Want that Kodak 50Mpixel Sensor in a Camera? Hasselblad’s H3DII-50: $40K+

Yesterday, I wrote about Kodak’s introduction of a 50Mpixel CCD image sensor for medium-format cameras. Today, I want to show you the first camera to use this sensor. It’s Hasselblad’s H3DII-50. One report gives the price for this machine at $40K. Another says that’s the price for the 39Mpixel H3DII-39 and that the -50 will run higher. In either case, that price is for the body. Hasselblad’s lenses by Carl Zeiss are extra. A beautiful camera. Not coming to my house any time soon.

The data sheet for this beauty says that a RAW image file consumes 65 Mbytes and that the maximum capture rate is 33 images/minute (1.1 seconds/image capture). Think about the system-design issues surrounding the need to move that much data from a sensor through the image-processing engine and out to a CompactFlash memory card in a battery-powered product.