I'm not sure what the fuss over price is all about.
Look at it this way - 10 years ago, a top of the line computer cost the roughly the same as a top line computer does today. You get a whole lot more performance though.
Top line medium format systems have always cost roughly the price of a small luxury car. Even back in the days of film. In fact, if you adjust for the dollar value over time, I think my Hasselblad film outfit that I bought in 1990 cost me more than I just paid for my Phase One DF body and lenses.
In 1995, I paid over 30K for my Leaf DCB2. That back had a 4MP monochromatic sensor in it. Roughly the same money today just bought me a 60.5 MP back with capabilities that hadn't even crossed an engineers mind yet at that stage.
This is high-end professional gear we are talking about. Either your business supports it or it doesn't. If it doesn't and you wish it did, then ranting at the back manufacturers will get you nowhere. Have a look at your business model and its revenue streams and adjust accordingly. Take some responsibility for your own outcomes.
I am very pleased that Phase One, Leaf, Hasselblad, Leica and others are able to charge enough to keep their businesses profitable enough to fund the R&D budgets to give me and others a continued stream of new developments. These developments are the same ones the bleeding hearts are always ranting for - higher ISO, lower noise, more DR, blah, blah.
The fact is, in real-dollar terms, the cost of MF systems has been declining, whilst performance has increased significantly over the 20+ years I have been shooting MF.
My advice to the price whingers - build a bridge and get over it!
If those guys aren't making a profit, they go out of business, and that serves nobody in the imagemaking game, pro or amateur.
Sorry to be harsh, but that's life.
Look at it this way - 10 years ago, a top of the line computer cost the roughly the same as a top line computer does today. You get a whole lot more performance though.
Top line medium format systems have always cost roughly the price of a small luxury car. Even back in the days of film. In fact, if you adjust for the dollar value over time, I think my Hasselblad film outfit that I bought in 1990 cost me more than I just paid for my Phase One DF body and lenses.
In 1995, I paid over 30K for my Leaf DCB2. That back had a 4MP monochromatic sensor in it. Roughly the same money today just bought me a 60.5 MP back with capabilities that hadn't even crossed an engineers mind yet at that stage.
This is high-end professional gear we are talking about. Either your business supports it or it doesn't. If it doesn't and you wish it did, then ranting at the back manufacturers will get you nowhere. Have a look at your business model and its revenue streams and adjust accordingly. Take some responsibility for your own outcomes.
I am very pleased that Phase One, Leaf, Hasselblad, Leica and others are able to charge enough to keep their businesses profitable enough to fund the R&D budgets to give me and others a continued stream of new developments. These developments are the same ones the bleeding hearts are always ranting for - higher ISO, lower noise, more DR, blah, blah.
The fact is, in real-dollar terms, the cost of MF systems has been declining, whilst performance has increased significantly over the 20+ years I have been shooting MF.
My advice to the price whingers - build a bridge and get over it!
If those guys aren't making a profit, they go out of business, and that serves nobody in the imagemaking game, pro or amateur.
Sorry to be harsh, but that's life.