since the beginning with a deep understanding of what a photojournalist wants as well as enthusiasts. The D3x is at home in the studio, but still is built on the 35mm chassis. It is an area where Nikon has never ventured, thus no experience in designing, manufacturing nor marketing such a camera.

Cosina builds the Nikon FM10 and has some medium format capability, so they would be a possible fabricator. Fuji would be a better choice, but they are building the Hasselblads, so there would likely be a conflict of interest. Nikon built the Fuji dSLR bodies, but I have heard that current relations are not all that cordial, thus no successor to the S5 since it was announced in 2006. There are even fewer sources of sensors, primarily DALSA and Kodak. I have never heard of the Sony fab doing anything that large.

It is a small market served by Hasselblad, Leica, Mamiya, Pentax, Rolleiflex Leaf, Sinar and PhaseOne (assuming all are still healthy and in business) so I would not want to wager hard-earned money on the possibility.

 

Buy a GigaPan robot and stitch with the included software—or software of choice. The Hassleflex will only do a 200MP scene without movement, while the Gigapan software will do up to nine shots at each position, letting you avoid cutting vehicles or pedestrians into parts, or even doing HDR with a 9.0EV range. It will handle a D700 and most Nikon lenses for under a thousand dollars.

The Hassleblad certainly is nothing to write off, if you have clients that can afford it, but for an enthusiast there are less expensive solutions that give you entry into practical gigapixel resolutions.

 

I want the accelerometer focus setup from the new Hasselblads. That'd be great when shooting at 1.4.

 

There is software that promises to do that:
http://www.photoacute.com

Haven't tried it, so cannot comment if it works. You can get it for free, if you shoot about a dozen or so profile images with a camera/lens combo that is not yet in their database.

http://www.photoacute.com/studio/newcamapply.html

 

I really wish web designers would make web pages that had more intelligent information and intuitive designs on them. After about 30 seconds of watching images zoom in and out and trying to figure out where the content was I gave up and closed the page. I still have no idea what they are talking about.

Cliffs anybody?

 

if i really, really, REALLY need that kind of resolution, i'll pull my F5 out of the cupboard and load up with some Velvia or similar.

voila, far higher resolution than the 'blad @ a fraction the cost.

 

I really doubt you'd get the same resolution from a 35mm slide. Now if you shot 6x6 or larger I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

That is what we (DSLR shooters) have multiple focus points for, while Hasselblads H series just have one (center).

 

Nikon and Canon need to adress mediumformat photography... The D3x does not go far enough and the distance it does get to is very poor val for money in my opinion. 31mp Hasselblad kits can be had for 9500 sterling (who knows what discounts can be had if Hass or for that matter Mamiya are pushed????

35mm fullframe digital is starting to look a bit stale.

 

Gigapan is not the same as medium format - full stop. No DSLR will challenge the richness or dynamic range of medium format backs in my opinion.

 

But 35mm FF might very well be the biggest digital format generally available very soon. Medium format sales have declined about 30% a year, and this trend began before digital, well in the 1990's. Current sales of all MF digital backs and MF cameras are less than 6000 units annually. This doesn't create enough revenue to invest much in R&D.

That's why Hasselblad went through several bankrupcies. That's why Bronica is dead. That's why Mamiya doesn't exist anymore. "Mamiya" trademark is owned by MAC Group in the USA and they can put the Mamiya logo on anything they want, be it cereals, motor oil, diapers or digital cameras.

MF sensors are at least 2 years or more behind in the development compared to smaller formats. The current trend shows that medium format has become stale.

 

35mm film is still sharper and capable of higher resolving values than any digital sensor yet made.

 

I'm not really sure about that, I hear/read opposing comments. But it doesn't really matter to me, pixel peeping interests me in no way at all. In the end, I happily use both formats and could hardly care which is "best". :smile:

 

Not to start a film vs. digital war, but IMHO as a film shooter, that day has passed. My M9 out-resolves my film Hasselblads and probably my 6x9 Fujis when scanned with a 9000. Drum scan may pull them to even, but an Imacon costs more than an M9+most Summilux.

Take a look at the Hasselblad pics for the new camera. On the Benz, with a full car shot, you can read most of th VIN at full resolution jpeg. It's pretty amazing. I'd be very curious to see a 4X5 shot of the same subject.

EEssh. In the original Hassy material I saw, the Benz was a head on shot...if you can find the VIN in the OP link, Hasselblad has changed EVERYTHING!:biggrin: