Medium Format at a New Price

Hasselblad has announced a new Medium Format (MF) camera that brings a full kit to you for $18,000.

The New H4D-40 is a 40mp MF system that comes with an 80mm lens and viewfinder. Costs are coming down more and more all the time. Remember that the sensor size of these MF cameras is about twice that of a Full Frame 35mm DSLR. This means that better quality is becoming available at a lower price. For me (as of now) the MF days are over; but for those who shoot portraits, products, and do commercial work the MF days may be coming back around.

Diffraction

A great essay on Luminous Landscape by Nathan Myhrvold.

The full essay is here.

The quote that really explains the flip side of diffraction limitation is:

The diffraction limited aperture for 100 megapixels / 35mm full frame size is f/4.6 , 50 megapixel is f/6.4 . There are plenty of lenses where a 50 or 100 megapixel sensor will show some benefit. Indeed most macro lenses work well open. So do many super-telephotos like 300mm f/2.8 or 600mm f/4 – they are typically used wide open where there would be no problem with a 50 to 100 megapixel sensors.

We all know that lenses are, more often than not, becoming a hindrance before the physical diffraction of light, especially with wider angles of view. Most lenses get worse as you cross f/8.0 while 21 megapixels (35mm - full frame) suffers from diffraction around f/11.

So does your crystal ball look like you will have a 21ish MP camera with your wide angle set to f/11 while you have your 200-400/4.0DO HIS (dreaming) on a 50-100MP high speed camera and you just don't stop your lens down bellow f/6.4 - f/4.6?

Also remember that the 50D already has the pixel density of a 39 megapixel (35mm) full frame camera.

The only thing we know for sure is that the future will be interesting.