Mamiya Leaf new Leaf Credo Digital Back

[rick_reno]

http://www.mamiyaleaf.com/products_c...campaign=credo

New design for high performance and blazing speeds


Mamiya Leaf is proud to introduce the new Leaf Credo digital back. The Leaf Credo platform, comprised of the Credo 80, Credo 60 and Credo 40 featuring 80, 60 and 40 MP resolutions respectively, sets a new standard with an array of ground-breaking features like:

• A large, high resolution (1.15 megapixel), touch screen with excellent rendition of 16 million colors for quick and easy verification of focus and tonal accuracy;
• Fast, new dual-core microprocessor enables powerful performance for the fastest available image viewing, focusing and editing;
• A new, intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) offers easy navigation and extends the touch screen beyond the LCD area -- letting you navigate and click outside the image area;
• New FireWire 800 and USB 3 implementation for fastest image transfer speeds.

Planned from the ground-up for comfortable, effective shooting both indoors and out, the Leaf Credo display delivers high-resolution Live View functionality for precise focusing when shooting untethered. It also offers a wide viewing angle and a built-in bi-directional spirit level.

The flagship of the Leaf Credo platform is a full-frame 80 MP CCD sensor with a dynamic range of 12.5 f-stops. New to Mamiya Leaf is a full frame 60 MP CCD sensor with 3:4 aspect ratio providing unmatched detail, richness of color, low noise and beautiful tonality. Also available is the 40 MP CCD sensor which offers the fastest capture speed in the Leaf Credo platform at 1.2 frames per second.

The internal, replaceable lithium-ion 2900 mAh battery delivers impressive, long-lasting performance when shooting untethered; when shooting tethered, the battery charges from the connection cable to ensure that it is prepared for portable shooting upon disconnection. Leaf Credo includes advanced memory card technology which eliminates any buffering delays for effective untethered performance.

Pricing for the Leaf Credo 40 starts at € 14,995/$19,495. The Leaf Credo 60 is listed at €24,995/$32,495 while the Leaf Credo 80 is selling for € 29,995/$38,995. Shipping is planned for June, 2012.

[woos]

So basically, we can summarize:

We're going to re-use our existing sensor, add an $8 usb host adapter, a better $80 screen, a $30 dual core arm chip, and a new $15 battery. Then we'll mark it as a new line and price it $8,000 higher (or so) than our existing one that takes the same exact pictures! Whoops, I forgot the chips for the spirit level (oh, those are like 60 cents each in bulk? nevermind.)

Oh, medium format cam makers, how you amuse.

[andrikos]

Excellent synopsis woos.

Btw, CCD? I thought those things went the way of the dinosaurs...

[woos]

I think DALSA can make medium format CMOS sensors, so I'd imagine we'll see them soon. The CCD sensors have good IQ at base ISO, which MF cam manufacturers care about. They also have a lot of experience with them. I'd imagine this helps control R&D costs. I'm willing to bet that the real next gen digital MFDB stuff will be CMOS, though. Live view will be even more essential with >100mp than the pathetic "live view" that is implemented in some backs now (better than nothing, even if you must use an ND filter in the sun). I've heard rumors that the sensors themselves aren't really nearly as expensive as one would think, something like $1500 a sensor, but the unit price of the cams is simply so high because of the extremely low volume.