Mamiya, Leaf ally for medium-format cameras

Mamiya, Leaf ally for medium-format cameras

A Mamiya 645DF camera body with an 80mm lens and a Leaf Aptus medium-format image sensor attached.
(Credit: Mamiya Leaf)Mamiya Digital Imaging and Leaf Imaging, two Phase One-controlled brands in the medium-format photography market, have become one.
With the new Mamiya Leaf brand, the two camera specialists will join product development and support activities, the companies said today.
Medium-format photography has been reshaped dramatically through the transition from film to digital. Using larger frames of film let photographers capture higher-quality imagery, but correspondingly large image sensors come at a much higher price.
Medium-format cameras traditionally came with removable camera backs, and Copenhagen-based Phase One and Tel Aviv-based Leaf make digital versions that would attach to camera bodies. Tokyo-based Mamiya makes camera bodies and lenses.
Competitors, most notably Hasselblad and now Pentax, make integrated designs without removable image sensors. The bigger competition, though, comes from more mainstream SLR designs from Nikon and Canon, whose 35mm-format cameras offer steady improvements in image quality and performance at prices considerably lower than those in the medium-format realm.