Hasselblad "true focus" system

Hasselblad has an introduced a new innovation (their "true focus" system) that just goes to show that there is plenty of room for improvement for future AF systems. It's an interesting read:

http://www.dpreview.co​m …09/09092802hass​elblad.asp

Wow - that is awesome! (if it works.)

That would be useful!

Very cool. Man that's a lot of money!

Looks pretty simple, but that's it - simple ideas that are actually implemented and work are great ideas.

I'd imagine it takes around $10 in hardware to be able to do this, so unless HB hold a tricky patent on it, this will be the selling point for new DSLRs in a few years time.

Interestingly, it's the same sort of sensors that are used in in-lens IS systems anyway. Wonder if Canon or Nikon could get the data out of the lens and use that to implement something similar.

No way the hardware that precise would cost only $10. The yaw detector and the chip sets along would probably cost thousands of dollars to manufature.

60MP. you'd need several 32giggers. and terabytes on the comp to boot.

RiaGurl wrote in post #8751656
60MP. you'd need several 32giggers. and terabytes on the comp to boot.

yup, but if you can afford one of these a few hundred for hard drives and memory cards is hardly a dent in the budget

Doubt it - I think you just need an accelerometer to measure the change the camera angle as you adjust your composition by tilting the camera - and solid state accelerometers are now so common that they are found in iPod touches. Unless you work in an environment with an ever-changing direction of the acceleration due to gravity etc (in which case I think you can turn it off) - it should work pretty reliably.

I don't think the software will be that hard to write either - but this may only work with lenses that already report distance information for E-TTL II.

Just curious, who uses these cameras? Considering they cost around $45,000?

fs454 wrote in post #8774798
Just curious, who uses these cameras? Considering they cost around $45,000?

A friend of mine is VP of marketing for a retail clothing store. The photographer he uses rents the Hasselblads with Phase One backs for their catalog and store display shoots. Not too many individual photographers would find it financially prudent to spend so much of their own money into quickly depreciating technology.

i have seen pro's that make $30,000 for 1 product shoot, for a big agency. those that i saw, were renting the camera for the weekend/week, fyi. not sure how much renting it costs, but probably $1000-2,000 is my guess which is a lot les than owning it.

Wow thats crazy. 30k for one shot. I need one of these.

well the guy took a lot of shots (it was for a motorola phone), but yes 1 shoot, 30 large. must be nice. he rented the H3D, and actually had help from an assistant to show him how to use it! LOL

another assistant set up the product shot, someone else did all the transfer stuff to the computer, etc.

he just showed up to click the shutter and to give a little direction. photographer...ya right...that bastard. you would be surprised at how very little a pro photographer actually does, when having someone else or another do essentially everything.

I think it would implement an iPhone-like accelerometer.