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Medium-format digital cameras, which have larger sensors and higher price tags than even high-end SLRs, didn't fare so well in earlier tests of sensor quality by measurement firm DxO Labs, but Phase One's newly tested top-end technology has risen to the top of the DxOMark Sensor test.

Phase One now rules the DxOMark Sensor roost.

(Credit: DxO Labs)

Phase One's 60-megapixel P65+ camera scored 89.1 on the test, edging out the Nikon D3X, which scored 88, according to data released Thursday. In addition, the 51.7-megapixel Hasselblad H3DII 50, an older model than Phase One's, scored 78.2. Click here to compare the two models and Nikon's D3X.

The DxOMark sensor test measures a camera sensor's dynamic range, color depth, and low-light performance. DxO Labs cautions that differences of less than 5 points aren't really distinguishable, and of course many other factors including price, lens quality, autofocus, and resolution factor into overall camera quality.

The P65+ features the best color performance yet, but DxO Labs said its comparatively good performance in low-light conditions helped it carry the day.

It looks like Canon and Nikon weren't blowing smoke when they said their high-end SLRs cameras will compete with medium-format digital cameras used almost exclusively by professionals.

Given the image quality advantages that SLRs with larger "full-frame" sensors have over mainstream and much less expensive models with smaller processors, one might have expected another quantum leap from costly high-end medium-format digital cameras with sensors twice the area of top-end SLRs. Not so, according to new DxOMark Sensor test results set for release Tuesday by French test and measurement firm DxO Labs.

In the digital era, Canon's top-end SLRs give medium-format cameras a run for their money. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: DxO Labs)

The company tested image sensors from several medium-format cameras--the Mamiya ZD Back, Leaf Aptus 75S, Hasselblad H3DII 39, and Phase One P45+. These are the sorts of cameras used by fashion photographers and others who need lush tones, fine detail, and lots of megapixels to handle big photos such as magazine spreads.

But none outperformed the Nikon D3X SLR, whose score of 88 gives it the current top rank on DxO's sensor tests.

Phase One Capture One 4 Pro offers selective color editing controls.

(Credit: Phase One)

Phase One has begun selling Capture One 4 Pro, the newest incarnation of the company's higher-end photo editing software.

The software is designed to handle the raw images from higher-end cameras--in particular Phase One's highly regarded medium-format models with up to 65-megapixel resolution, but other manufacturers' models as well. The pro version costs $399 or 299 euros, compared to $129 or 99 euros for the standard version, the Copenhagen-based company said.

Capture One Pro version has several features missing from the standard version: it can correct some lens problems such as distortion, purple fringing, vignetting, and chromatic aberration for several supported lenses from Carl Zeiss and Hasselblad; it can be used in a "tethered" mode connected directly to a camera as it takes photos; it supports use of multiple monitors; and it can be used to selectively adjust specific colors. And photographers can create customized styles that can be applied later to give a signature look.

(Credit: Leica)

(Credit: Leica)

Leica has announced a new medium-format DSLR camera and lens system, the Leica S2. The S2 uses Kodak's 37.5MP CCD sensor with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The sensor measures 30x45mm--56 percent larger than a 35mm full-frame sensor, which measures 27x36mm, and smaller than the 36x48mm sensor found in some other medium-format digital backs.

The S2's body is dust and moisture sealed, with Leica's new S-system bayonet lens mount, for the new line of S series lenses. The new line of lenses will feature metal construction and weatherproofing. The S2 body will have a focal-plane shutter and certain lenses will have integrated leaf shutters to allow for the faster flash-sync speeds.

Leica has not announced pricing or availability at this time, although it has been suggested that it will sell for around $30,000.

Phase One's upcoming 60-megapixel professional camera.

(Credit: Phase One)

Phase One is fleshing out its transformation from a maker of high-end image sensors for others' cameras into a maker of full-on cameras.

At the Photokina camera show in Germany, the company announced "successful alliances" with Leica Camera, Mamiya, and Hartblei to bring third-party lenses to its Phase One 645 camera system, and it said it will begin selling several lenses of its own by the end of the year. Those lens models are a 28mm f4.5, a 45mm f2.8, an 80mm f2.8, a 120mm f4.0, a 150mm f2.8, and a 75-150mm f4.5 zoom.

The professional camera, with a 60-megapixel sensor and a starting price of $41,990, is also due to ship by the end of the year. Coming in the first quarter of 2009 will be an 80mm leafshutter lens and a vertical grip.

The company also announced at the camera show an upgrade to the professional version of its its raw-image editing software.

Also new from the company is a 15-megapixel sensor mode for the 60-megapixel sensor. This mode combines four pixels into one that measures 12 microns square, extending the sensitivity range to ISO 1600.

Is Hasselblad feeling some pressure from the more plebian realm of 35mm SLR cameras?

That's the thought I had when I got a promotional e-mail from the high-end camera maker offering a 31-megapixel H3D-II and an 80mm lens for $17,995--a lower price, the company is eager to note. The tagline of the promotion: "If you thought you couldn't afford a Hasselblad, think again."

Hasselblad's H3DII-31 medium-format camera now can be purchased for $17,995 with an 80mm lens.

(Credit: Hasselblad)

Those of you who aren't photographers for Vogue advertisers or astronauts taking snapshots of the moon might not be familiar with the Hasselblad name, but it's a prestigious brand that makes "medium format" cameras. However, like every camera maker, it's navigating choppy waters during the transition from film to digital photography.

For photography, bigger can be better. The larger film area provided by medium-format cameras can outdo the smaller frame size of 35mm film in detail, and some of those advantages carry over to digital sensors.

But with digital, the math is unforgiving: it's not much more expensive to make a large frame of film, but it's a lot more expensive to make a large digital image sensor. Medium-format digital camera technology from Hasselblad, Mamiya, Phase One, and others are costly, and indeed, even the 35mm format is confined to a small, higher-end segment of the SLR business as camera makers moved to sensors that are roughly two-thirds the size.

The H3D-II uses a sensor that's 44x33mm, significantly larger than the 36x24mm of 35mm film but not as large as the 50-megapixel 48x36mm sensor Kodak builds for Hasselblad's top-end camera.

Canon, the leading seller of 35mm SLRs, has its eye on the medium-format market. Its $8,000 top-end 21-megapixel EOS-1Ds Mark III is specifically geared for studio photographers, for example. Sony has committed to full-frame 35mm digital SLRs, with a 24-megapixel model planned for later this year, and Nikon is rumored to have its own high-resolution full-frame rival in the works. (I should have been clearer that I meant a high-resolution Nikon alternative to the EOS-1Ds Mark III; Nikon has offered a lower-resolution though high-sensitivity full-frame model since introducing the D3 in 2007.)

Hasselblad is aware of the threat: "For a little more than high-end 35mm solutions and much less than many competing medium format solutions, you too can begin using the world's most advanced digital camera system," the company said.

Kodak 50-megapixel CCD

(Credit: Kodak)

update: 7/10/08: I made some errors in the original post, which I've corrected, plus added Kodak's comment.

You thought Sony's 24-megapixel CMOS was high res? Well, as Kodak's announcement on Tuesday of a 50-megapixel CCD shows, there's always room for more--pixels, that is.

Granted, that's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. Sony's chip is designed for full-frame dSLR cameras, those with a sensor the size of a 35mm film frame (24x36mm), which generally go into pro-level handheld cameras. In contrast, Kodak's KAF-50100 CCD is 49.1x36.8mm, for medium-format digital photography,which tends to be used more by commercial and fine art photographers in studio settings. The KAF-50100 is only the latest in Kodak's line of high-resolution medium-format CCDs. For instance, it joins Kodak's 39-megapixel KAF-39000 in the lineup, which now becomes the second highest-resolution sensor for non-scientific imaging. Hasselblad recently announced the H3DII-50, a camera based on the 50-megapixel CCD, in addition to its older 39-megapixel H3DII-39. Professionals fork over upwards of $30,000 for models like these.

To fit more pixels on the same chip, Kodak had to perform some voodoo shrinkage on them; they're 6 microns, compared with 6.8 for the KAF-39000. Kodak claims that the chip has increased data throughput with a maximum of 18MHz per output vs. 24MHz for the 50-megapixel and 39-megapixel CCDs, respectively. Since the newer chip uses a 4-channel output, up from 2, that's an overall bandwidth increase. While the specs on the two cameras show the higher-resolution version to be faster by one measure--1.4 seconds per capture for the H3DII-39 over 1.1 seconds for the H3DII-50--the higher-resolution model has an overall slower capture rate of 33 captures per minute vs. 39. I'd attribute that last slowdown to the larger 50mp files the camera has to process.

Other performance specs seem to take a hit; quantum efficiency (how successful the electrons are at getting where they need to go), blooming protection (how well the chip handles the electron overflow caused by bright light) and dynamic range seem to drop as well, despite Kodak's claim that "key performance parameters" are retained compared to the current 6.8-micron designs. The company also says the new chip consumes less power, but there are no specs to judge by. (Check out the specs yourself.)

Kodak's comment:

While there are changes in other specifications for this device compared to the current sensor, our customers have indicated that these are minor and will not significantly impact overall camera performance in these markets. For example, while blooming protection is indeed slightly lower for the new device, it is still well above the level of protection needed for this application. And while dynamic range is also a little lower, it is still above 70 dB, which is a critical threshold for this market.

That sounds reasonable to me. Really, though, it does take some magic to cram that many more pixels in a small space without losing anything. We'd look forward to seeing what Kodak pulls out of this hat, but we probably won't be lucky enough to get our hands on the camera. Do you want us to try?

PhaseOne Chief Executive Henrik Hakonsson is bridging a vast digital photography divide.

A medium-format camera with a Phase One digital back.

His company makes top-end image sensor housings called digital backs, each costing tens of thousands of dollars and attaching to high-end medium-format cameras with similarly high price tags. But he just signed a partnership with Microsoft, which gears its products for the broadest possible audience.

The Phase One product that brings these two worlds together is Capture One, software that helped pioneer the area of processing "raw" images taken directly from image sensors without any in-camera processing. The software exists chiefly for Phase One's high-end customers, but it also supports many mainstream cameras.

Through the partnership, terms of which were not disclosed, Microsoft will help Phase One tackle technical challenges of improving that software, Hakonsson said. And according to Josh Weisberg, Microsoft's director of digital imaging evangelism, Capture One will be able to handle files encoded with Microsoft's HD Photo format, which the company is advocating as a higher-quality replacement for the ubiquitous JPEG and is standardizing as JPEG XR.

Phase One, based in Copenhagen, was founded in 1993 and is owned by its 130 employees. On the hardware side, its top-end P45+ back uses a 39-megapixel sensor from Kodak. It sells two versions of Capture One, the $499 Pro and the $99 LE, but with the upcoming version 4, the LE version will simply be named Capture One 4.

I chatted with Hakonsson about his company's software, hardware, and Microsoft alliance earlier this month. Here's an edited transcript.

Phase One CEO Henrik Hakonsson

(Credit: Phase One)

Q: Most people haven't heard of Phase One. Can you give us a thumbnail sketch?
Hakonsson: Phase One is the world's leading digital camera back manufacturer. If you take a copy of Vogue magazine and look at the first 50 pages, approximately 80 percent of the images are shot with Phase One digital back and Capture One software. Our position in the market is the very top maybe 1 percent of the photo segment--shooters who work with the biggest clients and the most demanding photographic applications.

What's your sales volume for digital backs?
The global market will exceed 10,000. Phase 1 has more than 50 percent of the market. Some of our digital back competitors are working to make less costly solutions. We try to target the most demanding photographers.

What will result from the Microsoft partnership?
For Phase One, the main reason for doing this was the ability to get access to some tools which will help us provide better services for the kind of photographers we're working with. We're getting into file sizes that may be two to three times what we have today, and the speed of being able to handle these files requires other tools than what we have in our portfolio.

For me, performance is No. 1. The parameters on which we position our product are speed, image quality, and ease of use. On the performance side, we needed a partner.

How big are your image files?
Typically 150MB. We expect larger file sizes for the next two to three years. The ability to make sure that people can browse and process images is important going forward. Microsoft has a range of tools for assuring that we can serve our high-end customers, who are the ones we are predominantly concerned about.