355: Mamiya 645 AFD with Leaf Aptus II (A short review)

I had the whole weekend to test out the medium format camera with an incredible 52 megapixel digital back. Actually I am "against" a lot of megapixels, but I definitely admire bigger sensors. For those who wonder what the hell I am talking about: Most common consumer DSLR cameras do have a sensor of the size of approximately a stamp. Other DSLR cameras have a 35mm sensor, you might remember that size from your analog days ;-) And well a medium format camera is approx. 1,7 times bigger than a 35mm sensor.

In theory this means that the image quality is supposed to be better. Skin graduation, color, resolution, details etc. Other than that some say it does plain look better. I have no way to scientifical prove any of those claims, but after seeing the files I do have to admit it does look very good, and working with them is definitely different.

Allright, there is of course a catch: You have to work tethered. You can work with a compact flash card of course, but the files a rather big. Therefore the cards will fill up quite fast. Other than that, the displays (at least on the Leaf) are terrible. You can not verify sharpness or exposure at all on that display.

And the biggest catch is the price. I probably will never be able to afford a digital back, at least not in the near future. A decent digital back actually starts at approx. €7000.- That's where you wonder if the image quality difference compared to 35mm is really worth it. Especially if you mainly publish for web.

Bottom line: I love the results and if money wasn't the issue, I would go and buy one.