Photonic Shunkan

After months of thought, it's time to say it: Fujifilm are right to call a 4433 format camera, "Large Format". Fujifilm copped a lot of flak for using that term, but there are good reasons why they are ahead of the curve in pushing for nomenclature change. In fact, it wasn't so much Fujifilm but DPR who pushed them in this direction. I draw your attention to DPR's write up of an interview with Fujifilm at CP+ in March 2019: https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/8410636142/cp-2019-fujifilm-interview-we-want-to-show-photographers-the-future Highlights are my own. Quotation from the article, including photo, here considered "fair use" as we are critically examining the statements made in it. As you can see it's DPR that keeps leading the discussion asking about "large formats". Later DPR states: "many of our questions at CP+ were focused on the GFX 100 and on Fujifilm's large-format strategy in general...". Fujif...

Man is the measure of all things, so said the Greek philosopher, Protagoras. At least when we compare the size of animals we compare them with ourselves to get a sense of their relative scale. The size of an average adult becomes the standard size reference point. The comparative size of a human = 1. What about cameras? A commonly used standard comparative reference point is the 35mm format camera after it was popularised by the Leica I released in 1925. The odd thing about this comparison is that some people refer to a 35mm format camera as being "full frame". The reason for this is that its comparative size is set at relative size = 1. This makes it a 100% sized camera and hence "full frame". This is like saying that a human being is a full frame animal because its comparative size is set at 1, making it a 100% sized creature. Large circle: 640mm diameter of the LSST space telescope's digital sensor Civilian digital camera sensor formats shown for c...

One of the oddities produced by the dawn of the digital photography era is the multi-purpose professional camera. A typical example is the Canon 5D series (current iteration = 5D Mark IV). It can be used for a bit of sport/wildlife/action, portraiture, weddings, travel, street etc. It is a jack of all trades. In future, the multi-purpose consumer level camera will be some sort of small format mirrorless-EVF (ML-EVF) camera (eg M4/3, APS-C, 35mm small format). It will be interesting to see if it continues to remain acceptable for professionals to shoot with such devices across multiple scenarios. Such multi-purpose cameras are becoming increasingly capable eg high resolution, fast frame rate, good ergonomics/portability. They will remain popular and retain some sort of place in the market. The rise to dominance of the multi-purpose professional camera can be put down to the loss of camera differentiation caused by the mass extinction of speciality camera firms from the apocalyptic e...

It used to be that 35mm format (which we will call 135F) was a low-resolution mass consumer format. In the film era, 35mm was never touted as being an earth-shattering large "full frame" format as calling a disposable camera that would have sounded ridiculous. Today 135F is gradually becoming a commonplace mass-consumer product again It was considered acceptable for professional use in the film age only for field use in reportage, sports, and wildlife photography. That said, towards the end of the film age, the grain of film became finer, resulting in better quality images from smaller formats. The progressive evolution of 135F into a higher resolution image format has continued into the digital age. Amongst digital formats, at one point in history, it used to be the largest format utilised in civilian photography, and for that reason, the advertising moniker from around 2002 touting it as "full frame" became stuck in popular usage, despite the emergen...

This comes from the Phase One website: Notice that Phase One refer to a digital 645 format equivalent sensor as "full frame". That is probably correct given that the largest format used in standard civilian photography is a 645 format sensor. In addition to the 645 (53.7 × 40.2mm; similar to the 56 × 42mm imaging frame size of 645 format film) and 4433 (43.8 × 32.9mm) format medium format sensor, some video cameras use sensors larger than 35mm (36 × 24mm) format e.g. 54.12 × 25.59mm Arri sensor. There is also the Leica S system with its 45 × 30mm format sensor. That means there are several sensor size formats larger than 35mm format making it increasingly difficult to hail something running in fifth place the leader in the size stakes. Newer video camera sensor formats are now growing larger than 35mm format It is probably only a matter of time before even larger digital photography 670 format sensors go into production though that may not happen for another 6-12...

It looks like Hasselblad are up to it again in trying to pre-empt Fuji in releasing a new model. The last time, they released the X1d ahead of the GFX50s even though Hasselblad had no previous experience with mirrorless cameras. The end result was a Hasselblad beta model rushed into production in an effort to steal the limelight from Fuji. The Chinese DJI owned firm didn't even manage to incorporate live exposure preview when first released. Now Hasselblad appear to be rushing a new model into production with the same 100MP Sony 4433 (44 x 33mm) medium format BSI sensor that Fuji intend to use on their GFX100. As yet too little is known about the specs of either of the two new bodies. So far the Fuji GFX system has proven to be the one that has made the biggest impact in the marketplace. It is looking like medium format has returned to the mainstream of photography once more. So much so that 35mm format can no longer be called "full frame". In fact, Phase One calls its ...