Phase One shows 60.5MP digital back

Phase One today announced the future release of its flagship P65+ medium format digital back camera system, which is the first in the industry to offer a 60.5-megapixel sensor. This number translates to images sized at 8984x6732 pixels, with each taking up 180MB of memory as 8-bit RGB files. The professional-grade systems will spend their lives in studios, where its 40.4 by 53.9mm sensor offers about one-fifth more area than competing products and allows photographers to fully utilize 645 film-format wide angle lenses.

While Phase One claims its new top-of-the-range product is based on 645 film format, it falls slightly short of other standards (the Mamiya 645's sensor measures 41.5 x 56mm). The company used a new Sensor+ CCD design it developed in conjunction with digital image chip maker DALSA Semiconductor. It allows photographers to scale pixel and file size, while offering higher sensitivity and dynamic range. ISO levels are adjustable from 50 to 800 values. The P65+ will also feature a dynamic range of 12.5 stops, compared to 11.75 for the next-best digital back it offers, the 39MP P45+. No studio camera is a sports shooter, and the P65+ is rated at a maximum rate of 1 frame per second thanks to four simultaneous sensor data readouts.

The captured images can be previewed on the P65+'s 2.2-inch QVGA display. Phase One saw it fit to more than double the speed of its image buffer compared to its other cameras, now with a 1.3GB rating.

Phase One will unveil more information at the Photokina trade show in September, but did say the P65+ will start arriving in stores in the fourth quarter of the year. Prices for the P65+ digital back start at $39,990. [via LuminousLandscape]