Re: Whatever happened to Pentax?

David J. Littleboy wrote:
> "Pudentame" <no.one@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> I don't know if the market is really there for medium format digital, 
>> since all the MF digital I know of on the market are actually crop 
>> sensors, none of them actually 6x4.5, 6x6, or 6x7.
> 
> (Note that the actuall MF frame sizes are 42x56, 56x56, and 56x70mm.)
> 
> The current "cropped" MF digital sensors are 36x48, which is exactly
twice 
> the area of "FF", and so does have a theoretical advantage. It also
turns 
> out that MF lenses are razor sharp on 5D density digital sensors, so
24MP 
> and higher images that are painfully sharp corner to corner are a piece
of 
> cake for MF digital. Anything 24MP and over in FF is going to be a
stretch 
> for even the best Nikkor or Canon lenses at anything other than f/8 or
f/11.
> 
> David J. Littleboy
> Tokyo, Japan
> 
> 

There's also the cost. Medium Format film was affordable, medium format 
digital not so much, with digital backs selling upwards of $10K, 
although, IIRC, the Pentax 645D was planned to come on the market around 
$4K.

Medium format film thrived because even rank amateurs could afford it. I 
don't know if we'll see medium format digital get there.