A 50 Gigapixel Camera? Yes...& It's Portable...

[sunshine51]

If you reckon a 268 Megapixel camera that weighs 1700 pounds is

interesting, have a look at this...

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-50-gigapixel-camera-five-times-better-than-2020-human-vision

http://disp.duke.edu/projects/mosaic/cam002.html

http://www.disp.duke.edu/projects/AWARE/

And it's portable...well somewhat...

[MJP]

I weigh 1700 pounds, doesn't make me sharp.

[A1Str8]

The note 4 has the same camera.

[ETatBKK]

sunshine, what the studio guy doing these days with their large format view camera ( 4x5, 8x10 ) ? still on film then scan into digital, or they have huge digital back ?

I left my Sinar P2 years ago when digital back was more expensive than the P2. we did rather on film then scan into digital, or some folks using a 6x6 digital back behind the view camera.

what pixel dimension they are talking ?

[sunshine51]

EtB...Most of the studio guys I know, all 8 of em, are using either Hassies,

Mamiya's with digital backs or the Phase (Phase One). The young feller who

bought my H4D50MS is into product photography & has clients such as Rolex,

Omega, Ball Watch Co. and some high end jewelry makers like Cartier plus

Ferrari & Mercedes Benz...just to name a few. He says the 50MS is perfect

for the job because of it's ability to do multi exposures that are just a few

microns off then they are flawlessly stitched together resulting in a 350 Mp

photograph...or more or less depending on how the photog has the setup

/programme done for the camera. Hassies website will tell you more on the

MS function. I used it on 6 jobs for high end travel magazines which required

a minimum of a MF frame for colour seperation...then sold it a couple years

later. No regrets, glad to read it's being used to its fullest for once.

That said some of the other studio guys I know still use their large format

cameras and scan the film plates or have the scanned. And have an

interest in this too...

http://largesense.com/products/8x10-large-format-digital-back-ls911/

...as you posted in the 268Mp thread.

One guy I know in LA (Los Angeles not Lower Alabama) has a huge repro

camera that is mounted on a heavy frame and the beast lays horizontally.

Weighs about 800 pounds less the frame/support.

It was made in the mid 60's and originally used custom Kodak sheet film

24x36 inches in size.

Nowadays...that same camera has a custom made digital back of nearly

the same approximate size and resides in a clean room that has the ability

to super-cool the sensor. Needless to say one doesn't want a spec of dust

or moustache hair between the subject being photographed and the sensor

front. When I first saw it he was still using film stock and doing posters for

Hollywood plus some crafty negs for T-Shirt silk screens. Nowadays he does

stuff for the USG, Unversities and museum archives. I mean....this camera is

like 20 feet long...less lenses! The lenses he uses are just LF lenses custom

reworked ($$$$$) for digital these days and yes...they'll still work fine for film

he tells me.

Thanks for asking me about what the studio guys are using, the ones I know

anyway, as this reminded me of Jeff in LA and his gigantic repro camera...the

largest camera I have ever seen.

I'll get an email off to him today and see if he can post me a pic or two of it

so's I can do a bit of Show N Tell here. I think some folks would be interested

...including me!

Cheers...

NB...edit to clean up rotten formatting.

Edited January 28, 2015 by sunshine51

[sunshine51]

I weigh 1700 pounds, doesn't make me sharp.

This 50 Gb camera weighs only a tad over 200 pounds M!

packed up for transport the whole kit weighs 400 pounds,

the info is in the links!

Man...you need to go on a diet

[ETatBKK]

sunshine, love to hear your Show and Tell :-)

availability of large format digital back is not a technology question, certainly someone could lay hundreds of million of pixel on a data back. apparently there are LIMITED choices of large format digital back in the industry, since the film-then-scan workflow still manageable with good quality, and at fraction of price. interest to know how the industry making this trade-off decision today.

Hassie and Mamiya behind view camera is popular solution for a half century in the film age. then I argue why a large format view camera is needed at the first place; there are lot of bellows and lens panels are designed for the medium format for the same purpose.

when I was a junior I had an Agfa Repromaster in the darkroom, love it. sad I just saw it in the ebay for $800 :-( the largest camera I saw ( again the process camera ) was in a museum in Germany, it was a 2-ROOM setup, one bright one dark . . .

[sunshine51]

EtB...Here's a couple links to digital view cameras both large & medium.

I am particularly interested in Sinar's p-slr however I seriously doubt I'll

ever get one. Can dream though right! Sure would be nice to mount my

810 behind the p-slr and see what transpires & really make all those

pixels work for a living.

http://www.sinar.ch/en/category/products/cameras/

http://creeksidedigital.com/services/fine-art-reproduction/

[ETatBKK]

sunshine, the Sinar P3 is a real monster :-) if you are not on a project, this is really a dream :-)

mind you, their multi-shot digital back has a sensor 48x36mm, at 8000x6000 pixel, or 48.8MP. with this concept, they could mount different formats at the back.

[sunshine51]

EtB...have you any experience with the P-SLR?

[MJP]

For those of you wondering what the BKK lad and the sunny old pooch are going on about . . .

http://www.sinar.ch/en/category/products/cameras/p3/

[sunshine51]

And to be specific in my case.....

I can dream regardless what y'all may think!

[ETatBKK]

sunshine, no I didn't use any P-SLR panel, too new for me. I handed off the Sinar P2 many many years ago ( when digital back just available ), it was the best camera I ever used.

at that age, I mainly on 4x5, occasionally on 120 magazines, never mount a Hasselblad or a Mamiya at the back. film-then-scan was the most popular and affordable solution, still in control of quality.

still miss the sound of the long shutter, the sound of stainless steel shielding plate, the sound of loading the magazine . . .

[sunshine51]

^^^ I miss the same things concerning my "old" Hassies! Even miss loading em too....wasn't that much of a chore

but buying 70 exposure rolls of Tri-X sure was. Usually had to order bulk 500 exp rolls then take a pair of snips &

then....I reckon you know what I mean. I have to go to Hong Kong tomorrow for a funeral/wake of a dear friend

who passed away recently & due to sadness & grief on my part I may go shopping for an old Hassie with just a

standard 80mm @ 2.8 and a few 24 exp backs...just to try & cheer myself up. He was a great friend & one time

partner in my production company.

Thanks for the reminder on the sounds & other memories...hah!

Digression...My first wife was Indian (Bombay) and a stunning fox (ex model). We were out walking up on the "Peak"

one fine day and she was my subject. Not many people out & about, quiet as it could be except for the occasional

gusts of wind. She stopped to take a couple snaps with her Oly OM10 of something, I walked a bit up the path as she

snapped away to have a better angle on her as she approached me. When she got to where I hoped she would I

pressed the shuter release, imortalised her for posterity then she asked dead seriously..."Did you just drop something,

what was that KLUNK sound?"

I told her it was the shutter...she had a hard time believing it until I grabbed another shot of her from about 2 meters

away. Then she became a believer!

End of digression.

Cheers!

[ETatBKK]

sorry for the bad news, friend's departure is never a good thing. hope your Hong Kong shopaholic experience really help. or anyway you will get something nice back !

taking photo is not really the physical photo itself. the engagement, the sensorial experience and the emotion on the subject, all count ! that makes photo taking so interesting; it is an indulging experience, it is not a process, and is not a product. I don't fancy that 1/2000 second.

certainly that could be an another topic - sensorial experience in taking photo ;- )

[sunshine51]

EtB...The Funeral was this morning & the wake starts around now. I'm soon to head over to

it and try not to get legless as the session progresses...loads of alcohol & grub are at this

thing I have been informed.

Sensorial experiences when taking a photo...I like that. Start a thread!

From the rank starting out amateur to the pro...you know it when you get it.

That feeling you have inside, all over inside your body, that your camera has

just recorded something really neat, wonderful, beautiful....note here: could be

the opposite if doing wars & disasters but you get the feeling just the same...

All the camera did is record what your gut, heart, eye & brain said is a good

photo and they all agreed to it, no compromises. And the amazing thing about

this "feeling" you get is that you never know when it's gonna happen.

Gonna go look arond for old Hassies....Cheers....