Medium-format specialist Phase One already offers a couple of 100MP digital backs for its users, but a new monochromatic version announced today arrives with the claim that it's the world’s most sensitive back of its kind.
The IQ3 100MP Achromatic appears to be a black-and-white variant of its existing IQ3 100MP back, released back in 2016. The new model has been designed without the standard Bayer colour filter array used for colour photography, and with this out of the picture, Phase One states that the sensor can focus on capturing light unaltered and unobstructed.
Constructed around a newly designed 101MP CMOS sensor, the dropping of the filter has allowed Phase One to boost sensitivity to ISO 51,200. This is two full stops higher than the ISO 12,800 limit of its colour-capturing sibling, which the company claims is a world's first.
Furthermore, with no interpolation required to construct the image, it looks set to squeeze out even more detail than would otherwise be possible.
By dropping the infrared filter too, the sensor is able to capture light in the infrared region. Aside from the artistic advantages this can offer, this also means the Live View system display's light that you wouldn't ordinarily see, given that this lies outside the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Other features include a 3. 2in touch display and the option to capture exposures lasting up to 60 minutes in length, together with an electronic shutter, built-in Wi-Fi and an HDMI port.
The back, which is compatible with the same bodies as other IQ3 backs in Phase One’s stable, should arrive sometime in August, although you can order one now through one of Phase One’s partners.
You’ll probably have to work a fair bit of overtime to raise the $49,990 required for it, and if you manage to scrape together an extra $5,000 you can opt for a kit with an XF body. The latter will also allow you to claim a free Schneider Kreuznach Blue Ring lens of your choice, worth up to $6,990.
This isn't the first time a manufacturer has opted to drop the colour filter array of a camera and limit capture to black and white. The most recent example is Leica M Monochrom, which arrived in 2015 with the same promise of better light capture and finer detail in images.
. digitalrev.com2017-5-11 03:00
