As one of those guys that has been holding to the sidelines a bit longer, I have to say that this latest splash by Hassy does catch even more of my attention. I am at that point of replacing DSLR gear and have been churning that entire mess also. Have not seen anything new from Canon on their 1-series, which has been my bread and butter gear for some years. The Nikon stuff looks good, but switching will be rather costly. The Sony A900 has held my attention from its release, and find it more attractive as more folks shake it down (thanks, Marc and others for making all of this harder).
So, while the market for the images I (we) produce has changed dramatically, I am not convinced it will stay that way as things bottom out and start to recover. There may be a lot fewer slick mags and stuff in this new "austerity economy", but there will be more billboards and other "local" uses of images to promote things....think about more locally developed and distributed (small run) brochures and stuff. Starting to see that already, and folks that walk away from a seller with a nice piece of material in hand usually go back to them when ready to buy. Good images will be used, and although Internet marketing is very strong (read that as less demanding on image requirements for the most part), it still is not the only vehicle to reach the buyer. Can most things be shot with a DSLR? Sure, but not everything will look nearly as good. At least that is how I am seeing some of this coming through the smoke of this economic conflagration.
With that in mind, this latest shot by Hassy has moved me more toward that buying choice. I still love the S2 concept and what it promises, but I fear Leica still not getting it with respect to cost, and also taking them a lot longer to fill out their line-up of lenses and stuff that one may want to use. This is where Hassy is really starting to show its edge. That HTS device, though very pricey, suddenly looks more viable as one moves up, as does the rest of the lens line-up, which is quite complete, especially if they can get you in the door with a strong entry camera like the H3DII-31. This is already at the price point some of us are hoping Leica may hit with the S2, and this gets you into a complete system line that is ready to go, not promised several years out. Lots of glass in the secondary market already also. Hassy stuff works.....works well....and is a very complete system today. Anybody buying into it now would not be waiting for needed pieces or lenses. They would be able to get things fixed or rented out much more easily if needed. They are not dropping a new body or something into the market every couple of months, like Phase/Mamiya (at least not yet), nor are they keeping folks wondering if they will even be around, like the Hy-6.
So, long worded way of agreeing with some folks that this is a both a great temptation and a great entry point for some DSLR folks that have been waiting for the point to jump into MF. Personally, I may hold just a bit longer, but this looks to be a pretty decent siren to pull folks in.
LJ