Paul Barker
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off
|
 p.5 #8 · Re: MF digital backs. The dilemma | |
Hi Guy
I'm late to the party on this one but as I have a DMR and a P25 I'll throw a few observations into the pot.
Last year, having shot with a lightphase back for 5 years I was looking to upgrade so I tried all the backs, P25, Aptus22 Hassllecon, Sinar eMotion22. I also looked at changing my main shooting platform of V series 'blads to the H1.
First off, I stuck with the V series for two reasons. 1. I like working with a waistlevel finder. Th H1 doesn't have one. 2. I didn't like the 'feel' of the Fuji lenses, They just have a different 'look'. I prefer German glass.
The Hasellcon back has been improved since the one I tried but the screen on the back was useless and the big killer for me was the Flexcolour software. Untidy interface and lousy workflow. Try a s I might I couldn't get the colour near to my old lightpahse which was great, straight out of the box. It improved when I exported the file to DNG and processed through ACR but that's another hoop to jump through.
eMotion22. I know of four other snappers who have a Jenoptic Eyelike eMotion22 and one loves it and swears by the eyelike software, two others like it but had really tough time with the software and getting the colours right. Here, in the UK at least, you can only buy a Sinar emotion22 (exactly the same back) and they only demo'ed and will support Sinar Capture shop software, not Eyelike. I didn't like it. No CMYK output (which may or may not be important to you). Amazingly, at that time, it didn't do tethered capture but an Eyelike back did! Go figure!! The screen on the back was joint worse with the Hassellcon. 1 sec exposure and longer there seems to be a noise issue. One mate of mine has just ordered am M22 to go with his eMotion. It's tethered only but actively cooled, so noise shouldn't be an issue. He has bought that specifically for architecture. The eMotion is the only one with internal memory, so can shoot fast.
Aptus 22. I liked it a lot and I liked the people. James will tell you what great support you get from Yair, he's a very helpful guy. The big screen is nice and bright, the best, but I found all the menus and option like a small operating system. At the time it still seemed like work in progress. i.e. I couldn't mount the back on a 'blad 555ELD as the battery was to big, but there were working on a slim one. The old V8 software was... well old and not that nice. The new V10 was beta and kept crashing, so, at the time not production ready. I liked the look of it though. I also found, like the other Dalsa chipped back, a stop to slow for me. If you want to shoot at 1.2 frames a second, fine, as long as you don't want to zoom in and check the focus. To do that you need to shoot another , slower to shoot, format. Speed, however, was not an issue for me.
The P25. I tried this last as I was already familaiar with the software. The screen on the back wasn't as good as the Leaf but better than the other two. The menus are nice, clear and simple. C1 and the workflow is, for me, far and away the best. It's also a big plus that I can use the same software with the Canon and DMR and keep the same workflow rather than having to use three. I don't need to tell you how good the DMR files look from C1  . I can't deny the trade in deal that I got on my old Lightphase was a no brainer. Enough, in fact, to purchase the R9, DMR and a couple of lenses. I have been very happy with the P25.
Quality difference. Between all these backs is not that much IMHO. They are all capable of stunning quality. People talk about the leaf having 'film like quality' and being a DMR user I kinda know what they mean. But, which film; Kodachrome verses Velvia or Ektachrome? The difference between the backs is not, IMHO, as compelling as the difference between the DMR and Canon/Nikon. I put that down to 12 bit verses 16 (or 14 depending which sales rep has your ear), no AA and the glass.
I haven't done any scientific comparisons between the DMR and P25 but the colour seems very close, as I would expect being both Kodak chips. the resolution/resolving power is, to my eyes, obviously much better than the DMR, again, as you might expect between 10mp and 22mp. The question is do you need it? If you are happy with 10mp 30 or 39 will be overkill. It's nice to have it but I find that most clients don't want anything bigger than a 60% output (30mb Vs 85mb CMYK) as all the files just swamp their systems. This is fine for DPS editorial work. Again, unscientific, but I was at another pal's who had just bought a 5D. We set up a quick comparison still life. DMR and 5D had similar resolutions. The DMR held highlights better than the 5D but not as good as the P25.
As for 6x9 systems, this is next on my list. I miss movements. My pal who's just bought the M22 (who, incidentally, also bought a DMR after following the thread after I'd pointed it out to him :feelingguilty ), has just ordered an Arca Monolith having looked at the Linhof and some others. I'm very familiar with P series Sinar but they are even more money. I think I too will be looking at the Arca.
The DMR and a back on a 6x9 for high res architecture and still life sounds like a good combo to me .
All the above IMHO, some of the issues may well have been resolved or improved but that was my experience at the time, your milage may vary.
Try out all the systems in •your• workflow (we all have different needs) and ignore sales reps (and most probably all other photographers who have an opinion, including me ). If in doubt.... don't.
Good luck
Paul
|
