It's only a matter of months until I will be upgrading to a MFDB system and I'm undecided about which to invest in. I don't want to spend too much and the new package's for the H3D-31 are around the ideal price.

However, is it work maybe spending a little more/less elsewhere? I primarily shoot a lot of panoramic, architecture, portrait and product photos. I don't want the bulk of a view camera and my previous MF camera was a Hasselblad 503CW which I absolutely loved.


What do you recommend?

Thanks
Chris

Do you need high flash sync speed? Do you want a waist-level finder? Are there any 'must have' focal lengths for your work? Do you often switch between vertical and horizontal while shooting? Do you want to use a particular program for developing your raw files?

Without knowing these preferences and a lot more, no-one can give you a real answer.

Chris,

Please feel free to give us a call at Capture Integration to talk about any Phase One products.
You can ask for Lance Schad or I. We would be glad to help you.

Chris Lawery
Sales Manager
chris@captureintegration.com
Capture Integration, Phase One Dealer of the Year

877-217-9870 | National Atlanta / Miami
404-234-5195 | Cell
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A high flash sync speed would be ideal. I really miss shooting with a WLF and would probably shoot 90% of my photography in this way but having the option to switch between a WLF and angled finder would be perfect. The vast majority of my photography is now shot vertically but with occasional horizontal imagery.

I primarly use CS3 for editing RAW files but have started messing around with Lightoom and Capture 1 recently. Happy to give any editing programme a try.

Focal length... Equivalents to around 15mm and 85mm in 35mm format would be ideal.

Thanks



Thanks Chris.

I forgot to mention I'm based in the UK but I would be interested in a refurbished back perhaps. I've noticed the prices on your website for a refurb back are an awful lot cheaper than here in the UK.

Will be in touch soon.

Thanks
Chris.

Then the Hy6/Afi sounds like it could be the camera for you. Worth investigating.



I ask because some systems use DNG aw files, which means you can use CS3, LR, etc to develop the files. Choices there are Sinar and Hasselblad, afaik.



You won't find any MF system with a 15mm equivalent. Look at the new Rodenstock 23mm lens and put that on a compact vew camera, and you'll have stunning quality (if the other lenses in the series are anything to go by) plus movements.

As for the 85mm equivalent, all systems offer that.

Interesting, thanks for the above.

That puts me in bit of a quandry about the focal length. A view camera would be the ultimate for my kind of photography but I need to check the prices of the lenses. I had a look at the Rodenstock HR lenses last year at Focus on Imaging and have to say they looked absolutely amazing. How do the HR and non-HR lenses compare?

e.g. Phase One / Mamiya have a 28mm. Isn't that wide enough???
Too, you should not go for a 1.3 crop back if you worry too much about wide angle

double

Seems that you don't really need AF, and as you are on a budget, you might reconsider the 503cw. Used it is quite affordable, lots of lenses and stuff on the used market. Then get a refurb back of your choice.
I shoot a 503cw with a p45+ myself from time to time and I love it. Very versatile, with winder and 45° prism if weight doesn't matter, without winder and the wlf if it does. And the V backs also work on rz67 and any large format or alpa, or whatever you might need for your wide desires, with an adaptor. If you like to tether I would recommend phase one, if shooting speed, high iso and on cam display doesn't matter a lot to you, a refurb P45 might do the trick very well.


cheers,
martin

It probably is wide enough. My only experience with MF is 6x6 at 40mm which wasn't quite wide enough for some of the photography I do. Perhaps the focal length equivalents are different with 645 than 6x6

Well, no. The horizontal FOV is the same (in landscape). The Rodenstock 23mm on the largest sensor you can get is the best and by far the widest option (though not the cheapest).

Perhaps you don't want to see the effect of the Rodenstock 23 on a P30 back...
A digital back it's a very specific tool, if you need it, it means that you really need it, and if you need it both for architecture both for products photography, it means that you are paid enough for either needs to buy a 36x48mm back with a sandwich camera with a good digital lens and a good digital medium format camera with a 120mm... I really don't agree with those which use digital back with an old medium format camera with analogic lenses; a digital back it's not like film or polaroid...so hasselblad V it's not a good one. If you don't have a big budget, maybe you can try to get the right platform with the right back for just one use, of corse the one you earn more money with... (sorry for my poor ugly english)

My budget is a little tight at the moment although it could change by the time I'm ready to buy. I originally thought about getting a back to go with a 503CW but some reports have said it works great, some say it doesn't.

Next time I get a chance to go to London I'll try to book some appointments to check out some MFDB systems with their respective focal lengths and decide what to do.

Thanks.

ps. don't apologise about your English. My wife is Taiwanese and her written english really is UGLY.

Eh eh Many thanks...
Actually, we are in the same position... I'm going to buy a back but a have some limitation, of course the budget and the fact that I need lenses from a very wide angle to macro lens. I really love the Leaf sistem, but they don't have a 28mm that I need. I love very much the Phase backs and they do have a 28mm. But, and it's a big BUT Hasselblad now it's the cheapest... If PhaseOne sold its sistem at the same price of Hasselblad I'd go with Phase, I think they have better backs.
If you can, try your old hassy lenses with a back and then try a new digital lens...

Dear Chris,

you may check this new Sinar camera system, the Sinar Hy6 65, here:

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=27565

and its prices here:

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=27940

Am at your disposal for any further question you might have.

Best regards,
Thierry

I think most people here need to ask what are they going to print and where are they going to have it printed.
IF you publishing just Billboards and Magazine type stuff and not selling Gallery Prints at HUGE sizes, save your money and get a DSLR for now and wait and see what is going to come out of the these turbolent times...:+}
A lot of things are going to change here soon, and as others have mentoned.. wait and see what Nikon might do as well s they have spread rumors of a new Medium format equilvelent...
That will really rock up the MF community and probably lower the prices even more.
It's a good time to wait and see.
I would also suggest you go try out as much as you can. they all have their ups and downs from ISO to Sync speeds with flash and honestly think that leaf/sinar and Hassleblad have that all covered pretty well.
I am truly disspointed with Mamiya in the last few weeks. Showing up at Photokina with Sqwat!!!

Like their Phamiya was some big deal.. Same shit with a different name.. NOTHING new at all.
Atleast they could have come out with that promised new lens line...?
Snook

In any case you have the MF dealers at your hand as it is the consumers market. not the Manufacturers market , for once!

I'm in the same predicament, would like to have the quality of the MF but until the have wide angles like the 12-24 and 14-24 I think that I'm forced to wait for the coming D3? nikon body to get any increase in resolution. If anyone knows of the equivalent to these lenses fo MF ( they don't have to be zooms ) please let me know.

petermarrek...see grahams post above concerning the 23mm lenses..

not sure what the to be released leica 24mm will be equivalent to with the sensor size.

for architectural work, as far as I know there is no digital option that provided shifts with lenses as wide as that found using a mfdb and shift camera. So even if 35mm dslr is enough in terms of image quality, the 24mm shift lenses on those systems are often not wide enough for architectural work...so with digital capture, proper in camera perspective correction work can in some circumstances only be obtained with the medium format digital solution...

Marc

About 19mm focal length in 24mmx36mm sensor size terms.

hi everybody,

i am in the very same position right now. have been wanting to buy a digital back for some time now, but my friend and and frequent contributor flashfredrikson said, that i am fine with my canon 1ds mkIII.

but...i really want to buy a MFDB, and it is quite difficult to decide which one at the moment. here in europe we have two good offers from Phase1: cam with 21+ back or H3DII-31 for round about 10 grand.

my concerns: P21+ is the same than my canon 1DS MkIII. so why bother.
the hasselblad H3D-31 seems a good deal but comes with the useless Phocus-software and is not upgradeable, never mind the crop factor. i could look for H2D and mount a phase1 back to it or buy some old contax 645...etc etc.

we all seem to have the same problems.

the leica s2 solution looks good, but when the camera will hit the street it is totally outdated and the aspect ratio is 2:3 anyway. so why bother.

so what is there to do?
i really don't know.

best
thomas

Have a look at the Sinar Hy6-65. I believe the price is similar to the Hasselblad and comes with 3yr warranty. This back in the only back ever to generate jpegs and DNGs internally, meaning you can pull the DNGs straight out of the camera and into your favourite raw processing program. The sensor is the same as in the Hass 31 though.

eeeehhhh......i think it depends on what you're lookin' for in a camera, file, and not to mention your budget...a back w/ a V mount is the best value and most flexible option IMHO....plenty successful commercial photogs using old hassy v cameras and RZ's w/ digi backs and I guarantee you wouldn't know the difference if you saw it in print next to an h3d or whatever back w/ those new digi lenses.

If Mark Seliger is shootin' 503cw's w/ phase backs without any problems i be willing to bet it's probably good enough for the rest of us as well unless you need extreme wides or are doing super tech stuff.

Yes, you are right. If something works for you that's all right. If Annie Leibovitz takes photos with a Canon or with a Leica or with a Holga who cares? What it actually metters is the picture and in my personal case also the money I earn for my living and what the art directors say... But tell me: why should I buy a digital back that outresolves the resolution of the lenses I use? And tell me: is it better a back that outresolves the resolution of the lens or a lens that outresolves the resolution of the back?