Turn over a new leaf with the 56 megapixel camera

Davey Winder
Saturday, 02 August 2008 19:15

Your IT - Home IT

We know it's not all about the megapixels, stooopid. But when a digital camera is announced that has 56 of them, well it would be rude not to sit up and take notice...

When your mobile phone comes complete with a five megapixel camera built in, and even relatively low-budget digital cameras have twice as much as that, you have to do something either very small or very big to get noticed in the world of photographic hardware these days.

Leaf opted for the latter. The very big indeed option, actually. How does a medium format camera system sporting a whopping 56 megapixels grab you? By the short and curlies, like it grabbed me I would imagine.

The Leaf AFi 10 will sport a 56mm x 36mm 'True Wide Frame' digital imaging sensor with a 56 megapixel capability across the entire 6 x 6 sensor width. What's more, the TWF sensor technology in the camera back is also compatible with over 80 large-format cameras.

Using the newly developed 'Verto' technology, Leaf promises that the TWF sensor will be able to rotate internally for both landscape and portrait shots without physically turning the camera body. It just takes a single finger to flip the sensor from one orientation to another.

Leaf claims to have introduced the world's first digital camera back in 1992. It can now claim the most megapixels as well, at least for the time being.

"This latest announcement demonstrates the Leaf commitment to developing complete camera systems that adapt to the needs and habits of professional photographers”, said Dov Kalinski, General Manager of Leaf. “With the new internally rotating ‘True Wide Frame’ 56 millimeter sensor, this new AFi system is our most flexible ever."

The full specs of that Leaf AFi 10 sensor are:

• CCD Size 56mm x 36mm
• Pixel Size 6 x 6
• Resolution 56MP
• Active Pixels 9288 x 6000
• Capture Time 1 frame/sec
• Light Sensitivity (ISO) 50-800

Oh, and if I have to mention the price then you probably cannot afford it. When the camera goes on sale at the end of the year it will cost USD $43,675 (AUD $47,000)...