i would like to read the review...is it online, if so please provide the link....
unfortunately the camera never made it to the US and i haven't seen it or any raw samples...judging from the stats it always looked promising, the chip is well known and superb, the body seems a perfect size, the lenses are (IMHO) excellent, the price is good (was better when announced, now..ok)...i don't see why it shouldn't provide better results then the canons (much bigger chip, higher resolution....but it is still stuck at 12bit (or is it 14bit?) so it should be a step below the "big boys"...and it is just there, smack in-between the canons and the MF backs...has none of the pros of the canons (speed, high asa, handling) and not the quality of the MF backs...a compromise...my concerns with the camera when it was announced was not really the chip or the resolution, it was the fact that mamiya has never done this before and it is not that easy to put everything together, process the files and come up with good results (example kodak, who even built their chips, but got worse results then phase with kodak chips..) there is so much that goes into these things and it is hard to imagine that a (relatively) small company like mamiya, with no experience in imaging can pull off what all the others can't...but if they keep doing it, i am sure that the ZDII or III would be real contenders...i think that people put too much importance on price...yes everybody is happy to pay less for more, but someone who makes money shooting and buys equipment considers other factors and the desicion will probably not purely based on price alone...
has mamiya come out with the ZD back yet? i think that many people actually waited for that, there are a LOT of 645s and RZs out there and a 22mipx back for 10000 would tempt a lot of people...but again...from my experience i would say that the aptus 17 probably provides better files, shoots faster (or as fast), has higher asa and is a proven piece of equipment....and as a complete solution: the rollei digital bundle(with a P20) sells for 12000 now complete with camera and lens and i am pretty sure that these files comare favorably to the ZD as well...
i would still like to see raw files and read the review and i still hope that mamiya hasn't given up...