Phase One has just unveiled the latest lens for the $57,000 XT camera system. The new XT-Rodenstock HR Digaron W/SW 90mm f/5.6 is the fifth lens for this system, weighing in at $13,000 and built with three priorities in mind: image quality, image quality, and image quality.
In case you missed the announcement last September, the Phase One XT is a tiny medium format field camera system that accepts Phase One’s IQ4 digital backs and a special lineup of XT lenses created by German lens maker Rodenstock. All together, system allows you shoot at up to 150MP of resolution while shifting the sensor up to 24mm in both the X and Y axes. It is, in short, the ultimate (digital) landscape photography camera.
The XT-Rodenstock HR Digaron – W/SW 90mm f/5.6, which was officially announced earlier today, is the latest XT-Rodenstock lens for this camera system, and probably your best option if you want to push the XT system to its imaging limits.
What’s special about this lens is the massive 120mm image circle that it produces—the largest of any XT-Rodenstock lens. This allows Phase One shooters to take full advantage of the XT’s ability to shift 24mm in both the X and Y axes, creating large panoramas or distortion-free architectural images in-camera without even getting close to the edge of the image circle in the process.
As Phase One explains, the idea behind the new 90mm lens is to bring the large format “feel” to digital medium format photography in a new and unprecedented way.
“The 90mm focal length defines the ‘feel’ of large format photography,” says Drew Altdoerffer, Phase One Product Manager. “When it comes to Large Format aesthetic, this is the focal length artists have in mind and a longer focal length is a welcome addition to the XT.”
You can learn more about this lens and what makes it special in the intro video below:
The XT-Rodenstock 90mm f/5.6 is the fifth and the second-to-last lens that Phase One has teased so far for the XT system. The last lens is “just around the corner,” and will round out the system with a telephoto option that will be “longer than 100mm,” though the exact specs and release date are not public as of yet.
In the meantime, if you’re one of the lucky few who can actually take advantage of (and afford) a Phase One XT and IQ4 digital back, you can learn more about this new $12,990 lens over on the Phase One website.
(via DPReview)
Author: DL Cade
Source: Petapixel
