[caption id="attachment_4958" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The almighty MAXBACK sensor. photo from Gizmodo"]
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Earlier this summer I posted a lengthy article about the future of professional digital cameras. While some of you may have tuned out once I started talking about sensor size, I know there are a few of you out there who really care about image quality and demand the best. Well, a couple of weeks ago Gizmodo made a post titled "This is the Largest Camera Sensor in the World" which documented a photographer who commissioned an 8x10" sensor to be made. It cost about the same as what an average house would and is called the "Maxback". It takes about 20-30 seconds for an image to record after exposure, not your typical DSLR speed. So really, why am I talking about this almost a month later if it is such a niche product? Well just as always I feel that the typical trends in digital photography are seemingly straying from traditional principles. I'm only in my 20's, but I probably sound like I'm in my 70's right now. You know the whole "BACK IN MY DAY" type deal, but I feel that I actually have a valid point. I was born and raised on film/analog photography in an era where as my interested in the subject increased, the amount of products decreased. Although digital photography has really enabled photographers to do amazing things that they couldn't in the past, it has also crippled the photographers who enjoyed the highest quality possible. Medium and large format film still give much better dynamic range and overall image quality than your run of the mill digital camera. So even though truly "affordable" medium and large format digital technology is years away from being an option for most photographers, I am happy to see someone being the pioneer. It gives me hope that there is still a chance for those of us out there who don't mind taking the extra care and time to get the highest quality possible images.