Steve Hendrix
Well-known member
Steve you always repeat the same thing about pixels, if a company propose only 60 - 80 - 100 mp they will loose customers
a company will offer some day a MF FF with 40 mp and a decent price and it will be a killer
I factually disagree. No medium format company has lost customers because they offer too many megapixels. Maybe they will lose you, Erick (which would be unfortunate), but overall, there is zero sales evidence that shows a loss of customers due to increasing megapixel counts. If this was the case, we would be selling more IQ140's and IQ160's than IQ180's, but this is not so, nor has it ever been.
Anytime a new sensor has been introduced with higher megapixels, even when the technology around the sensor is unchanged, the higher megapixel sensor always outsells the lower.
It doesn't mean there's an overt demand for higher megapixels, nor a repudiation of lower megapixels (though the evidence might actually point to this). But the decision to purchase always moves toward the higher.
I can see this tempering for the commercial market - indeed have seen this - but that is driven more by price (based on not just megapixels, but also sensor size) than the cost of the product. The ratio of high megapixel to lower megapixel purchases is more equivalent in our mainstream commercial clients than with other segments. But this is primarily because of the price, not the megapixel count.
As has been pointed out, whether due to technical constraints, or marketability/profitability, a large sensor (full frame, what have you) will never offer reduced megapixel count. And if it did, the cost would still likely be more prohibitive due to the large sensor size for the markets that would welcome such a product (those that might truly not need the higher megapixel count).
Well, actually, there already is such a product, a full frame 20MP digital back that has a fast capture rate and an expanded ISO range from 200 - 3200 ISO called the IQ180. It also has the option of shooting at 80MP's for those occasional projects that require large output/more detail.
Steve Hendrix
Steve Hendrix