Phase One Announces Megapixel Record Breaking P45, P30 and P21 Digital Camera Backs

PhaseOne annouces three new digital camera backs!

Phase one announced three new professional digital camera backs that raise the megapixel bar significantly. Phase One's robust 18 month plan includes three new devices that will be released over the next two quarters.

Phase One P45 Digital Back - 112 Megabyte file in 8 bit mode, and a 224 megapixel file in 16 bit mode.

Phase One P30 Digital Back - 31 Megapixel back.

Phase One P21 Back - 18 Megapixel chip, and like the P30 has a 3:4 aspect ratio and 1.3X cropping factor.

Note - While speaking with a few industry friends it has come to my attention that the specs on these cameras might just be too good to be true. There is some question in the professional photographer community if Phase One has reached the limit of CCD technology without making the chip bigger. The concern is that Phase one is trying to pack too many mega pixels in a limited space thus possibly losing focus and light gathering power. But honestly so much can happen in the next 18 months anything is possible.

Press Release:
Phase One introduces three new backs

The P 45, P 30 and P 21 present revolutionary new technology Today, Phase One announces no less than three new digital backs as well as the company's commitment to business openness and customer insight. This marks a significant turn in the company's strategy up till now and is expected to have a great impact on the general behavior in the high-end digital photographic market.

Phase One acknowledges the increasingly individual needs of professional photographers and wishes to honor all of their expectations. The ultimate objective is to maximize Passion & Profit for all professional photographers and in order to do that Phase One now offers the broadest range of digital backs and the most innovative technology.

Phase One announces 6 new firsts!
Innovation and high performance are key drivers in Phase One. The objective is to increase passion & profit for the world of professional photography. The 6 new firsts are:

- To allow professional photographers even better investment protection than before, Phase One has decided to offer complete openness into the Phase One 18 months' product roadmap. Today no other digital camera supplier offers this level of investment protection to their customers! Phase One recommends others to follow.

- The ultimate P 45 digital back with 39 MP sensor and 117 MB file sizes pr shot - for the world's most demanding commercial photographers. The result is sharper and more detailed images than ever before, no matter if the images are going for a billboard on Times Square in New York or in a high-end fashion magazine.

- Virtually Moire free shooting with the new P 30 digital back â€“ aimed at the worldâ€™s leading fashion photographers. The new 6,8 micron pixel in the 31 MP sensor will together with Phase One's latest version of the Capture One software deliver sharp, noise-free images with natural colors and "no Moire".

- 60 frames per minute of highest image quality captures is a new first, set by the new innovative Phase One P 21 digital back. 54 MB processed image files will allow professionals to raise the quality level of all-round fashion, portrait and commercial advertising shots.

- The first ever high performance true wireless image transfer of previews and RAW images will become the standard for Phase One shooters. This functionality will be offered to all existing and new owners of Phase One fully portable digital P-backs.

- 3S technology - Secure Storage System. This revolutionary new feature has recently been introduced in the latest Phase One P-series firmware. The 3S technology improves the storage security level by checking the validity on every CF-card inserted in the P-back. This way, the risk of accidentally writing to a damaged storage media is eliminated. In step 2 you can also preserve the image buffer contents, and the remaining images will be stored when the card is reinserted.

Important benefits for Pros

With the announcement of three new backs and revolutionary new technology, the opportunities for professional shooters are huge. Now they are able to:

- Much better evaluate and protect the value of their digital camera investment. This is ensured with the new ability to upgrade existing digital solutions, and by having full insight into the product roadmap from top suppliers of digital solutions. This is especially important since the digital development is much faster than for camera bodies and lenses.

- Deliver higher image quality than ever before in advertising, fashion and portrait Dramatically increase the productivity of their workflow, this includes better teamwork with art directors, models and clients.

- Completely rely on the digital storage media for the data integrity, as they now guarantee that any captured image data can be retrieved.

Digital back features
The first two backs to enter the market are the P 30 and the P 45. The P 30 is designed for the fashion shooter who is looking to switch to digital photography with the best possible equipment at a reasonable price. The P 45 is a full format digital back which will fulfil all needs, even for the most demanding high load/high end commercial shooter. Both backs offer valuable and impressive features and specifications:

P45 specifications:
39 MP
3S technology (Secure Storage System)
35 frames / min.
50-400 ISO

P30 specifications:
31 MP
3S technology (Secure Storage System)
45 frames / min.
50-800 ISO
The P21 18 MP digital back offers some very exiting and much sought-after features â€“ features which will appeal to fashion and portrait shooters in particular:
Fast capture rate - 60 frames per minute both tethered and untethered
Light sensitivity for outdoor shooting
Rectangular file format
3S technology (Secure Storage System)
Ultimate digital backs range

With the introduction of the three new backs, Phase One has completed the ultimate product range. Each product has its special features to target a certain type of photographer: the commercial studio-only shooter, the all-round commercial shooter, the portrait/social shooter, the high-end fashion shooter â€“ Phase One now offers a digital back for every professional photographer.
Shipping details

The new Phase One P45 and P30 start shipping in November and December, 2005 respectively. The P 21 starts shipping in February, 2006.