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Let’s Drop The RUMOR-BOMB: Fujifilm is forging a MEDIUM FORMAT CAMERA (Source Right in Past)


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And somebody already did make that 8 x 10 " sensor. :o

 

 

That's a classical case of "more money than sense"  :huh:

If you need a digital capture for the proofing of your 8x10" – just shoot the freakin' ground glass with any decent compact!  :lol:

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An 8x10 digital back that costs as much as a house, is only 10mp that he uses for proofing?  Does sound like a waste of money.

 

I do see the allure of the 8x10 format however.  I used to work on a HK Autofocus Enlarger, and would do 8x10 chromes.  Man you could really get those suckers huge.  I had to have a ladder to adjust the carrier.  Excellent detail too.

 

Does seem like he could have come up with a better solution for proofing though...

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That's a classical case of "more money than sense"  :huh:

If you need a digital capture for the proofing of your 8x10" – just shoot the freakin' ground glass with any decent compact!  :lol:

 

Haha, good point. You could even have a really nice light-sealed custom bracket/mount made for it, with worlds cleanest ground glass and it'd be a bargain.

 

Then make a 100 and sell the other 99.

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Made this illustration just as a food for thought. Keep in mind that "medium format" nowadays means "anything bigger than 24x36 mm".

 

attachicon.giflf-mf-etc-web.jpg

 

PS: No, I'm not dreaming of DLF, that would cost like a private island. 

6x8?  That's a rather unusual medium format. The "most important" one is 6x7 followed by 6x6 followed by 6x9

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Now THAT's like music in my ears! A digital medium format Fuji would be a dream come true! Please give us your amazing retro look/analog operation. Make it weatherproof. A sensor with a wide dynamic range and great noise behaviour, (3x4, 6x6 or 6x7 ratio). I personally don't care about video, so a purely photographic concept would be my preference.

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I am very excited by the idea of a Fuji digital medium format camera. I own two Mamiya MF film bodies right now and really enjoyed shooting with the Fuji GX680 III when I rented it for a corporate project in the early 2000s. I love the look of MF and continue shooting MF film because I can't justify the cost of MF digital – so I hope this new MF body will be priced in a range I can afford otherwise I'll continue to shoot MF film. I would want the new Fuji system to have interchangeable lenses and not be a fixed lens camera. I think a digital system that takes advantage of one of Fuji's previous MF successes would be smart and would provide a bunch of lenses for folks to use right away while a modern lens system is designed and built out. I suspect a MF digital mirrorless camera would be a big battery hog so it will be interesting to see how Fuji approaches this problem amongst others. Whatever it is I hope it is something a little different than the Hassy, Phase One and Pentax form factors.

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If true, it would make sense for Fuji to use Sony's 44x33cm sensor to both keep cost down and because Sony's tech is class leading. Now that Pentax has shown that a sub $10K medium format body is possible, Fuji could better the pricing. In my photo fantasy I'd like to see a consortium, similar to Micro Four Thirds, around a mirrorless medium format mount. Fuji, Sony, Mamiya-Leaf could be the first names signed.

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Really, really hoping this rumour comes true.  The Sony alpha rumour of a Mamiya 7 style mirrorless medium format seems to have fizzled.  I wish the companies would focus more on larger sensor than ever more pixels in APSC and FF.

 

Medium format makes a huge difference to the look of images: the fall off away from the in-focus regions, the dynamic range, the sharpness, everything about medium format is godly, epic and monumental.  Environmental portraits look amazing in medium format.  They look like works of art.

 

I also really hope someone brings out a camera with a square sensor at some point.  Composing on a 6x6 analogue camera is a dream.  Yes I know you can crop afterwards, but it's not the same.

 

Please FUJI, make an affordable, *portable* digital medium format camera a reality!

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Fuji had a strong partnership with Hasselblad 15 years ago. Collaborating in the design of the Hassy H-series cameras, and designing the lenses for same. I think Fuji manufactured the first H-series Hasselblads, most or all of the lenses of that period, and even marketed their own (Fujifilm) auto-focus version of the H-series known as the GX645AF. So a MF Fuji with a mount giving access to 60 years of Hassy lenses? OMG.

I can not find anything online to refute Fuji still building the Hasselblad. Word is that currently all Hasselflex lenses are in fact, rebranded Fujinons. If this is indeed true, it proves that Fuji is well capable of producing an MF camera, but may also be contractually blocked from doing so by Hasselblad.

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Hmm

I'm guessing a mf sensor wouldn't stretch to 6x7?

How about a 50/60meg sensor more of the size of 6x4.5 as in the old  GA645zi with a short zoom?

sweet....  

 

Give or take a couple of millimeters, medium-format in digital terms is around 33×44mm. In film terms, medium format began with 45×60mm. Roll film did come in 127 size mostly 40×40mm or 40×30. 127 was somewhat of an oddball size, located between 23mm and medium-format, but not considered medium-format. It is a bigger step from APS-C to full-frame, than it is from full-frame to medium-format. Were it actually medium-format, there might be more reason for excitement.

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I can not find anything online to refute Fuji still building the Hasselblad. Word is that currently all Hasselflex lenses are in fact, rebranded Fujinons. If this is indeed true, it proves that Fuji is well capable of producing an MF camera, but may also be contractually blocked from doing so by Hasselblad.

Fuji never manufactured Hasselblads (except the X-Pan of course). Fuji’s contribution to H series cameras is the prism viewfinder, also they have designed (to Hasselblad’s specs) and are manufacturing most, but not all of the H system lenses. The 28 mm, for example, is Hasselblad’s own design, as is the PC adapter. The central shutter and aperture assembly of each lens is Hasselblad’s design and manufactured in Gothenburg, Sweden, then shipped to Japan for the lens assembly. By the way, the Fuji-branded version of the Hasselblad H was also mostly manufactured in Gothenburg and Copenhagen.

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If you've shot MF in the past, you know that it is a different style of shooting than the highly portable and quick to use X series. MF made sense in film because a photo artist could produce huge prints without going to large format cameras.  If you haven't used one, I'd suggest renting one at http://www.borrowlenses.com/product/Hasselblad-H4X-Medium-Format-Camera-with-80MP-IQ280-Digital-Back?source=auto-suggest to get a feel for how the camera handles.

 

I personally like to use x t1 and x100s and upsize it in software.

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The thing is, upsizing or cramming more pixels into a smaller sensor just isn't the same as a larger sensor.  MF is qualitatively different from APSC.  It's not just about the detail, it's about the whole look and feel of the images.  I don't fully understand the optical reasons why, but MF and larger images just look more like works of art.

 

It's probably unrealistic to expect a 6x6 sensor anytime soon: at least not at a price that most people could ever afford.  But even just a sensor as large as the one in the Pentax (43.8 x 32.8mm) is a big step up from APSC.  Check out some example images from the Pentax: I don't think the lenses are that great, it's the sensor size and pixel size that give them that look. 

 

I have a MF analogue (Norita 66) which I absolutely love shooting.  But it's way too heavy to carry around all day, and digital has many well-established advantages over film (although I still love film!) so I'm hoping for a portable digital MF camera: there is really nothing on the market that you can use for travel and street photography.

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Why don't go to Full frame first ????

With the X100, yes please.

 

The success of the Fujifilm X-cameras with interchangeable lenses is their small size. Small cameras with superb IQ. Big cameras with superb IQ? Others can do that better. Very big cameras with very big sensors (MF)? I don´t know. Hasselblad, Pentax and Leica are already there. The market for MF is not very large. If Fujifilm wants a piece of the market share in the MF segment, they can do this with a low price. Significantly more inexpensive than Pentax. But low price an good quality doesn´t work in my option.

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Nah, Sony have FF in small package covered with the A7 and forthcoming A9 series.  I've got nothing against Fuji producing a FF --- sure, go for it.  But, I *really* hope they make a portable MF too.

 

See, what is absolutely missing from the market is MF sensor in small(ish) mirrorless format.  It's not a matter of competing with the existing MF market.  It's about creating a new market segment at a lower price point, stripped down to the basics in terms of interface and functions and, most of all ... portable.  I'm imagining a mirrorless MF camera that is smaller and lighter than a typical full-frame DSLR.  There were (and still are) analogue MF range finders.  Superb cameras that produce images that make even leicas weep with envy, which you can actually carry around all day with no problem.  Seriously, I would LOVE it if Fuji could make such a camera.  I'd even buy one with no freaking screen on the back if that helped keep costs and weight down (I know, crazy, but actually not being able to check every shot immediately makes me a WAY better photographer).  

 

Strip it down:

- manual focus only

- manual aperture control on the lens itself

- no screen (!) OK nobody else would probably buy this :-)

- a killer f/4 lens at 35mm FF equivalent (that's a 55mm on a 6x6 MF) ... trust me that's fast enough

- a BIG viewfinder like on a real MF camera

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