What you see here on top is actually the first digital “Mirrorless” Medium Format camera. Phase One will soon launch new digital backs for the [shoplink 30604 ebay]Alpa Medium Format cameras (here one eBay)[/shoplink]. Phase One is also using the Sony 50MP CMOS sensor on the A250 back (there are also two more backs with CCD sensors). This is the first Sony sensor “mirrorless” medium format camera 😉
Full press text at Mirrorlessrumors.
0 Responses
A mirrorless Alpa? The Alpa is not anything but marketing… save for the fact that it seems that there was behind the scenes going-ons that just happened (wink-wink) to coincide with one another.
Should indicate to Metabones a new market for them.
iPhone 5 as screen…….nice
iPhone and the holders are extra! The dumbest camera ever.
I can’t take the iPhone viewfinder seriously…
It’s one of the best screens out there on par with pro-grade monitors. It definitely is much better than what’s bundled into _any_ camera or digital back.
Nonsense. It is an okay screen not particularly high res compared to much of the smartphone competition now. As with any screen you are trying to view outside…not really ideal or practical (as with all apple screens.. too reflective)…certain not up to a dedicated EVF.
No one said it was an EVF and the fact that there are now competing smart phones that also have good screen doesn’t make the iPhone worse. We need to get away from this Highlander mentality.
Nothing to do withl a “highlander mentality”…But rather, it is about real usability…using an iPhone rather than a dedicated view finder is a joke….
I do it all the time. Doesn’t seem to affect my picture quality. Besides there is a dedicated screen on the back if you want to use it. Many medium format users are used to shooting tethered which is basically what this is—just more portable than hauling around a laptop.
They aren’t selling a new digital back or even a new “camera” in the DSLR sense. They are selling a new mount for your digital back. Different paradigm.
Shooting tethered on location involves a laptop with either a screen hood such as a iwork case, lapod or 4×4 floppy on a stand to drastically reduce the light on the screen. Tethering with a laptop screen open to light and reflections is not fun….as is this silly set up….
Agree. A swivel screen on the Phase One back would have been a better innovation. Arca stuck an iPhone holder on their RM3’s years ago. To me, both Phase One and Alpa are looking desperate with this announcement. The only real innovation is the recent CMOS medium format sensor architecture thanks to Sony.
Didn’t they drop the “H”?
Mirrorless mf with full mf flange distance dont see any advantage here
Maybe at least a distadvantage? Come on, at least try!
Why did they even have a mirror in digital medium format?
There hasn’t ever been fast AF anyway
Tradition. Absence of liveview on early (esp. CCD) sensors.
I was thinking about such a camera exactly, for A and E mount lenses, scaled down to shorter register and smaller budget.
+ 1
Finally a sucssesor to my trusty Alpha A200 – the Alpa A250! I hope it is under $500 & my Alpha A5000 kit lens fits!
I don’t know. Even the A200 had more external controls. This camera must be a bit more menu driven, so it’d be more of a successor of the A230.
This camera looks like c**p. Everyone knows that more megapixels doesn’t make a camera better……
(I’m being sarcastic here, playing along with the OP, just in case some people don’t notice it!)
It isn’t a successor to the A200, it has live-view.
That grip looks uncomfortable and there’s no ovf. I’ll take the a200 every time!
What’s exactly new here? All i see is IQ250 on a tech cam. Something ppl have been doing since day one of digital backs.
It is a very strange definition of a camera that Alpa use!
Basically, as far as I can tell, the Alpa bit is merely a frame that one fixes the Phase One back on the rear and a Rodenstock lens on the front. All the optics and electronics exist in the ‘add-ons’!!
This is a camera which costs $2000????
http://www.dpreview.com/files/p/articles/9012734727/040150010_DSC4161.jpeg
So basically a $2,000 lens adapter.
LOL. It is the wood grip (extra) that sets them apart! 😉
Must be the most expensive hole in the industry!
I belive that Kardashian is more expensive
Firstly, mirroless medium format existed last century… but this isn’t even the first digital mirrorless medium format camera – Hartblei released the HCam 4 years ago.
Old news, today’s click bait.
By the token of the logic of this post, view cameras are also mirrorless…DUH!
What happened to the Hassy SWC in your memories?
Well … yes, it’s going to be hideously expensive. But, for those who can afford it, more convenient than usual Alpa setups. You get lens profiles and other semi-automated features that make your life with the camera a lot easier. Plus the usual goodness of those incredible lenses. Smart move, I just wish I could afford one.
Please educate me – what is the point of this over Pentax 645z? Are the lenses any better?
The Pentax 645x has about 15 million more pixels than an A7R, each marginally bigger. So it’s about 40% better. For some purposes. Everything else is illusory.
I am comparing 645z to Phase One back for Alpa, Steve. What A7r has to do with it?
Many existing users, changeable sensor back and camera modules. Access to some of the best lenses ever made.
Pentax has weather sealing, reasonable lenses and cost effective, feature rich system.
So, what is the point again. Existing users of what? What lenses Pentax 645 does not have? For the price of the digital back alone you can buy 645z and all lenses you’ll ever need.
The lenses are among the best money can buy and the system is a joy from an aesthetic point of view. Workmanship is superb. But the 645z makes *a lot* more sense financially, handles much easier and covers many more situations. Unless you love fondling your camera, the 645z is probably the way to go. I’d still love to own the Alpa 😉
“The lenses are among the best money can buy”
What lenses and where are any tests comparing them to Pentax 645 lenses?
Unfortunately not. You just have to rely on the various reports from people owning either, or MTF. And I’m not implying the 645z is inferior in any way either. Just different systems with different strengths. I’d love to own either.
“You just have to rely on the various reports from people owning either, or MTF.”
Do you have a source of reliably MTF comparison of Pentax and Alpa lenses?
“Just different systems with different strengths.”
Still don’t see any strengths of Alpa compared to 645z.
Does this also come with the new real pixel electronic color filter APCS sensor?
It’s Alpha, not Alp… ah, ok. Thought it’s the new AX1..
I have a 1960 4×5 Toyo Mirrorless View Camera. It would be trivial to make an adapter to use my Sony NEX 5n instead of film. With the Toyo’s 150 mm Schneider lens it should be a great portrait camera. And just like the Alpa it would use a Sony CROP SENSOR!
Not anymore “mirrorless” than any other technical camera. Arca makes one, Cambo does, Sinar… The point is to have a camera that has TS movements. They all will set you back $5000+ with Arca being around $9,000 with no digital back and one lens.
Is this post a joke?