Phase One’s 150MP XC compact medium format camera costs $62,490

Phase One has announced its new 150-megapixel Phase One XC (buy here). As medium format cameras go, it’s pretty compact, and Phase One says it’s targeted specifically towards travel photographers. With a price tag of $62,490, though, it’s well outside the budgets of most travel photographers.

Obviously, Phase One doesn’t expect to sell this one in huge volumes. But its compact design, which Phase One says is its “most compact digitally integrated camera to date”, does lend itself well to such work.

The Phase One XC, the company says, is “designed to be a companion camera”. And I don’t think they mean this to suggest that it be a secondary camera to another “main” camera. Instead, they want the camera to become your companion, going with you everywhere.

Phase One XC – Small, but not that small

Sure, it’s much smaller than other Phase One cameras, and many Phase One photographers will probably be able to justify squeezing one of these into their bag to take around with them, but it’s still a medium-format camera. So, it’s not going to be super compact.

It doesn’t do too badly, though, when it comes to size. From the front, it’s quite similar to the Hasselblad X2D 100C (buy here). Of course, it has a much greater depth, being a little over twice as thick from front-to-back. And you could get eight of those Hasselblad X2D 100C cameras for the price of just one of these.

At 1.82kg, it’s also quite a hefty camera. Again, it’s more than double both the Hasselblad X2D 100C’s 895g and the 900g of the Fujifilm GFX 100S (buy here). As I mentioned, though, for Phase One shooters, this is still pretty compact when compared to the company’s other camera systems.

You’ve got two different options for backs on this camera, which are the Phase One IQ4 150MP and IQ4 150MP Achromatic. The latter of the two, of course, is if you plan to only ever shoot black and whites.

Built-in fixed 23mm f/5.6 lens

The Phase One XC has a built-in Rodenstock HR Digaron-S 23mm f/5.6 lens. It stops down to f/22 and has a filter diameter of 72mm. As a built-in lens, it can’t be swapped out for others as your needs suit.

This lens is also available separately for use with other cameras, where it’s listed as having a 112° field of view and a massive 70mm image circle. Exactly what field of view this lens offers when built into the Phase One CX is unspecified, but listings for the lens on its own suggest that it’s the equivalent of an 18mm lens on full frame.

Phase One XC Specs

	IQ4	IQ4 Achromatic
Resolution	151MP	151MP
Long Exposures	60 Mins	60 Mins
16-Bit Opticolor+	Yes	Yes
Dynamic Range	15 Stops	15 Stops
ISO	50-25,600	200-102,400
Sensor Type	BSI CMOS	BSI CMOS
Sensor Size	53.4 x 40mm	53.4 x 40mm
Pixel dimensions	14,204 x 10,652	14,204 x 10,652
Output at 300PPI	120.26 x 90.19cm	120.26 x 90.19cm
Shooting Speed	2fps	2fps
LCD	3.2″ Multi-touch display	3.2″ Multi-touch display
Electronic Shutter	Yes	Yes
USB-C	Yes	Yes
Gigabit Ethernet	Yes	Yes
802.11 WiFi	Yes	Yes
HDMI	Yes	Yes

Price and Availability

The Phase One XC is available now for the whopping price of $62,490 from the Phase One Website.

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