I should point out that the Kodak KAI-4020CM chip installed the ST4000XCMI isn't something new. SBIG have had the mono and colour chips available in their STL professional series cameras for sometime. What makes this deal special is the ST body is much cheaper, but still feature rich. The STL body has a built in filter wheel which is obviously not a requirement for a one shot colour.
I fully concur Roger. The QE of this camera is low. But after all, if your goal is to take "pretty pictures" its absolutely perfect for the job. I don't know anyone that would do research such a photometry with a one shot colour camera or for that matter one which is ABG (bleeding can alter absolute star brightness measurements). With a built in guider along the same optical axis as the main imaging chip, you can guide at very long focal lengths to hunt down those distant galaxies. Saves having to worry about an off axis guider or heaven forbid a separate guidescope that has the potential to not detect guiding errors if imaging at such long focal lengths.
Actually, the QE of the colour one shot is identical to that of the STL11k.
KAI-4020CM
KAI-11000CM
The mono version of the KAI-4020 has a slightly better QE than the KAI-11000M!!!
KAI-4020M
KAI-11000M
Unfortunately, the ST4000 is likely to only come in colour. If you want the mono chip, you need to go with the STL body - at a considerably higher cost. There is always a trade off between chip size, QE and cost.
It will be interesting to see how the market accepts such products. The low/mid-end astronomical DSLR audience is quite large. It would have to be for someone like Canon to manufacture a DSLR specific for astronomical use. They would have done a careful risk assessment before making such an investment. Obviously high-end manufacturers want a piece of this market. Interesting times ahead. I wait with abated breath to see some first light images from users with this camera.