Sony A900 vs Hassy H3 vs Mamiya AFDiii

[sundstei]

I find most of these conversations amusing.  So many great photographs shot for decades by amazing photographers have been shot with every kind of format imaginable, from polaroid, to holgas, 8x10 Sinars to old wobbly deardorfs, nikon FM's and leicaflex's.

I also know that none of these photographers would waste ten minutes discussing the merits of pixel pitch, file size, dr, software, or workflows.

can you imagine avedon, guy Bourdin, helmet newton sitting around a computer talking about which camera was better, the nikon or the hasselblad, the sony or the canon,  or which software was better c-1 or lightroom.

in fact if those photographers started their careers today I doubt seriously if the sony or the hasselblad would make that much difference in their final look.

Sure they did/would. Anyone who is obsessed about the quality of their own work will try to improve every part of their chain of production. Not just what camera, lenses, RAW converter etc, but also what people to work with, models, makeup, retouching, post production, lighting, posing, communication, project planning and mental preparations etc. Few people just grab some camera and produce masterpieces.

I could probably produce the same "photo" with most of my cameras (as long as there is not some special characteristics of the camera/lens needed such as super high res, view camera tilting etc), but they are all really different tools for different situations.

[MatthewCromer]

Indeed, the comparisons I have seen show that the Canon 1Ds3 has more detail and the files are sharper than the Sony's. Though the appear to be very close. And the Canon apparently has far less noise at ISOs higher than 200.

The comparisons I have seen show much more measurable detail with the Sony and comparable noise in RAW using a good convertor (note, ACR and Sony's own IDC software are lousy with the Alpha cameras, including the Alpha 900).

I'm very curious, where did you see a comparison showing higher resolution from the 1DsIII?

[BernardLanguillier]

It's like as if Sony has found the Holy Grail. I don't think so and they will never do that.  

I wouldn't bet again Sony Semi-condictors as far as applied research capability is concerned. They have significantly more muscle to bend that the 2 medium format sensor manufacturers. The only thing that might save Kodak and Dalsa is the lack of interest of Sony for larger sensor, but in pure technological terms, I wouldn't bet a cent on their ability to develop new sensor technology faster than Sony. As a banker I would also not lend them a cent for such research knowing the tiny size of the market they have been locking themselves in.

We have come at a point where only a breakthrough can really change the game with sensors. Those breakthrough cost billions of $ in research and developement, and Sony is probably one of the very few companies on earth with the ability do deliver.

Just look at what happened in the high end engineering graphic cards market...

Cheers,
Bernard