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Digital Backs Vs. DSLRs: Is Bigger Still Better?
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Digital Backs: Legacies and Futures
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| The 33-megapixel Leaf Aptus 75 mounted on the 6x4.5cm Mamiya 645AFd II. |
As more and more professional photographers switch to digital SLRs, the number of medium-format camera makers has dwindled dramatically. Bronica and Contax have shuttered their businesses; Mamiya recently sold its camera operations to another company. Rollei's 6008-series cameras are attractive but incompatible with most digital backs. For the moment, Hasselblad is the primary medium-format player in the U.S.
Luckily, independent companies such as Phase One, Leaf, Eyelike, and Imacon (itself now part of Hasselblad) make digital backs for almost all major medium-format bodies produced during the past decade -- even discontinued models. Most of these cameras were developed before digital capture became a reality, yet even a 50-year-old Hasselblad can be fitted with a state-of-the-art digital back. (Just do careful compatibility research before buying.)
Last year, despite its corporate changes, Mamiya started shipping the Mamiya ZD, a 22-megapixel digital SLR with a nonremovable back and medium format–sized sensor. This first-of-its kind product is still not available in the U.S., though. Pentax, whose medium-format film cameras do not use separate backs, says it will ship its own integrated 18-megapixel medium-format digital SLR before the end of 2006. Both the ZD and the new Pentax will use existing medium-format AF lenses in their respective lens mounts, offering attractive alternatives to photographers who already own camera systems from either company.
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Digital Backs Vs. DSLRs: Is Bigger Still Better?
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