Hasselblad intros 31-megapixel H3D-31 DSLR

It's quite possible that Hasselblad is making this H3D revamp gig a yearly event, as just over one year since the 39-megapixel behemoth was loosed, now the firm is unveiling a slightly tamer, yet equally impressive 31-megapixel rendition. The H3D-31 ranks right up there with the RED camcorder in terms of sheer mystique in a shooter, and rather than watering down the specs so we average joes (and janes) could actually afford one, Hasselblad would rather throw down about the best stuff money can buy. This digicam sports the obligatory 31-megapixel 44- x 33-millimeter sensor, micro-lenses to boost ISO ratings up to 800, 1.2 seconds-per-image capture rate, mobile / tethered modes, and the firm's proprietary Natural Color Solution to purportedly give your post-processing duties a break. Of course, owning a full-frame 48-millimeter DSLR demands quite a hefty fee, but if you've got the $24,995 to lay down on such a beautiful piece of machinery, by all means, be our guest.

[Js @ Jan 25th 2007 3:29PM]

They need to do something radical with the way image sensor chips and and cameras are architected .. the readout should happen much faster on parallel readout pins (this would mean radically increasing the number of pinouts on a image sensor chip). And the memory chips/banks should also be parallelized so that you can break up the stream of data into chunks so that it can be written to multiple chips simultaneously. Otherwise the time to write data to a single chip would exceed the amount of data available. And yea, I know.

[EnhanceYourCalm @ Jan 25th 2007 4:30PM]

Js,
"RAID"ing the data output across multiple memory devices is certainly interesting. In fact, this is more or less what's going on with Panasonic's P2 Memory PCMCIA card format for its HD cameras.

However, there would obviously be some severe workflow issues - without some sort of unified off-camera backplane, the only way to ingest images would be a direct camera connection to a workstation. I suppose this isn't a big deal considering the 'blads are quite often shot tethered.

Now it would be really interesting to see an eSATA connection on these Med. Fmt. bodies...

As a side note, Hasselblad REALLY ticked off a lot of folks with the H3D. It no longer supports third-party backs, as I understand. Here's hoping the Rollei Hy6 system is all it can and should be...

[granny down east @ Jan 25th 2007 5:03PM]

These are the kind of posts which add to the general knowledge, and are indicative of what Engadget should be at its finest.
No whining or fanboy rants here. Thank you, gentlemen.

[BrandonLehman @ Jan 25th 2007 5:45PM]

Although when you compare this to the RED camera, you have to remember it's on the threshold of a massive price breakthrough, offering 4k resolution that would normally run in the hundreds of thousands for a fraction of the price, whereas this camera is one of the most expensive in class.

Bit of a tangent, but oh well.

[Josh @ Jan 25th 2007 6:08PM]

What exactly would someone need this massive resolution for? Call me old fasioned but 10 megapixels is too large for most monitors right now, not to mention the processing power necessary to handle 31mp images.

Just curious as to it's place in the world.

[Michael P McHugh @ Jan 25th 2007 6:40PM]

The Hasselblad cameras are heavily used in fashion, advertising, fine art, entertainment and editorial photography.

Small format (10 - 20 megapixel) professional cameras are not really sufficient for material that needs to be blown up for a billboard.

[EnhanceYourCalm @ Jan 25th 2007 6:47PM]

Josh -

There are a lot of uses for this much resolution, but not really in the consumer/prosumer realm.

In terms of market forces, fashion photo editors and art directors are probably the primary impetus for this. The "old way" was 6x6 or 6x7 film, so APS-C sensors were viewed as a step backward. Even Canon's 135-sized sensors (5D, 1DsII) are sometimes thought of as insufficient (fwiw I disagree for the most part).

Fine art photographers also have use of this resolution. When you are enlarging up to 48"x96" and beyond, you need all the resolution you can get. 4x5 and up is still "the way" in this world, but it will be interesting to see how this develops.

These backs also capture 16-bit, whereas all DSLR raw formats write out at 12-bit at the most, so tonality and dynamic range are also a cut above. Again this allows more flexibility on the post end.

I've used 39MP images shot on digital backs, and the level of detail, tonality, exposure latitude, and ability to crop is wondrous.

[Dustin @ Jan 25th 2007 6:55PM]

The one thing that seems to be concerning current Hasselblad users seem to worry about is the fact that the back is not interchangeable, removing options (both performance- and price-wise) for photographers. Also, the new lenses for the H3 series are chipped differently, so the new lenses are not compatible with old systems. It seems to be a bad marketing idea to alienate legacy users.

Time will tell what will happen in the future. A great camera, no doubt, but the system integration seems less than ideal.

[Mike @ Jan 25th 2007 11:46PM]

And it's not even Hassy's "full frame", which is their term for a 48x36mm sensor, even though that is smaller than a 645 film frame.

[Holger @ Jan 28th 2007 1:01AM]

Should I buy a HD-39 or a HD-31?
How will be the image quality with 800 ISO?
How to compare Hasselblad focal length to 35mm?

[kombizz @ Jan 28th 2007 4:33PM]

It seems I have to stick to my Minolta Dynax 7 for good till right time is coming for better DSLR.