Medium format back prices ludicrous

RichA wrote:
The price of an entry-level car? 4000lbs of steel, plastic, aluminum,
electronics, base metals, rubber, etc., the same as a 1.5lb piece of
electronics?. Pure insanity. Those things aren't radiation-hardened
and going into space, so is it solely the R&D and the sensor being
paid for here? It certainly isn't the $10-$20 worth of electronics or
the LCD screen...

High tech, short run.

What do you think world class telescope
sensors cost?

Same reasons.

BugBear

RichA wrote:
On Jan 25, 4:35 am, wrote:
RichA wrote:
The price of an entry-level car? 4000lbs of steel, plastic, aluminum,
electronics, base metals, rubber, etc., the same as a 1.5lb piece of
electronics?. Pure insanity. Those things aren't radiation-hardened
and going into space, so is it solely the R&D and the sensor being
paid for here? It certainly isn't the $10-$20 worth of electronics or
the LCD screen...

High tech, short run.

What do you think world class telescope
sensors cost?


You mean medical grade sensors?

The requirments of astronomy and medicine are quite
different, and thus, so are their sensors.

I don't know, maybe 10x more than
industrial grade.

I'll take that as a "don't know".

BugBear

On 1/25/2011 5:13 PM, RichA wrote:
On Jan 25, 4:35 am, wrote:
RichA wrote:
The price of an entry-level car? 4000lbs of steel, plastic, aluminum,
electronics, base metals, rubber, etc., the same as a 1.5lb piece of
electronics?. Pure insanity. Those things aren't radiation-hardened
and going into space, so is it solely the R&D and the sensor being
paid for here? It certainly isn't the $10-$20 worth of electronics or
the LCD screen...

High tech, short run.

What do you think world class telescope
sensors cost?


You mean medical grade sensors? I don't know, maybe 10x more than
industrial grade. Problem is, you don't know what grade DALSA has put
into that camera.


It has to with scale.

In 1972 I bought two space-grade IR sensors of a certain sort, that
I needed for a project. Standard price was $2000 apiece, but I got them
for $600 because they already had some on hand that would do for me.

In 1988 I wanted more and asked for a quote for two, or 128.

The price was the same for two, or 128: $2,000,000.
That was because the production setup had closed down.

Doug McDonald