Mamiya Announces New Medium Format DSLRs
Mamiya, famous for their venerable range of medium format cameras, has announced the release of two new lines of medium format DSLRs. With megapixel counts between 22MP and 56MP, the four new cameras are at the leading edge in the medium format arena.
While hard and fast stats have not been released, and while the press release last week is heavy on information about new lenses, it is exciting to see Maymiya bringing more options to the medium format market.
While the initial prices for even the DM22 and DM28 lower range cameras will likely be in the multiple thousand dollar range, Mamiya still describes them as, “priced at extremely attractive points.”
Which brings me to a question for our readers; For camera body alone, when does a medium format camera like those from Mamiya start to become a realistic choice for your photography?
35 Responses to “Mamiya Announces New Medium Format DSLRs” - Add Yours
October 8th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Medium format? Hmmmmmmm … maybe $5,000 might get my attention as long as the image quality knocked my socks off. Would love to try one for a bridal shoot!
October 8th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Years after I move to full frame. Full frame has 2.3x more area than my Sony Alpha, and Medium Format 2.3x that. Small steps.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I think the price of the D3x is still unobtainable for even professionals. I think that once the chips get to the next level the medium format resolution will become a reality at the price point most of us will save our pennies and jump in. A camera that costs the same as my car isn’t going to happen.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:51 am
I think the real question is, how many people really need to print larger than 12×18 (which is quite doable with a 12 mp, non-full frame sensor today).
Just curious… :)
October 8th, 2009 at 9:54 am
The jury is still out on this one.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Unless Mamiya and Hasselblad (and any others I’m not thinking of) drastically lower their prices, it will probably never happen for me. I’d be more likely to buy a full-frame DSLR.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Megapixels aren’t so much an issue for me as sensor size. Bokeh, DoF and optical quality all tend to be greater on larger formats due to physical properties. I’d take a 10mp camera in medium format if it existed just because MP isn’t an issue for my output media.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
It would probably have to be in the $1000-$2000 range. Otherwise it seems like it would be easier just to go with one of the full frame DSLRs and get more features for not much more. If it’s any higher I’d rather just shoot film I think. Even without developing B&W myself, $3-4000 or so buys a lot of film and I can scan it higher than 2x MP on my scanner at home. If the digital backs have higher DR range, even at low ISOs compared to FX, it might be tempting to spend more.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
“A camera that costs the same as my car isn’t going to happen.”
Exactly. If I had a car, that is. I think the people who really need the gear already have it or will buy it, but for the rest it’s much better to wait until no revolutions in sensor technology make more quality and MP available for the masses. And remember, it’s not about size, it’s about the person behind the camera :)
October 8th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
“For camera body alone, when does a medium format camera like those from Mamiya start to become a realistic choice for your photography?”
When you can make enough money at what you do to afford a camera that expensive.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I have a Canon EOS 500D/Rebel T1i that I bought 3 months ago. It’s my first DSLR, and I hope to use it for at least the next 5 years. Photography is a serious hobby for me, so I’m not really looking to become a professional and invest in pro gear. Instead of spending on a medium format body, I’d rather spend on lenses and travel for shoots.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I’m pretty happy with my 5D Mark II currently but if they had the 22mp body with better dynamic range and lower noise with good lenses I would probably go in for $4-5k on the body.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I agree with most other people here. I have a medium format camera already, but it’s a Holga so I’m not sure it counts. :-)
For a medium format digital, if one shows up for 2000 €, I’d probably buy it right away.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
If the price of the lower end is not a lot higher than a 1DS MKIII or D3X, then why not ? For a studio photographer it would be all but unreasonable…
I’m not interested in medium format today especially because I need a good high iso performance. D700 is perfect to me, but if I could have a camera with the same high iso performance in DX format, I would prefer it because there is a lot more choice of lenses for that format. In the contrary, if a medium format camera could offer a 2 stops improvement in high iso (like D700 vs D300), it would be a choice I may consider.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
It would just not interest me in paying so much for a camera.
I would have to be seriously rich and have money to burn before I considered paying several thousand for any camera.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I can make 20×30 prints off my 6mp Nikon D50 and wall size with my D300s so I’m not sure what medium format is going to get me.
http://www.petelanglois.net
October 9th, 2009 at 12:01 am
I’m still bewildered how “mega pixels” are still misunderstood. Pete Langlois is right… in a way… “more” mega pixels does not mean “more” quality. However, there are differences in quality between cameras too. Just because you have a 10MP point and shooter doesn’t mean you’ll be able to take better pictures than an 8MP Canon 30D. What I mean is, just because you have the mega pixels to blow up a photo to “wall size” doesn’t mean your camera gave you just as good a quality photo as say a medium format camera would. It’s like spending $30,000 on a new 500HP Camaro SS verses spending $85,000 on a new 500HP Mercedes Benz… They both have the same horse power but which car is going to be of higher quality and give you a better driving experience?
October 9th, 2009 at 12:12 am
I’m curious – if you’re not shooting for a billboard or fashion – what’s the point of digital medium format? Most of what’s available at the DSLR level is orders of magnitude beyond what most people do with it anyway. The Canon 1 Ds is about $8k. If they made a medium format camera for $12k, I might save up to have it in my retirement age (40 years from now). But >$15k for a camera when I’m not making serious bank off my images is just insane. I’m already very impressed at the quality I’ve gotten from my 400D at 20×30. I can’t imagine how much better a full frame camera would be. So medium just seems ridiculous to me.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:10 am
@Eric (and others) the real point of a medium format is not pixels. Its that enourmous canvas. It allows the large number of megapixels to have less noise and higher saturation.
If I had the buget I’d jump at a medium even for smaller prints – simply because the finished product is amazing colour-wise and definition-range-wise.
And of course the fact that you have less noise, also means your ISO ratings have the potential to get better.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:11 am
Seems pointless to me. 35mm digital is good enough IQ-wise, smaller and easier to handle, is way more functional, has better continuous shooting and a vast selection of lenses. Outside very specific niches, to pay 20k or more for a camera body is preposterous.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:16 am
@Joe Moffet
Still seems like a helluva lot of money for someone who doesn’t do it for a living. I’d like to have one for a day and take photos side-by-side with the best Canon and see if I can even tell the difference.
October 9th, 2009 at 4:35 am
The camera wars that we constantly see these days remind me of this quote:
“The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don’t know what to do with it.” – Edward Weston
The question i would pose to any photographer (including myself) is:
For your skill level alone, when does the equipment that you already have start to become incapable of what you are able to do with it.
October 9th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Very well put Andrew.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I shot for years (28 to be exact!) with the same Mamiya C220 twin lens reflex camera – with NO extra lenses. I loved the quality of the images. I could trust that camera. I knew exactly what it would do in every situation.
I finally went digital with a Canon 20D. While the image quality is not the same, its passable. All of us have lowered our standards in order to use the digital medium.
I would love to have digital features with medium format image size, BUT for a working photographer, whose investment capital comes from actual photo sales, these cameras are completely out of reach. At these prices, they are nothing but toys for rich boys, who don’t have to feed their families off the income from their work.
October 9th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Price point is one important factor. But lens compatibility may be just as important. A medium format for $5000 that functions properly with my Nikon lenses with an “N” on them would get my attention!
October 10th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Isn’t it that when you have a picture with a lot of megapixels you can zoom digitally maintaining the quality by sacrificing print size (wich everybody says does not need) ?
October 10th, 2009 at 6:16 am
When I have the money I am going straight past FX and right into medium format!! No question. I will spend what it takes!
October 12th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I have a Sony a300 with a 18-70 and 75-300 lenses. There are so many types of photographs that I still need to take that if I buy anything new, I know that I will just get diverted. For a hobbyist like me, I prefer to master my equipment before adding anything new, even if its just a filter.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I feel a sudden need to hire a Nikon D3x and a medium format camera for one day and let the cameras do the talking. As a competent landscape photographer, I would love a bigger format than my current Nikon D300.
As for the Mamiyas…….well I once photographed with a friend who had one and it was always causing him grief. So if you have the money to buy medium format, I would first look at the Leica S2. Anyone concur?
October 16th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Its not the MP that counts, its what you do with them!
it sounds great all those pixels, but another year and we will see small format cameras with that many, unless your shooting fine art for hanging in galleries, I doubt most people would notice, and of course it doesnt stop with the camera, the lenses will be priced at a similar level.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Yeah, yeah! But what about the same person shooting the same thing at the same time? Would Tiger shoot the same scores with hickory shafts and feather filled golf balls?
October 20th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
@sapperchris
Not really, I think the megapixel races, at least in the smaller sensor cameras, are petering out. Thankfully. There just reaches a point where the average consumer actually suffers because of it, when you lose saturation and gain noise just to have more megapixels. It seems like camera makers are putting a cap on it, or at least slowing it down.
Still though, agreed that sensor size matters far more than megapixels.
October 24th, 2009 at 3:02 am
“For camera body alone, when does a medium format camera like those from Mamiya start to become a realistic choice for your photography?”
When I can afford it. Not before.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:05 am
i rencently purchased an olympus e-620 an have no idea how to use sorta frustrating love to take photos but now night photos are a serious challange something that with my 100 dollar camera seemed to be no problem. then the cost to learn to use is beyond my range i saved for a year for this one. any suggestions would be great
November 6th, 2009 at 5:35 am
Where I would think that the larger sensor size should excel is NOISE at higher ISOs. Noise is the digital equivalent to film grain and that’s the main reason that pros shot medium format over 35mm. Same would be true of medium format digital, but the makers don’t seem to get that yet. By putting the same density of pixels on a larger chip, they are getting more total megapixels, but not necessarily less noise.
I think photographers would be more likely to go with medium digitals if they could get similar megapixels, but better noise performance at high ISOs (compared to their 35mm counterparts).
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