Creo Leaf Aptus 34 megapixel camera back
posted October 7th 2005 12:25PM
Let's face it: you need more megapixels, we need more megapixels, and apparently Leaf's Aptus 75 and 65 camera backs have more megapixels. They seem to be an upgrade of the 22 and 17 megapixel models that were released last year, but they're totally taking it up a notch with some sweet 34 and 28 megapixel action on these new Aptus backs. We're hard pressed to think of anything we really want to see that much detail of, but surely you professional photo types will come up with something. For instance a shot of the solar system, as shown? In the meantime you'd better start saving, the old Aptus line ranged from $19,000 to $30,000 (and remember, this is just the imager—you still need a sweet professional setup to tack this on to) so we're guessing they're not going to be handing these new ones out as expo schwag anytime soon.
The good thing about these MF digital backs is that in general, MF gear is in the middle of a major price drop on the used market.
With cameras like the Canon 1Ds MKII and the Nikon D2X coming close or even passing a drum scanned positive.
If you can find the money for the Leaf, you can probably find some pretty good deals on lenses from eBay ect.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ is a good place for information about medium format versus digital (including digital backs).
It's too bad the Leaf software is utter shit. Converting their proprietary raw format to a tiff takes forever even on the fastest G5, whereas the Imacon back takes about 30 seconds or less per image. 34 megapixels is nice, but the software is just craaap.
Kinda looks like the Hasselblad backs.
I second the 'Leaf software is crap' comment, not because of the speed (22MP leaf files take me less than 30sec to process) But because it's buggy and unstable.
Also the parent company is *really* Creo any more, Creo was bought by Kodak. Guess that would make it a Kodak Creo Leaf Aptus camera back... Any bets on how long it takes Kodak to distroy what's left of Leaf?
I can think of plenty of things I'd want to see that much detail of...
Anyone have any idea what type of sensor the Hubble actually uses? I mean, the largest shot ive seen has been pretty small .. Stick one of these suckers in there? Lots of detail.
My mom's a pathologist; i.e. she looks at slides of cell tissue and sees if it has cancer or something. I think she might have a 12 MP camera at her work, but that might not even be high enough. Once these cameras get cheaper, there would probably be a demand from the medical sector, allowing people to check their work even when out of the office or on a business trip.
I'll buy one when it fits in my pocket!
TtK
http://tofuthekid.blogspot.com/
Totally agreed about the crap Leaf software as well. Phase One all the way for me, can't wait for the new ones.
Haven't tried the Hassy H2 yet, either. I like the DNG support, so it has me interested. It's going to take a lot of quality to get me off Phase One though.