It’s been a year of upheaval for the medium-format digital photography world, but it seems that the key to survival may be joint ventures and cooperative efforts, such as the one that produced the Phase One 645DF, announced yesterday. The new camera is the result of Phase One’s just-announced partnership with Mamiya, while the 55mm, 80mm and 110mm f/2.8 lenses accompanying the new camera were the result of a thee-way collaboration between Phase One, Mamiya, and Schneider Kreuznach.
In March, Phase One announced that it was investing in Mamiya in order to leverage the engineering and marketing expertise of both companies to bring new medium format cameras to market.
The camera’s key technical breakthrough is its flash sync speed, which is 1/1600 of a second. The camera’s shutter speed range is one hour to 1/4000 sec. The camera also offers custom shooting modes—a first for medium-format cameras—and new “tactile” butons. A fully sealed eye-cup is said to eliminate ambient light, while an audio feedback lets the user know when focus has been achieved. The Phase One 645DF will sell for $5990, and is expected to ship before the end of the year.
For details, read the Phase One press release:
Announcing the PHASE ONE 645DF Medium Format Camera
The Perfect Body for your Perfect Back
COPENHAGEN, September 28, 2009 – Phase One, the world’s leader in open-platform medium format camera systems and solutions, today announced the Phase One 645DF camera. Digital Imaging for superior quality image capture and ease of handling, it sets a new standard for high flash sync speeds – up to 1/1600 of a second.
Also today, Phase One announced the availability of three new high performance leaf shutter lenses, 55mm, 80mm and 110mm, all f/2.8 and all designed with the Phase One 645DF camera in mind. The lenses are a result of close collaboration with Mamiya Digital Imaging and Schneider Kreuznach (see today’s related announcement).
“Our patent-pending flash sync breakthrough eases working with wide open apertures and fill-in flash on location,” said Jan H. Christiansen, Phase One marketing director. “We already offer the most flexible exposure times ranging from 1/4000 of a second to one full hour. Setting new performance standards is all about expanding creative options for photographers.”
The 645DF camera is the only 645 medium format camera which supports both focal plane and leaf shutters, expanding photographers’ innovative possibilities by leveraging the two shutter technologies seamlessly for world class photography, whether this involves ultrafast flash sync speeds or extremely flexible exposure times.
The new camera introduces many performance improvements over its predecessor. Capture responsiveness and autofocus speed is highly improved giving photographers up to 5 times faster performance in a typical fashion set up.
The 645DF also offers a breakthrough workflow improvement — custom-shooting modes. For the first time in a medium-format camera, photographers can “dial up” a pre defined mode, where the camera is instantly set up for a given shooting scenario, e.g. product, portrait or landscape photography.
Other workflow enhancements include new tactile buttons, a fully sealed eye-cup eliminating ambient light, improved viewfinder masks, and customizable audio feedback e.g. on focus lock. Several custom functions have been enhanced, without compromising simple navigation.
