The GetDPI Photography Forum
Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!
Kodak 50MP sensor
- Thread starter Graham Mitchell
- Start date
woodyspedden
New member
Well John, like you I love my 200 series (203FE) and am sending it in to have it converted for use with the CFV II back. Then I can sell my other 500 bodies and use all of my V lenses, whether CFE, CFI or just CF with the modified 203FE. Hard to believe how long a life you can get from such equipment when you realize it was designed to last basically forever. Obviously not at state of the art performance levels but very satisfactory for real image making. The 503, with the CFV II back and the 40 CFE IF lens is still really a stunner. At the price ($12,500) this combo is hard to beat.
Woody
Stuart Richardson
Active member
The reason the 200 series was not a success at the time was because they charged 7000 dollars for the freaking body. Just the body. In the mid 90s. I lucked out picking mine up on ebay before they took any of the digital backs, and it was a steal. I agree that it is one of the best cameras ever made, but it was priced more than any comparable camera today. It was more expensive than even the Hy6 is today. It was priced like Alpa.
Jan Brittenson
Senior Subscriber Member
The 50MP image sensor is priced at $3500 in volume.
Graham Mitchell
New member
What volume, out of curiosity? If there are only 10,000 digital backs from all brands being sold each year, then I assume that the number of 50MP backs sold per year will be 1000 at most. Maybe Hasselblad will be the only back maker using it, and Dalsa's larger 60MP chip will be stealing much of the high res market. (I have a feeling there is more news to come, too).
woodyspedden
New member
Well I was lucky to find a used 203FE in mint condition for $2800. It costs another $500 to have it modified for use with the digital back (CFV) and included a full CLA to assure the body met its specs. I should have it back soon and will buy the CFV II kit with the 40 CFE IF lens (i already have one) and sell the new one to reduce the pain.
For sure the 203FE and CFV II with the spectacular Hassy 110 2.0 is unbeatable for portraiture (IMHO). So after selling the 40 CFE IF for about $4K I will have invested a total of $8.5K in the 503 Digital kit and will be using the 203 as well. I will eventually pare down to just one of these bodies and for now at least I would guess the 203FE will win out.
Great stuff
Woody
For sure the 203FE and CFV II with the spectacular Hassy 110 2.0 is unbeatable for portraiture (IMHO). So after selling the 40 CFE IF for about $4K I will have invested a total of $8.5K in the 503 Digital kit and will be using the 203 as well. I will eventually pare down to just one of these bodies and for now at least I would guess the 203FE will win out.
Great stuff
Woody
woodyspedden
New member
Stuart
You are absolutely right about this. Photographers had other options which worked well and the price for 200 bodies was out of bounds.
Lucky for all of us today the competition is driving prices. Companies can't get away with pricing as they once did. Just too many options for that to happen.
As I said in another thread, three cheers for capitalism! MF is, and at the volume levels, will likely remain expensive. But there are four (five if you count Rollei) chasing those few customers and we keep getting better and better products. Not cheaply but we do get them.
Will be interesting to see how Leaf and Sinar respond to the higher pixel wars, especially if Phase does have an exclusive arrangement for the 60Mpx Dalsa chip.
Interesting times
Woody
Yevgeny NP
Member
Sinar does have a focal plane shutter system for more than 4 years. It is a Sinar-M, and you can mount all Hasselblad lenses on its AF Module. Actually, we rent the Sinar-M without lenses to a Hasselblad 203 shooter and he uses his own lenses without any problems.
BTW I am a bit surprised that Sinar missed the opportunity to introduce a new focal plane integrated (not Modular) camera with a possibility to mount Rollei 6008/Hy6 optics. As I heard Zeiss has dropped the Sinaron-Hasselblad mount line of AF lenses. Even without Zeiss Sinar has all the ingredients for the success. They have a precise shutter (Sinar-M), very good AF and metering electronics (Hy6) and access to the sensors. IMO Mamiya ZD camera was not a professional product and its limitations are well known. I think that a compact modern multi -mount (Rollei + Hasselblad) camera will find acceptance.
Yevgeny
Stuart Richardson
Active member
I think the Sinar M may have a similar problem to the 203FE/205FE -- it is an interesting and capable system that is extraordinarily expensive. I am not saying it shouldn't be, but the reason that very few people are aware of it is because of its price. The 2008 SinarBron USA price list has the Sinar M at 8588. I am not sure what that includes. But to give you an idea, the list price of the AF 120/4 macro is 8156, the 180/4 is 9707, 40/4 is 12367 (!). Even the standard 80/2.8 is 6538. This is the most expensive kit I have ever seen. The lenses and body alone cost more than most digital backs, so it is no wonder that not many people have even heard of it.
Jan Brittenson
Senior Subscriber Member
No idea, probably 1000s. But you could probably get 100s at close to the same price. If you're in the market.
Graham Mitchell
New member
Here is how Kodak priced the 22MP chip back in 2006:No idea, probably 1000s. But you could probably get 100s at close to the same price. If you're in the market.
First 50 pieces purchased $14900
Next 50 pieces purchased $9950
Next 400 pieces purchased $3450
Next 500 pieces purchased $3200
If Hasselblad is the only company using the 50MP chip, then think about how many they might sell. The entire digital back market is about 10,000 units a year. I expect Hasselblad sells around 2000 of those but that covers all their backs. They might only order 500 of these 50MP sensors to begin with.
Then look at the pricing model above. Although the volume pricing was $3200 'in volume', if you did only order 500 units, the price was $5245.
In other words, buying hundreds or buying thousands makes a big difference to the price.