Is there any info other than speculation that Rollei has confirmed re: the new cam?

i.e.

What back will mount on it?

Price / release date?

this forum has an search function ;-)

And I've used it, but all guesses and no mentioned backs. I wouldn't have posted if I hadn't looked.

what thierry and yaya have said are no guesses.
its hard to say anything more which has not been said several times in the last weeks.

very true, and I am grateful for that thread. But I am wondering if the Sinar Hy6 and the Rollei Hy6 have the same compatibility (i.e. no phase backs as they have posted both here and at sinar's home forum)?

A point of clarification. There will NOT be a Rollei Hy6, except in Russia, China and Japan. What(if any) digital backs are friends in those countries will be able to use on their Rollei Hy6s is unclear, but unless you live there, who cares?

So what if the question gets asked again, what difference would it make ?


I saw the geeks at a Sydney camera store ( hi guys, love your work ! ) playing with a new Rolli and a Leaf back the other day, I didn't have a close look at the body..

Well Leaf never made a back to fit the older Rolleis so it may have been a prototype Hy6.

Dear Blair,

as said by rehnniar, there is not much more to say about the Sinar Hy6 which hasn't yet been said: things have not changed since then.

Again: Sinar will not produce any adaptation for backs from other companies/back manufacturers, nor will the Rolleiflex branded Hy6. As for Leaf, I think Yaya has answered as well on this particular issue.

Best regards,
Thierry

This is still not very clear - you wouldnt need to build an adapter - phase would produce suitable backs

I am sure nikon never mention Sigma lenses - but it is well known they work on Nikons - and you are 'nikon' in this discussion !

A straight question..

Are phase locked out by software, contract or neither ??

SMM

Dear Sam,

This has been answered as well, also on the current Sinar Forum tread " FAQ Hy6": Phase One has no contract with neither Sinar, Jenoptik or Franke & Heidecke, and are not part of this project. As a consequence, they do not have access to the protocols to command the camera.

We cannot speak for Phase One as for for producing suitable backs.

I hope I have answered.

Best regards,
Thierry

Sam, I think the message is that you need to ask Phase because only they could know.

So it appears that Hasselblad is not the only company developing the "proprietary closed system".
It would serve em all right if Phase worked a deal with Zeiss, Kyocera, and whomever else is involved and began production of the Contax 645.

Of course it's not only Hasselblad. They are ALL trying to develop a proprietary closed system. The difference is that Hasselblad, Sinar and Leaf have leveraged their financial resources to pull it off, and Phase has not been able to(or simply lacks the financial resources). Phase could not care less about you or anyone else having "options". They only want to maintain or better yet maximize their market share, and the open system world that had previously existed worked fine for Phase as long as other companies were content to provide the camera platform for Phase as the leading maker of MFDBs.
Whoever said that Hasselblad should be frightened by the fact that so many photographers on this forum were still using the Contax 645, a discontinued camera, had it all wrong. Hasselblad is likely frightened by the fact that Contax made an excellent product and still went belly up, vowing not to let that happen to them by hanging around selling a product with a relatively low profit margin to serve as a platform for Phase and Leaf.

Now that's a great quote. Dead on target. The MF back market is a niche market, of modest size, with high development costs, competition, and evolving fairly quickly. How many manufacturers do we expect to compete in this market? 2 or 3? Right now, with Phase, Leaf, Hassy (Imacon) and Sinar/Jenoptic - does anyone else get the feeling its a bit crowded?

I agree, excellent point from hcubell. It's a lot like the major computer hardward mfgrs. You have to be open enough to provide critical compatibility, but closed enough to lock consumers in as much as possible (without pissing them off so much that they jump ship to a competitor).

No one should be suprised at this trend. It's like Apple fanboys (I'm one) that occasionally are surprised (I'm not) when Steve does something machiavellian to limit choice. It's in the best interest of Apple as a corporate organism. Same goes for every camera manufacturer out there.

To that end, how many major computing platforms are there? If there are any parallels between the markets we can definitely expect shake out and consolidation.

Frankly, I need perfect choice less than I need great support, good third party product selection, etc. for a living breathing camera system, regardless of the fact that it's closed.

Final pointless imperfect analogy:

If Apple = minority 'challenger' platform and MS = majority incumbent platform, is Hy6 Apple and Hassy MS?

Maybe not such a bad comparison. I have been a Windows user with Windows hardware since the first version. I have swapped to Mac when it could do both Windows as well as MacOS natively.

I find it pointless and imperfect. No offense....
I'm a mac user and I feel to hasselblad in the same way I fell to my macs... Fancy and expensive and not at all perfect but working all day long without failure...
The HY6 could be something like a "closed" Linux