Can someone (Doug? Steve?) describe the differences from Phase One's previous tech. camera solution, the A-Series, to the new XT? Will they co-exist or is the A-series done now?
The A-Series was a product that was 99% marketing and 1% technical; it had exactly one technical feature, which was integrated LCCs, but since the A-Series didn't have any X or Y movement that was of limited value.
In contrast, the XT has many serious and significant workflow features (encoded movements for automatic lens correction, integrated metadata for aperture/shutter/lens, integrated shutter release, native bracketing, native timelapse) as well as a new X-Shutter system (500,000 shot durability, no separate cable or battery required, full control from back or software, flash sync at 1/1000) as well as being a new tech camera body with its own blend of mechanical design with a high priority on weight and size while maintaining symmetrical/simultaneous XY movements and a rotateable dovetail that is tied witht he Arca Swiss Rotamount for the the best horizontal-to-vertical method I've seen on any camera.
The A-Series is now dead. I would bet very strongly against Phase One working with Alpa on any further proprietary projects.
Most of what makes the XT the XT is the IQ4 brains, the electronics, shutter, firmware, and software, all of which are made by Phase One. Their partner moving forward, for the purposes of all
mechanical elements of the XT platform is Cambo. That makes sense to me, since Cambo owns their own (rather large and fancy) manufacturing facilities and does a lot of OEM manufacturing for precision applications.
P.S. We still have an A-series on the shelf if anyone wants it. We'll be very flexible on pricing. Email us.