Consider the following: 1 - It is believed that current top of the line 6 Megapixel SLR's (Canon D60 and Fuji S2 Pro) can match more or less the quality of 24x36mm film SLR's. I saw the pictures made with my friend's S2 Pro (and Sigma 15-30 zoom) and I have to admit it's true. nothing worse than you could obtain with your favorite film SLR and a first class lens. Maybe the Nikon D100 is a bit worse that Canon and Fuji, but not so far away. Such cameras are more or less half-format compared to 24x36 film cameras.
2 - Olympus tries to introduce a new standard for digital SLR's, whose format is half that of the 24x36 (linear) or one fourth the surface. The new Four Thirds (in case it will ever see light) should be 22.5mm (diagonal). 3 - Sinar (a well known manufacturer of large format view cameras) introduced at Photokina a 39x50mm 22 Megapixel, suitable for their new Sinar m camera and Sinar p3 tilt&shift bellows system. All of this stuff is a scaled down field camera system. 4 -The new Hasselblad H1 is no longer 6x6, it's 6x4.5. >From such kind of info, I'm thinking that the digital revolution could bring us a general downsizing in shooting formats. Maybe the Four Thirds standard (or any half-like format) will replace 24x36mm film, the 24x36 CMOS SLR's like Canon Eos 1Ds and Kodak DCS Pro 14n will replace medium format and the 40x50mm 22 Megapixel or (next year?) a possible new 55x70mm 40 Megapixel back will be the large format of the future. At that point, a revamped 6x7 with AF and the modern stuff could make little sense. It is better that Pentax will work on the 645D as quick as having their bottom on fire (a terrible translation of an old saying of my area meaning you have to hurry a lot). What do you think? In the mean time, Italian guys can read my Photokina report in a new website, while the rest of the world could look at the pictures and read the English press releases. The link is www.fotone.it Bye, Dario Bonazza -------------------------------- http://www.dariobonazza.com > > Well I remember a few years ago, someone here posed > > the question as to why Pentax had not introduced an AF > > 67 camera. I believe the general consensus was > > something along the lines that the motor required to > > focus such large lenses would be much too big for the > > camera body. But with USM the motor is in the lenses > > and are much smaller. Not to mention that each motor > > would be ideallized for the lens that it was in. > > > The question is whether there is a place for 6X7 at all except for film. If the 6X7 format makes sense in a digital future (I'm not sure. When does the law of diminishing returns (quality, price) start to set in for digital? 6 x 4,5?), we probably will see an AF 6X7 system. If not, the Pentax 67 will suffer a slow death. > > P�l > >
