Looking to take drone photography to new heights, Phase One has announced the iXU 150: a pint-sized CMOS medium format camera that has been designed with aerial photography in mind.

Featuring a 50-megapixel CMOS sensor, the iXU 150 will be able to shoot at 0.8fps between the ISO range of 100-6400 and is billed as the, “World’s Smallest and Lightest Integrated Digital Medium Format Aerial Camera.”

By replacing the more common aluminum body with a magnesium one, the iXU 150 has stripped away 30% of the weight its flightless predecessors carry around, making it idea for the kind of UAV (read: drone) photography that has gotten to be so popular these days.

Of course, with the starting price of $40,000 when it gets released and no word on exactly HOW heavy this thing is, it’s unlikely the camera will end up in many typical consumers’ hands. World’s lightest or not, as PopPhoto points out, chances are good you’ll be needing something a bit more powerful than your DJI Phantom to lug this thing around.

(via PopPhoto)