Just wanted to let everyone know that the Aptus 17 Refurbs are down to about 8 left in case anyone was interested.

AFD: 3
V-Series: 3
H2: 2

Steve Hendrix
PPR Digital

Steve,
I ordered one back (V-mount) from a NYC dealer around Aug-25.

The dealer seems to have no clue when Leaf will be able to ship these backs (I think the backs went for some testing to Leaf corp.). What I am hearing since August is "in the next couple of days".

Do you have any information when the refurb Aptus-17 will ship?

Regards,
Peter

Our August orders were just fulfilled this week. I would expect your unit to arrive shortly, although our August orders were all Mamiya AFD mounts, and I believe a lot of the Aptus 17 Refurb stock is in that mount already, which means they didn't have to go through a re-mounting process.

Steve Hendrix
PPR Digital

Ah, that makes sense.
The Hallmark Inst. units were most likely Mamiya mount; so some of them might get rerigged to V-mount, which will require some additional time.

Thanks, Steve.

Peter

I "ordered" mine about 8 weeks ago.... have pestered the dealer once every couple weeks. I am now starting to re-think the purchase. I shoot Hassselblad... thinking of getting the CF-V back, but as I remember the Aptus had some nice features.

I called the other day, they said any day now.... 10/11/06

Same here... ordered Aptus-17 around Aug-25 from Fotocare in NYC.

All Fotocare has done so far is:
- Take my downpayment
- Sent me incorrect invoice (referencing Valeo, but I ordered an Aptus)
- Did not respond to email question about delivery status.

I find it quite sobbering that they do not find it worth providing a realistic shipping update; when I ordered in August the rep claimed "will ship probably by the end of this week".

If the rep would have said "listen I don't know yet when the DB will ship", I would have accepted that without annoyance. Maybe the guy is pretty new to sales.

...Hey, the good news is Fotocare has significant room to improve post-sales service levels...

Peter

Peter,

We could get you a Phase overnight at close to the same price.

how much are we talking about here?

stefan

Good news here I was not expected to pay anythink up-front.

I am worried about what if it needs service, will it take 3 months?

Is $8000 a good buy for 17MP?

With the Fuji S5 announcemnt being less of a camera than I expected; should I just buy a canon 5h? ( I was hoping for a full frame sensor or at least a larger sensor than Nikon offers /size not MP)

I think 8k is a very good deal to get (with an Aptus-17) into digital medium-format with 16bit-capture and a good-size sensor (compared to Canon and co).

There is also a comercial component to it since the back will have a trade-in value when upgrading that is basically identical to a 8k purchase price.

Peter

Yes I agree with all of that... I have always been a quality snob... shooting 2 1/4 trany when everyone else shot 35mm. Shooting the Fuji S2 and 3 when most make due with the Canon and Nikon stuff. Seems like a lot of good work is done with the "lesser" cameras.

I used to have a DICOMED for my Hasselblad/Sinar stuff. But that was a 6x6cm chip the Aptus is not that big. But I can still get by on the view camera.

UPDATE... My Aptus 17 may very well be delivered next week so says my dealer.