Mitchell Feinberg made the world’s biggest digital back. Photo credit Mitchell Feinberg
Only in the world of photography could a piece of gear that costs “equal to the cost of a good size house – before the housing crash” be considered a money saver. But that’s exactly what photographer Mitchell Feinberg claims for his 8 x 10-inch digital camera back.
After months of calling around, Feinberg managed to convince somebody to build the back for him (actually two backs — a pro always carries a spare). It fits directly onto the back of his Sinar 8 x 10 plate camera, and can capture an image in 30 seconds.
Curiously, despite the cost, the back isn’t used to make the final captures. That role still goes to film. The back, named the Maxback, replaces the Polaroids that Feinberg usually uses to make test exposures, which were fast running out. This explains why this huge investment saved money. Feinberg:
I used to shoot on average 7.5 Polaroids per photo, and I shoot between 400 to 500 images a year. That’s at least 3000 Polaroids. At 15 bucks a pop. Or about 50K per year, minimum. Polaroid was at one point my highest single cost.
So how many megapixels does this monster have? Just ten, amazingly, although they have plenty of space to lounge around in. The files are — once cropped to 8 x 10 — 3285 x 2611 pixels. Feinberg says that the image quality is excellent, but “not exemplary, […] similar to a very high quality amateur camera of similar resolution.”
Most impressive is that Feinberg got this done. Many of us have dreamed of converting our favorite film camera to digital, and Feinberg did just that.
Mitchell Feinberg’s 8×10 Digital Capture Back [A Photo Editor via PetaPixel]
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