The Photokina trade fair in Cologne, Germany, usually showcases revolutionary products and, this year, we think it will be hard to beat a new digital camera back that dramatically expands the current boundaries in digital photography.
September 21, 2006: The Photokina trade fair in Cologne, Germany, usually showcases revolutionary products and, this year, we think it will be hard to beat a new digital camera back that dramatically expands the current boundaries in digital photography.  Also on display are two cameras that can be used with the Seitz D3 digital scan back, the Seitz 6×17 Digital and the Roundshot D3 panorama cameras. The new Seitz 6×17 digital camera (shown above) with its D3 digital back is fully mobile and easy to operate thanks to a handheld device with a graphical touch-screen. With a resolution of 7,500 pixels vertically and 21,250 pixels horizontally the new Seitz camera creates a 160 million pixel image and offers 6×6, 6×9, 6×15 or a full 6×17 panorama format options. The fastest exposure speed is 1/20,000 sec. – or just one second for the entire 6×17 scan at full resolution! The camera body is priced at 28,900 Euros (with at tethered studio version at 26,900 Euros). It is designed for use with Schneider or Rodenstock large format lenses (on Seitz lens board) or Linhof Technorama, Fuji and other large format lenses (on adaptor plate).  The new Roundshot D3 panorama camera is designed for 360 ° panorama photography and is designed for use with medium or large format lenses of Schneider, Rodenstock, Hasselblad, Pentax 67 or other brands. As the Roundshot scanning camera uses only the middle section of the lens, it allows maximum edge-to-edge sharpness without vignetting. The image has a 48-bit colour depth and a high dynamic range. When shooting directly into the sun, the sensor’s anti-blooming feature reduces glare and allows a clean passage between highlights and lowlights. The image is further enhanced by advanced optimisation algorithms developed by Seitz. Photographers can also work directly on the raw image and apply personalised raw conversion settings. 
Combined with the vertical resolution of 7,500 pixels an 80mm medium format lens creates, for example, a total image resolution of 470 million pixels. Or go even further by shifting the scan back by a total of 50mm and achieve a vertical resolution of 13,500 pixels (110mm) by distortion-free stitching. A 360 ° digital panorama (uncompressed) taken with a 80mm lens represents about 2.7 GB. To process and store such large amounts of data Seitz created a state-of-the-art computer system. Data is transferred by gigabit ethernet from the sensor to the storage device. The portable storage device is itself a computer with most advanced characteristics in processing, disk space and memory features. Additionally, the camera and handheld control unit takes advantage of the latest IP network technology, making it possible to connect the camera to a network and control it remotely.
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