Fuji GF-X M&M announced today

[Frank Fremerey]

Although, if "medium format" means 44 x 33mm, who can tell what words will mean?

Available "medium formats" are 49x49, 54x40, 33x44, 45x30, 48x32

bigger you can get if you are military or government

[Frank Fremerey]

PS: http://www.fujifilm-x.com/de/gfx/

[Hugh_3170]

So the sensor is about the same dimensions as a 645 negative with about 20% taken off the length and breadth of the negative.  (Nominally 56mm x 42mm down to 44mm x 33mm.)

[Hugh_3170]

This new Fuji could be a real game changer - the commoditisation of larger format mirrorless professional cameras? 

Yes Canikon should be sitting up and taking notice and the Hasselblad team may have erred in not keeping such a serious new competitor locked down as they have in the past.  (I would say that their CEOs and Board members will be taking very substantial doses of Imodium about now.        )

As for the camera, I cannot get over how small it is for its format size - it is not much bigger than its recently released stablemate, the X-T2.

I have no doubt that Fuji will soon be No.3 camera maker.  The manner in which they have managed their whole business conglomerate in the face of the digital revolution and their move into new fields such as pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals, without wasting or divesting any of their core competencies such as their industrial scale chemical engineering or scientific R&D teams, tells me that these guys are going to be around for a very long time to come.  The direct opposite to the poor sad "Yellow" team.  George Eastman must be turning in his grave.

[BEZ]

I have been waiting for this  ....but why is it so ugly :-(

It will all depend on the pricing but I'm still interested.

[David H. Hartman]

I thought medium format started with 56x42mm. Is there a crop factor for these smaller than medium yet bigger than full format, formats?

Dave

[pluton]

I have been waiting for this  ....but why is it so ugly :-(

It will all depend on the pricing but I'm still interested.

I don't mind that it looks like a machine.  All that matters in the end is what it feels like to use it.

[Hugh_3170]

David, that is what I thought too.  Obviously we are both wrong!

If the film 645 negative size is the medium format starting point, then this new Fuji has a crop factor (God forbid) of x 1.25 wrt to 645 film.

If I recall correctly, the Leica S Type has a 37.5MPx sensor size of 45mm x 30mm, so the 4:3 format of the new Fuji is of comparable size, whilst that of the 51.4MPx Pentax digital 645 is 43.8mm x 32.8mm - the same as for the new Fuji.

Except for the consideration of the sensor area that the optics of these cameras can cover, it may be best to drop the medium format digital camera language altogether, least we resurrect yet another round of "equivalence misinformation & confusion" similar to that surrounding DX/APS-C sensor size cameras versus  those with FX/135/24x36m sensors and the related equivalence nonsense that is still pervading cyberspace! 

I thought medium format started with 56x42mm. Is there a crop factor for these smaller than medium yet bigger than full format, formats?

Dave

[Frank Fremerey]

I thought medium format started with 56x42mm. Is there a crop factor for these smaller than medium yet bigger than full format, formats?

Fo a while the most common format was the 48x36 double 135, dubbed as "48 Format"

For current offerings look
here: https://www.phaseone.com/~/media/NEW_WEB/Tech-Spec/Backs/XF-spec-sheet-jan02-RGB-A4.ashx
and here: http://www.mamiyaleaf.com/credo.html

Result: Newest generation is 54x40 and 44x33 (also Hasselblad / Fuji), except for Leica which ist 45x30 (Sinar joined that club at Photokina 16 with the 30|45 mobile back that is controlled with an iPad)

[David H. Hartman]

OK, I could settle for 53.9x40.4mm format.

Dave

Oh Joy! The Crop Factor is 0.666. hehehe

[Les Olson]

Available "medium formats" are 49x49, 54x40, 33x44, 45x30, 48x32

The format diagonals for 35mm, 44x33, 645, 6x6 and 6x7 are 43mm, 55mm, 72mm, 79mm and 88mm respectively.  There has never been  precise definition of medium format, but in film days it was easy to say where medium format began because there was, for all practical purposes, nothing between 135 and 120 (the exception was 127).  Now there is quite a lot between 35mm and 645, and, of course, for your own purposes you can place the dividing line wherever you like - although, for the record, the biggest gap is between 44x33 and 645. 

The point, however, is that for marketing purposes the dividing line can't be placed arbitrarily.  The term "medium format" is being inappropriately used by Fuji (and Hasselblad) to borrow the mystique and prestige of film medium format for a sensor that is only a shade larger than 35mm. 

[Ilkka Nissilä]

In terms of practical applications there isn't as much need for the larger medium formats as digital is higher quality per sensor area than film. The cost of making large sensors is disproportionally high. I think it is okay to call the new 44x33mm medium format if the terminology is agreed between different manufacturers then there is no misunderstanding among users either. Film users may protest (I used 6x7) but it doesn't seem likely that the larger formats of the film era will return in digital.

[Erik Lund]

Lenses for true Digital resolution MF like 6x6 or 6x7 giving they where to perform like the high end lenses we are used to now for DSLR would be so super expensive heavy and huge!

[Fons Baerken]

The pentax 6x7 lenses come to mind, obviously, by adapter

[Frank Fremerey]

Ilkka: You never know. There might be some day someone inventing a production process with relatively large, relatively fail safe structures that can be manufactured more cheaply and make a 17x6 with HUGE pixels.

I am quite positive that the non existing economics of scale contribute to the horrendous amount these Digital Backs and Camera Systems cost.  The bigger ones are still in the 30.000 to 45.000 Euro range.

If Fuji now brings down the system price into the range of a D5, more people will be able to buy it and that may bring down prices.

We will see what Fuji will charge for the system.