Originally posted by fikkser OK, but someone wrote that the biggest sensors you could make out of a wafer is aps-h (in some of the over 9000 FF threads), and it's because of that canon made some cameras with asp-h sensors.
Wouldn't it be nice with aps-h in the k-5 replacement? :-)
Think of it this way: you have a pizza-sized wafer, and on it you can "draw" several sensors, each having a maximum size of an APS-H (because the equipment doesn't allow you to "draw" anything larger - this is debatable, it's not unlikely they've managed to increase this limit to "FF"). But since you want APS-C sensors, that's what you'll make.
You won't make an APS-H sensor, cutting it down to APS-C - you cannot cut electronic circuits.
APS-H would be nice only in certain conditions:
- it's cheap enough (only slightly more expensive than APS-C, definitely less than FF)
- it's good enough (must have an advantage over the best APS-C sensors, must not be much below the best FF sensors)
- people would accept that Pentax doesn't have a FF but a "lesser" format ("FF" vs "APS-H" choice)
With a limited market share, I doubt they can easily clear the "cheap" and "good" conditions. A "FF" using a readily available sensor seems much safer.
Asahiflex, don't hold your breath while waiting for the APS-C DSLRs to die
APS film died from different reasons; it was both worse and more expensive than the small format film.