SLRs creeping up on medium formats quality-wise

Big players like Leaf and Hasselblad had better do something soon, or Nikon and Canon will be doing more than nipping at their heels. Tests done by analysis firm DxO Labs seems to confirm what many of us understand intuitively: that the pro DSLR is fast closing the image quality gap with medium format digitals. You can set up your own comparison here; it’s not the last word, of course, but benchmarks are valuable in some ways.

While rumors of sub-$1000 cameras outperforming medium formats are to be taken as total nonsense, things like 1Ds and D3Xs appear to be approaching or outperforming cameras four times their price. Frustratingly, the newest offerings from Hasselblad and company weren’t tested, so the conclusions to be drawn are few and vague, but the general impression is that if medium format companies don’t innovate the way the DSLR guys have been, there’s going to be a reckoning.