Phase One Teases Update to its $56,990 XT Camera System
Phase One has teased an update to its XT camera system, a field camera-inspired medium format body that melds the feeling of classic film photography with modern hardware and software.
The company plans to release an update to the XT camera, but it doesn’t appear to be sensor-based. From what little can be gleaned from Phase One’s teaser video, the standout difference is the silver knob that can be seen above the camera lens. DPReview suggests that it could be the addition of tilt functionality. While shifting is already an option with the XT system lenses, tilting is not.
Whatever new is coming to the system, it will be fully revealed next week.
What is the XT Camera System?
Originally announced in 2019, the XT Camera System was called the smallest digitally integrated film camera ever made. Like most of Phase One’s medium format camera systems, the body and the back — which holds the sensor, computer that powers it, and the touchscreen that operates it — are separate and allow photographers to pair different color or black and white sensors for their specific needs. The digital back that pairs with the XT body can be any of the IQ4 digital backs built on the Infinity Platform: the IQ4 150MP, the IQ4 150MP Achromatic, or the IQ4 100MP Trichromatic.
The final piece of this three-part system is the lens, and the system originally launched with three optics created by German lens manufacturer Rodenstock: the XT – Rodenstock HR Digaron-S 23mm f/5.6 super-wide lens, the 32mm f/4 wide-angle lens, and the 70mm f/5.6 normal lens. All three lenses feature Phase One’s digitally integrated, “intelligently controlled,” X-Shutter electromagnetic shutter.
The XT Camera System features 24mm of shift on both the X and Y axis, which allows photographers to correct perspective distortion. It can also be used to create panoramic or stitched images at tremendous scale and resolution. The XT Camera Body intelligently integrates the shift position in the image file for later reference.
Phase One bills the XT camera as the “world’s only camera dedicated to landscape photography” and promises users superior resolution through a camera design that is specifically made to capture scale as well as detail.
These features do not come cheaply: a fully-equipped XT system costs $56,990 (body, back, and one of the three lenses). By themselves, the lenses cost between $8,990 and $11,990.
