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Marko
19-Sep-2006, 13:30
Just saw this:

http://www.roundshot.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d438/d925/f934.cfm

It's scanning, it costs as much as a decent car, but it still is interesting to look at and read about.

Bruce Watson
19-Sep-2006, 14:11
...it costs as much as a decent car...

I've never owned a car that expensive. By a lot. I guess I need to recalibrate my own definition of decent then. Or quit spending so much on photography so that I can afford a "decent" car. Hmmm.....

MJSfoto1956
19-Sep-2006, 17:08
It's scanning, it costs as much as a decent car, but it still is interesting to look at and read about.
... and it's HUGE! and FAST! (and able to be handheld!!!)

Frank Petronio
19-Sep-2006, 18:07
OMG that is so cool. Who needs a sports car?

robc
19-Sep-2006, 18:26
when you work out how big it needs to be given the size of the sensor there can only be one conclusion. It's a strapadictome.

And who's got an index finger long enough to reach that shutter release.

Sheldon N
19-Sep-2006, 18:30
With a camera like that, I have visions of 4 separate models lined up, four sets of strobes, and four different backdrops. Put them all side by side, then just shoot with one camera and a wide lens. You can sort out the cropping after the fact.

It'd be just like shooting four P25's side by side, and a heck of a lot cheaper too!

Marko
20-Sep-2006, 04:48
I've never owned a car that expensive. By a lot. I guess I need to recalibrate my own definition of decent then. Or quit spending so much on photography so that I can afford a "decent" car. Hmmm.....

OK, that was something of an understatement.

My definition of "decent" when it comes to cars, cameras or most anything else, is something that's a grade or maybe even two above of what I actually can or am willing to afford. Does wonders for motivation...

:)

Marko
20-Sep-2006, 05:09
Once past the sticker shock, it is one sweet camera overall. But there is one line in their description that really caught my attention (italics mine for emphasis):

"Just like a traditional digital back the Seitz D3 scan back cassette can be removed from the 6x17 camera body and fitted to other cameras, e.g., the new Roundshot D3 360° panorama camera and, in the future, other large or medium format cameras."

GPS
20-Sep-2006, 05:25
I have to see yet a fool that would like to take "on exploratory adventures" this monster of more than 2.5 kg together with a portable computer and a hand control device so that he could -on his exploratory adventures - take handheld exposures of "1s for the entire 6x17 scan"...

tim atherton
20-Sep-2006, 08:03
aparently you can get a set of wheels for it so it can double as a skateboard:

http://www.roundshot.ch/pictures/Seitz-6x17-handheld.jpg

Alan Rabe
20-Sep-2006, 13:19
This is cool, but an absurdity. And people ask if LF as we know it is dead. When the alternative is 50g's it is not even arguable.

Doug Dolde
20-Sep-2006, 13:24
To me this is much more viable than a Phase One or Leaf back on a medium format camera....and at a similar cost. Note that they plan to make the digital module fit large format cameras.

This is a breakthrough camera. I can see the end of film coming.

Gordon Moat
20-Sep-2006, 13:40
. . . . . . . . . . .

This is a breakthrough camera. I can see the end of film coming.

So I suppose oil painting is definitely out of the question?

Ciao!

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

George Kara
20-Sep-2006, 13:45
Tim - that's funny.

You can also use it as a substitute for "the club" that attaches to your steering wheel to prevent car theft.

If you own of of these. You can certainly say that you have the biggest one on the block.

I have owned a seitz camera and they are really well made. The price does seem good for what you get.

Ill wait two years and buy a used one for $ 2,000 USD.

George

Frank Petronio
20-Sep-2006, 13:49
Even a mouth-breathing, four-eyed geek could get laid if he drove -- err... shot -- with one of these. But does it come in red?

GPS
21-Sep-2006, 02:27
"And people ask if LF as we know it is dead. When the alternative is 50g's it is not even arguable." (Alan Rabe)

Not only for that valid reason but for many other reasons too. With the technological progress the old fashion LF camera technology is now a no match for production. Therefore we see more and more high tech solutions on LF cameras unavailable before (compare the Titan use, or the Arca technical solutions with the former camera types, just for an example). Take the excellent Fotoman idea - these cameras will do for the spread of LF photography more that Linhof did in the past - all the generation that couldn't afford excellent Linhofs can now afford formats out of their reach before. I'm happy - for the Chinese photographic generation - that the Fotoman is made in China.
I'm sure the LF cameras and photography have a briliant future in front of them and not only there. The comming Photokina will surely show it too...

Marko
21-Sep-2006, 03:06
This is cool, but an absurdity. And people ask if LF as we know it is dead. When the alternative is 50g's it is not even arguable.

It is absurdity now, as was the 1 megapixel camera for $30,000 a few short years ago and as were the first plasma TVs.

The R&D cost on these kinds of technologies is enormous, and once that pays off and the item enters mainstream - read "mass" - production, the price will inevitably go down, just as it did in all the other istances.

BTW, this is not an alternative to LF. This is not even "reduced LF", this is LF. Only technology has changed.

Brian K
21-Sep-2006, 03:23
What's the big deal, I have 3 of them already. :) That has to be the goofiest looking camera I've ever seen. Did some one say that camera will get you laid? I don't think so unless you have other gear that is also proportionally as enlarged.

I do appreciate the link to the site, I am now considering one of the more reasonable pano cameras they make. But the idea of using a 35mm camera lens (28mm focal length) to cover 120 film seems like a mistake on their part. They do allow the use of the 28mm nikkor PC which might have enough coverage designed in, but I hardly think that a standard 28mm lens will cover MF film properly.

GPS
21-Sep-2006, 04:25
You made a point, Brian. It is entirely possible that this monster will turn the attention of photographers to the other 6x17 cameras on the market...

Darcy Cote
22-Sep-2006, 16:01
It isn't a big camera, the guy just has a small head.

Jim Rice
23-Sep-2006, 12:35
And as robc pointed out, way too short an index finger.

Alan Rabe
23-Sep-2006, 13:44
While it is true the first digitals cost a fortune and have come down considerably remember the target for your basic digital camera is the world. The target market for these type of cameras is very limited. Relatively speaking the target market is extremely small. This more than anything will keep the production down and the cost high. If Ebony had a target market 5 times is current market it could sell the cameras for a good bit less. R&D of new technology costs considerable amounts of money and manufactuers have to make a profit, and these days they want a considerble profit. They have MBA's and such doing profit analysis and various statistical studies to determine the expected market place which is why they want so much for this camera. If the demand proves to be greater then the price will come down a bit. But the general public is not going to buy one of these things.

Frank Petronio
23-Sep-2006, 15:43
Seitz makes specialty cameras that some photographers base their business around. In the largest cities there is at least one shooter who mortgaged things in order to get a hi-res revolving camera. Bob Watkins of Precision Camera Works has working on the more exotic stuff - building helicopter rigs and whatnot. Someone has to do it, right?

mq57user
24-Sep-2006, 11:54
Hi,
thanks for this tip. Now, here we have something that the world hasn't had and could not do without. But I think, I'll hang on to my Canham with its 6X17 back and my lenses and take photos the old-fashioned way. Cheers, Duschan

Taotao
25-Sep-2006, 13:27
what surprises me is the fact the scanning speed of this back is only 1sec in full resolution. The better-light 6K(137M pixel) has scanning speed over 30 seconds. 1 sec in quite useable for 4x5 shooters.

Marko
26-Sep-2006, 09:23
It's not the format of this camera that represents the breakthrough, but its physical size and also the scanning speed, as several posters have already noticed.