A marriage made in Heaven:
1. Using CaptureOne software (the best).
2. Using Hy6 camera (very good).
3. Using Phase backs (with better LCD?).
4. USA presence (needed by Sinar).
I would welcome that.
I just don't see it happening, in this radically shrinking economy. Not enough volume. Like it or not, it's quickly becoming a 5DII world out there. I even heard my Dentist talking about the Canon recently. You KNOW it's bad when talk turns from Leica/Sinar to Canon. But with Universal Health Care coming soon, the Dentists will be back in business. Trust me, the entire country of Denmark and Sweden are banking on Obama.
Be careful. every time someone mentions a 5d, these forums go into catatonic fits about the loss of quality, the loss of standards, the low professionalism that the photography industry has sunk to.
Of course most of the people that soap box this aren't shooting large projects with millions of dollars, euros and pounds on the line in production and media.
Of course every professional photographer in the world will probably have a 5d Mark II in their bag in 3 months and if Nikon or Canon makes a medium format camera you can bet those will also sell off the shelf in record numbers.
Like it or not if you go into most studios in NY today, if medium format is being used it's probably on a Hasselblad camera with a Phase back, maybe a 1/3 to 1/4 using a Leaf or Hasselblad back. You would have to search very hard to find someone using a Sinar and even further still to find someone using a mamiya 645, regardless if it's versions I, II, or III.
Once they go outside it usually with a Hasselblad camera or a Canon.
These are the photographers that use the rental system and they really don't care or know anything about digital other than what the rental tech hands them. Also these are the photographers that are producing the best work in the world, but even the best work in the world is getting hit hard on budget today.
Look at the background videos of every Vogue, Vanity Fare or Elle production and all you see are Canon and Hasselblad cameras. No wonder Hasselblad wants part of that camera back business and if they keep dropping their prices, they're going to get it.
I don't look for medium format to die, but I do know that if the prices keep going up and projects become more limited, or budget restricted, then that goes all the way down the line to the tech who will also have to find ways to lower their overhead. If Mamiya thinks any digital tech house is going to scrap their H1's and H2's and pay $4,000 for Mamiya lenses, or double that for Leica lenses, then somebody is reading the wrong tea leaves.
Maybe not their backs, but Hasselblad cameras are the standard in the medium format world. Now, Hasselblad has addressed costs, everybody else hasn't. The only thing Hasselblad hasn't done is give a digital tech a reason to throw away their phase backs, because Hasselblad still has the same low iso, same sensors, even worse software than Phase one, so why change until the Phase backs wear out.
We can make all the wish lists we want, phase software, HY6 cameras, Hasselblad prices, but until any of this equipment is in the rental houses and digital tech firms it's all irrelevant.
Until Sinar has their software working, gets more presence in the rental world and finds a way not to take 2 years to make a cable release that camera will also be irrelevant.
Unless Phase wakes up and realizes that $41,000 digital backs, even with a free Mamiya won't fly in the new world economy, then they are trying very hard to make that brand irrelevant also.
Leaf and Sinar can make all the back room deals they want but rather than offer Sinar a deal on the new Leaf back, Leaf would be a lot better off offering the customer the same discount.
The whole hy6 system being limited to two brands of backs is just insane. Prior to digital, nobody would have ever made an expensive film camera that only worked with Ilford and Agfa film.
That would have never cleared committee.
These forums are full of self interest. Hasselblad lovers, Hasselblad haters, dealers, techs, manufacturer reps, seminar givers, lighting instructors and all of them want us to absolutely believe we can't make a photograph without spending another $15,000 for a new camera upgrade that doesn't do anything that much different than the previous model.
Today, it's all about money and getting the job done in the most efficient way possible.