Sinar’s New Medium Format Back

Sinar’s new Sinarback eXact boasts an impressive 12-192-megapixel capabilities within a single back. While it’s just been announced, and so far without a price, there is definitely a catch or two…

In fact, the true resolution of the sensor is ‘only’ 48 megapixels. The back uses a technology similar to that of Hasselblad’s multi-shot system, where multiple images taken as the sensor is literally moved over by fractions of a pixel (give or take), resulting in a final, massive file. Hasselblad’s solution is the 50MP multi-shot, resulting in a 200MP image. So how new is the Sinarback eXact? I’m not so sure we can say it’s that new at all.

Even worse (and this really is bad), power has to come from a Firewire connection, making tethering necessary. Of course, you would likely only use the multi-shot feature in a studio where everything can be perfectly controlled. But what about landscape shots or even shooting at those lower ‘single-shot’ resolutions? This is a little silly. Then again, a low price could make this pretty awesome for what it still is.

Time will tell as more specifics come out, though it’ll certainly be interesting to see how newly released medium-format digital solutions will be priced alongside cameras such as Nikon’s D800.

Update: David Nguyen let us know in the comments of a source that has the back for practically $34,000. That may seem pretty good for what you can compare it to (mainly the Hasselblad 50MP Multi-shot), but as far as I’m concerned — and especially considering the camera’s other limitations — this is a huge miss. You can be sure only a handful of people will be getting this for only a handful of applications…