When will medium format digital go mainstream?

[Light Guru]

What about in the future they will be able to put medium format sensors in smaller cameras, like the lieca m9 now, or sony rx1 (its 35mm but anyway), those are much smaller then a DSLR even...maybe we shall see medium format in smaller bodies? - then it might be mainstream!

If you put a medium format sensor in a smaller body its still a medium format camera.

Optically it just does not work that way. The image circle that lenses that are used on a full frame DSLR produce would not cover the larger sensor. So you would just end up with a large vignette on every single image.

The lenses on medium format cameras are designed for that size sensor.

 

[Light Guru]

Why would everyone want a medium format camera?
When the pixel size gets too high, it becomes difficult to get clear clean hand held shots.

But most things don't need extremely high resolution to look good when viewed.

http://www.focus97.com/blog/photogr...ned-how-much-do-i-need-and-what-is-it-anyway/

 

[Patrice]

As he manufacturing costs of sensors go down we see increasing numbers of 135 size cameras and this might well continue in the future. No reason we can't extrapolate significantly reduced costs for 4x5, 6x6, 5x7 or even larger photographic sensors. A caveat though is that larger sensors will require larger bodies. A second caveat is that larger sensors also require larger lenses, and we are not seeing lens cost lowering as sensor costs do. Seems like just the opposite is happening, good glass keeps getting more expensive. Hasselblad, Mamiya and Rollei MF glass is not cheap. I think the cost of the glass is what will keep MF digital from going 'mainstream' for quite some time yet.

 

[StandingBear1983]

As he manufacturing costs of sensors go down we see increasing numbers of 135 size cameras and this might well continue in the future. No reason we can't extrapolate significantly reduced costs for 4x5, 6x6, 5x7 or even larger photographic sensors. A caveat though is that larger sensors will require larger bodies. A second caveat is that larger sensors also require larger lenses, and we are not seeing lens cost lowering as sensor costs do. Seems like just the opposite is happening, good glass keeps getting more expensive. Hasselblad, Mamiya and Rollei MF glass is not cheap. I think the cost of the glass is what will keep MF digital from going 'mainstream' for quite some time yet.

I know that the camera will need a whole new set of lenses to fit medium format...take for example Pentax with the 645D for example...its not 30k$, its about 9000$, so that's what I'm talking about...could they make it even cheaper in the future?.

In addition, medium format this year went down by 22% if my memory serves me well...so i don't know if things are getting more expensive as you claim :
Price Reduction

Now you can go as far as your dream will take you – for a lot less money.
We’ve discounted prices on a number of models by up to 22.9% - that’s a massive 3,565 euros off the cost of a new H4D-31 (incl 35-90mm lens). And now our ultimate photography tool - the H4D-60, is down 6,200 euros to €23,900. Offer available until 31 December 2012.

There is a rumor they did that because of the Nikon D800. so...what do you say now?, bring facts to the table before stating claims

Another thing, to the folks that say "why do you need that...you don't need all the rez..." - who needs video on a DSLR, who needs ISO 25,000?! - this is very stupid excuse me...technology is advancing...you don't NEED a camera that makes coffee but someday you might get it, with the advancement of technology..just like a few years back, one would say, who needs GPS or wifi on a camera, but hey now its getting on the mainstream....see my point?.

 

[skieur]

The problem is that medium format is a small market for companies to compete in. Research and new design tends to go into the largest markets were the greatest profit is possible. Moreover, when the quality gap starts to close between full frame "35m" digital format and medium format then there is less motivation for a regular digital shooter to move to medium format.

skieur

 

[Derrel]

The problem is that medium format is a small market for companies to compete in. Research and new design tends to go into the largest markets were the greatest profit is possible. Moreover, when the quality gap starts to close between full frame "35m" digital format and medium format then there is less motivation for a regular digital shooter to move to medium format.

skieur

Yes, I think you've got the three main points sussed, right there skieur.

 

[fjrabon]

I think we'd see a complete paradigm transition in photography to something we're not even imagining before we'd see medium format go mainstream (something like a more refined version of https://www.lytro.com). One issue is that things are increasingly going cloud based, which makes file size become an issue.

While there has been a move towards full frame, very slightly, there's been a much larger move to iPhone and the like cameras making up a large portion of what is called 'photography'.

If the thought process stayed exactly like it is right now with photography, you'd perhaps see size, weight and price drops bring medium format to the main stream public in about 15 years. However, there's a good chance the field of photography is fairly radically shaken up by then anyway.

 

[panblue]

so that's what I'm talking about...could they make it even cheaper in the future?.

Probably a bit, but not much. The objective is to make money. To bring the product to market and make a return means $9k per unit. Unless there is a big increase in consumer interest for big,boxy cameras (which there won't be), the price stays high.

IMO, in ten years, digital medium format will be history. The 120/220 neg size was to achieve a level of quality using film. A piece of film needed to be that big to deliver that image. Not any more with digital. Look at how the Foveon X3/Merrill cameras are progressing. In a few years, these will surpass MF system. Maybe some kind of convergence between Foveon, Lytro and certain software, where camera-movements, DOF and resolution becomes achievable, in a new way.

 

[Buckster]

The problem is that medium format is a small market for companies to compete in. Research and new design tends to go into the largest markets were the greatest profit is possible. Moreover, when the quality gap starts to close between full frame "35m" digital format and medium format then there is less motivation for a regular digital shooter to move to medium format.

skieur

Yes, I think you've got the three main points sussed, right there skieur.

None of that will matter when Apple comes out with one in 5 fruity colors called the i645. Apple stores will be overrun by fans eager to get one of each color, their stock will shoot past 2k because of it, and Nikon, Canon and Sony will rush to catch up, while Google's Android-based 6x7 model gets pushed by Samsung. In no time flat, FF DSLRs will be treated like flip-phones.

 

[fjrabon]

so that's what I'm talking about...could they make it even cheaper in the future?.

Probably a bit, but not much. The objective is to make money. To bring the product to market and make a return means $9k per unit. Unless there is a big increase in consumer interest for big,boxy cameras (which there won't be), the price stays high.

IMO, in ten years, digital medium format will be history. The 120/220 neg size was to achieve a level of quality using film. A piece of film needed to be that big to deliver that image. Not any more with digital. Look at how the Foveon X3/Merrill cameras are progressing. In a few years, these will surpass MF system. Maybe some kind of convergence between Foveon, Lytro and certain software, where camera-movements, DOF and resolution becomes achievable, in a new way.

yep, you stated what I was trying to get across much more succinctly. I feel like we're at the precipice of a few major break throughs in digital photography that have nothing to do with sensor size.

 

[panblue]

so that's what I'm talking about...could they make it even cheaper in the future?.

Probably a bit, but not much. The objective is to make money. To bring the product to market and make a return means $9k per unit. Unless there is a big increase in consumer interest for big,boxy cameras (which there won't be), the price stays high.

IMO, in ten years, digital medium format will be history. The 120/220 neg size was to achieve a level of quality using film. A piece of film needed to be that big to deliver that image. Not any more with digital. Look at how the Foveon X3/Merrill cameras are progressing. In a few years, these will surpass MF system. Maybe some kind of convergence between Foveon, Lytro and certain software, where camera-movements, DOF and resolution becomes achievable, in a new way.

yep, you stated what I was trying to get across much more succinctly. I feel like we're at the precipice of a view major break throughs in digital photography that have nothing to do with sensor size.

I responded to the OP, then saw you'd referenced Lytro before me.
Lytro seems to be being sort of "blanked" by many photographers, at present..
maybe it needs to be a feature of the iPhone6 or NEX10 etc.
I think that's a very significant consumer-orientated technology that isn't going away.

Let's hope Sigma don't do a Kyocera/Contax with their Merrill X3camera-line, either ;-)

 

[jamesbjenkins]

So, the natural evolution of my thinking on this line of discussion is "what does this mean for people trying to make money at photography, even as a source of regular auxiliary...when the gear we use, the same gear that used to be a wall to keep most rank amateurs out, becomes more accessible to the average consumer?"

The answer goes back to people skills, excellent customer service, integrity and producing compelling, timeless images that will look great a whole helluva lot longer than whatever crap Instagram vomits up this week or next.

Just my $0.02, sorry that it's slightly off topic...

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Buy a Mamiya, Hasselblad, Contax, Yashica, whatever medium format film camera..scan the film...BOOM! Medium format digital.

 

[panblue]

Remember about twenty/twenty-five years ago..on a job CV..if you could say
that you were 'experienced with computing', right?
Think of how it is now. Who even really asks! Consumer photography is
bigger now than I can ever remember. Everytime I go out, I see people
with smartphone cams, SLRs, m4/3s everywhere.

The camera manufacturers could sell MF quality to the masses in a new
device, but not sell MF systems to average snappers, in the same way.

Reel-to-Reel IMO is comparable to MF. Expensive and over-complex for
Joe Average. So they invented CD as a scaled-down compromise which
also surpassed the sound-qualityof a typical C-90. Very expensive in
1984 but cheaper by 1986 and very cheap by 1988.

Joe publics' awareness is growing and evolving ..just saying..

 

[rexbobcat]

I find the Lytro novel but kind of pointless. It might become part of the mainstream soon (or not so soon) but I still find it more of a hassle than it's worth.

Does anyone else feel the same way?