Yaya,
You are very professional, is look like JT is a trouble maker, don't waist your time with him.

BlasR

As far as I remember from the times I used Valeo, you dont need any bricks under camera when shooting tethered. But if you like to use it untethered and shoot to "portable kit" you have a hard disk and batteries under the camera body.

sami

Add me to positive experiences list.

Earlier I used Valeo 17 with no problems tethered or to portable kit for 1,5 years.

Now Aptus 17 with Mamiya AFD for 2 years and no problems. 90% of the time I use Aptus in location tethered to either iMac or PB 12". 5% untethered in location and 5% in studio tethered.

Aptus have been in locations from -20C to +38C. In sand and in snow. Rooftops and factories. I have dropped it at least twice and once it fall with camera in tripod cause "someone" stepped not over cable.

300 - 1500 shots per day. If i need to shoot very fast I use 8.3.3 (i dont upgrade since it works).
If I need big previews and we are not in hurry I use LC 10.0.4 (2).

Sometimes I change between those programs several times a day and no problems.

FW cables are like sync cables used to be. The weak thing that must be replaced every now and then. We always carry 2 spare cables in camera bag and one extra in laptop case.

Yes - LC 10 could be better and Leaf has been doing it for ages. But I have not missed a single picture because of that. I have stable workflow with the tools available at the moment.

And we have a backup with us always. Like we did in film days.

sami

That is possible, indeed the brick is there to put the disk in so it is not necessary to use tethered but many people apparently leave the brick attached to the body. I preferred to take a 1m5 firewire cord, put the disk in my pocket, route the cable through my shirt and shoot that way.

I love the fact I can shoot to CF now.

Hey Dustbak,

I used to do the same in the old days, and sometimes in the actual days, using the Dm as a battery.

g

yes JTPHOTO, no more blasphamy please, before you make any posts about equipment failing you should first, do a poll on all the users of that product and if it hasen't happened to at least a good proportion of users then you shouldnt tell us about the problem. People like you who expect a 30 thousand dollar piece of equipment to work reliablly as advertised really get my goat you know.

I have now used the Leaf 65 on a Mamiya 645 twice courtesy of MAC Group and my local Leaf rep for evaluation. My use is for ad work. Both shoots were pretty costly studio shoots and failure was not an option. So you can be sure I had a lot of back up gear on site for everything.

The only problems I had was my own fumbling somewhat becuase of the newness of the software to me but bit all worked out. I had to make a phone call to my Leaf rep for a quick question. And I had a firewire cable that was getting a little tired so it got retired.

I can say I like the Leaf, I like the Mamiya and more than that I like the support. This is a good size purchase so I have been doing my home work and at this point I would have no problems with making the Leaf purchase.

as we all know, the leaf software is its achilles heel. it could and should be much better, much faster and more stable. but it's not, and that my friends, is also something we all know and have known for years now.
there are work arounds, but it's far from perfect.

on the other hand, although phase one software is more mature, it is also far from "rock" solid. i've used the software on several occasions and i've never, i repeat never had a tethered shoot where it didn't go down at least once. usually more than once and with several little hick-ups during shoots.

there is no perfect solution, just as there is no perfect camera. it's horses for courses and cover your arse as best you can.

all in all, i'm very happy with leaf products...

ROFLMAO

welcome to LL, thank you for your informative post, but you forgot to say something bad about phase....

Here you go.

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=16264

Mr. Russell,

No need for a backup back? Or have you acquired another Phase back? or is it that you feel so secure with your Phase that you no longer need the troubles of Leaf.

JTTJ

Actually I have been watching LL for some time, just had nothing to say. I have nothing bad to say about Phase at all. As I considered going medium format digital I evaluated my needs and the way I work and it appeared that Leaf was a good solution for me. I gave the same thought and consideration about bodies and decided that Mamiya would be my best choice.

I was provided with the equipment to evaluate and the results were outstanding. I was treated well, I was supported and the results were excellent. I base my choice of gear equally as much by the support I am given by the people behind the gear whether it be cameras, strobes or even flash cards.

I base my decisions on quality, reliabilty, support and lastly price. That is what my clients expect and that is what I give them. I demand the same. Mamiya and Leaf meet my demands.

Strange... I did not see Russell commenting on this thread so why drag him in? Needs attention maybe?

Really none of the above.

Early on I had reliability issues with the Aptus, but since replacement it has been solid.

I've learned a decent and fast workflow with V-8 and processing in pscs and now lightroom.

Most of the reason is I now shoot so much tethered with exact naming of images, we want to keep to one workflow and we are now quite comfortable and happy with C-1.

As far as back up right now with the P-30, the Aptus, two canons and a Nikon D2x I'm fairly well covered.

If and when I sell the Aptus, I will make a decision to add another back.

Honestly I'm somewhat torn about selling it. I like the large frame size and have a lot of history with Leaf (some good, some very challenging) but overall I know and understand the Aptus file well and have learned and developed my own workflow and produced work I'm proud of with the back.

Obviously with software Leaf is in a slump, but things can and do change in the digital world quickly and I thought about keeping it for the upgrade possiblities alone.

You know, to some photographers and obviously to the dealers and reps there is an almost overzealous amount of brand loyalty to the point it can cloud everyone's judgement.

All I really care about is the photograph and of course the billing, but the very first thing is the photograph.


JR