Pretty much everyone out there has heard of DSLRs, and many people (even those who have very little in common with the art of photography) own such a product. However, if you believe that those amazing studio shots you've seen in the latest issue of your favorite glossy magazine were done using some entry-level digital single-lens reflex camera, think again. No, at least some of them were created using a device similar to the one that has just been announced by Mamiya, namely the DL33 Digital Camera System.

As the company's press release reads, the DL33 digital camera system is formed of the Mamiya 645AFD III camera system, combined with the innovative 33-megapixel Aptus-II 7 Digital Back from Leaf. The 645AFD III body has been enhanced with a new coreless motor for faster, more accurate autofocusing and an enhanced interface system that provides total communication among the camera, lens and digital back.

The device comes equipped with a 33-MP sensor, which, at a size of 36 x 48mm, is twice as large as most sensors from DSLRs, but allows a pixel size of 7.2 microns, which enables the camera to deliver images with accurate and vivid colors, smooth, subtle transitions from tone to tone and striking highlight and shadow detail. The camera provides 16-bit capture, 12-stop dynamic range and an ISO range of 50-800, while images are displayed on the 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD panel.

The 33-megapixel digital back from Leaf creates a very large 67Mb RAW file that can be converted into jpegs, 8-bit or 16-bit tiff files. Furthermore, the device also supports recording directly to a computer via the FireWire interface, a feature that can come especially in handy during long photo shooting sessions.

Now, since this is a Mamiya camera system (which means that it's targeting mostly the pro photographers out there), it's very expensive, as it has an estimated retail price of somewhere around 20,000 US dollars. However, to sweeten the deal a little bit (if that's possible), the manufacturer is also including in the sales package (at least over the course of April and May) a free AF 55mm f2.8 or AF 150mm f3.5 lens directly from Mamiya (valued at $1100).


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