I certainly hope that Phase can come out with a completely new body and I'll be pleasantly surprised if they can do it. I have an idea what it cost to create the H platform and the numbers are pretty eye-watering, hard to see an ROI in this market.
Nick-T
Did you know that
Waiting for Godot was voted "the most significant English language play of the 20th century ? I walked out after the first act.
If I were feeling ironic, rather than just being moronic, I would forecast that Phase is more likely to use their institutional and military cashflow to replay the knifing of the Sinar/Leaf baby, and buy Hassy and retire the H series, than they are of ever selling a decent dSLR-type camera.
Taking pictures is part of Hassy's DNA, but the practice of taking the shot is simply *not* part of Phase One's DNA. Phase is a back company.
Taking the shot *is* part of Pentax's heritage which is why they've come back from nowhere. The same with Leica.
In the same way, Phase are stellar at computer image processing, and out-process Adobe which is a multi-billion dollar corporation: Adobe is culturally incapable of sophisticated single-image Raw color and tone curve management, although they are really good in workflow organisation and retouching software.
My analysis of Phase One's strengths is confirmed every time I see a photographer on this forum mount his extraordinary Phase back on a Hassy, tether and convert with Phase One's superb C1 software, and retouch with Photoshop. And my analysis of Phase One's weakness and priorities is confirmed every year as the "new" Phase body that can focus perfectly fails to appear.
But I do think in the end we will get a very nice "no-mirror" lensbox from Phase, which will do fast on-sensor AF, and use the leaf-shutter lenses for flash sync when electronic shutter is not appropriate. This sort of computer-driven object is in Phase's DNA.
My advice: Whatever the camera, buy the center-shutter lenses, they're the ones which will keep their value best.
And if Godot's dSLR does not drop soon, then I'd predict that the next Phase body will already be mirrorless. Leica, Hassy and Pentax are headed that way too now that they have liveview sensors, but they're in less of a hurry because their current bodies are pretty good. And they're in less of a hurry because cameras, not backs, are what they make.
Edmund
PS. It is possible to do very fast AF with a liveview sensor with no phase-contrast pixels, provided one characterises the lenses. This is the "depth from defocus" method which is used by the Panasonic GH4. According to Panasonic, the $1K GH4 with no dedicated focus sensors is beaten in focus speed only by the ... Nikon D4s. A second place which our japanese friends at Panasonic accept with a humble smile
