Sinar 54M and new 'blad and Mamiya digital cameras

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nathantw - 30 Sep 2004 06:38 GMT

Seeing all this talk about the "new" 22-mega pixel prices makes me wonder
why there's no talk about the "old" Sinar 54M. The price of the 'blad H1
with the back is about $30000. A V-series 'blad with the Sinar 54M (it's
22MP too) is considerably less with a SAM controller no less (about
$25,000).

I saw the difference between the 22MP shot and a Canon 11MP shot in a recent
magazine article and the quality is second to none in favor of the 22MP
back. However, at over $25k it seems ridiculously high considering in 3 or 4
years they'll basically be obsolete. I guess if you shoot catalogs or a LOT
of studio work for a living then it's justified. However, for Joe Not-a-pro
it's really just too expensive. That's why I can't see getting too excited
about announcments like these.

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Gordon Moat - 30 Sep 2004 19:37 GMT

> Seeing all this talk about the "new" 22-mega pixel prices makes me wonder
> why there's no talk about the "old" Sinar 54M. The price of the 'blad H1
> with the back is about $30000. A V-series 'blad with the Sinar 54M (it's
> 22MP too) is considerably less with a SAM controller no less (about
> $25,000).

Zeiss has an announcement on their site about developing new lenses for the
Sinar M camera system. Unfortunately, Sinar has not updated their site yet, so
their is little information. The Sinar web site is very poorly done, unlike the
products they sell.

> I saw the difference between the 22MP shot and a Canon 11MP shot in a recent
> magazine article and the quality is second to none in favor of the 22MP
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> it's really just too expensive. That's why I can't see getting too excited
> about announcments like these.

I think these systems are only intended for professionals, and more likely to
be on lease plans than purchased. While there may be some rich individuals that
buy these, I doubt the companies have much interest in that direction. One
problem with that strategy is that the better paying work in photography is
slightly in a slump at the moment, largely due to a great decrease in
advertising spending. We can hope that situation changes, but until is does, I
don't think too many of these high dollar systems will find their way into use.
The only area they might get more use would be product and catalogue
photography.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
<http://www.allgstudio.com

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Q.G. de Bakker - 01 Oct 2004 00:15 GMT

> Zeiss has an announcement on their site about developing new lenses for the
> Sinar M camera system. Unfortunately, Sinar has not updated their site yet, so
> their is little information.

And the Zeiss announcement only mentioned something probably starting in
2005, at the earliest.
So really nothing to show yet, nothing to give information about. Just a
declaration of intent.

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