Now you can buy the wonderful Phase One XC medium format camera body only

The Phase One XC is a remarkable handheld medium format camera capable of breathtaking 150MP medium format quality either in full color or true black and white, thanks to its choice of IQ4 regular and ‘Achromatic’ digital backs. But if you already shoot with Phase One gear, the XC has previously been an expensive addition because you end up getting another digital back when you’ve got one (or more) already.

Not any more. Phase One is now selling the XC camera body-only. That doesn’t mean quite the same thing as it does with regular cameras, though. The XC ‘body’ actually consists of the camera itself and an integrated Rodenstock HR Digaron-S 23mm F/5.6 wide-angle prime. The lens doesn’t detach, but this camera’s digital back does.

On modular medium format cameras like this, the digital back handles all the image capture, houses most of the controls and has the LCD display. It’s an expensive part of this camera kit, and the XC camera uses the same IQ4 digital backs as Phase One’s other medium format models, so having to buy another one just to get the portable XC camera might put existing owners off.

What’s so special about the Phase One XC?

Phase One effectively makes three cameras, all using the same IQ4 digital backs. The XF range is big and bulky and aimed mainly at studio use with a range of Schneider-Kreuznach lenses, the XT is a portable ‘landscape’ camera that takes a different range of Rodenstock lenses, and the XC is a slimmed-down fixed-lens variant designed for handheld shooting.

The Phase One XC is no larger than a fully kitted out full frame mirrorless camera, but offers a ‘full frame’ medium format sensor equivalent in size to the old 645 film format, so significantly larger than the sensors in the Hasselblad X2D 100c and Fujifilm GFX 100 II, for example, two of the best medium format cameras on the market. The fixed Digaron-S 23mm F/5.6 lens is equivalent to around 15.5mm in full frame camera terms.

It is expensive – around $62,000 in the US and £58,000 in the UK. However, a very large part of this cost is the IQ4 digital back.

So appealing as the XC is, the prospect of paying for another digital back (these cost $50K on their own!) has not been very appealing if you have one already. 

But if you’re not paying for another back, just the XC body and integrated lens, that makes a massive difference in the price, and the new 'stand-alone' XC version will cost just $20,290 (about £16,000 / AU$31,000). That's still a lot of money by regular camera standards, but around one-third the price of the full XC kit with back.

For first-time Phase One buyers this is unlikely to make a difference since you’ll need to get the digital back anyway, but for existing Phase One XF or XT users, this new option could change the Phase One XC from an expensive addition to a camera bag essential!