digital backs

has anyone used Phase One's P30 back yet? am still debating over what
to buy for work that involves taking photographs of (static) works of
art. The battle between Imacon and Phase One is brutal (at least in
Europe) and it's hard to find unbiased views from porfessionals who've
actually used them.

Would a P30 back for instance be too "strong" for a Mamiya RZ using a
90mm lens? There's an offer on at the moment for Phase One's P30,
attached to a Hasselblad H2 with an 80mm lens that is retailing for
19,000 euros (without tax). Any thoughts on this? I sound like a
neophyte because I'm writing on behalf of my husband who is the
photographer --- I'm translating and purchasing!

many thanks!

jane

jane writes ...

has anyone used Phase One's P30 back yet?

I haven't used one but here are a couple of reviews of the smaller P-25
and larger P-45 backs from Phase One that might be of interest.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/Cramer.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/re...25-field.shtml

The battle between Imacon and Phase One is brutal (at least in
Europe) and it's hard to find unbiased views from porfessionals
who've actually used them

I know six guys (including Cramer and Atkinson in the article linked to
above) who have tested various MF and LF backs head-to-head and all six
picked the Phase One backs, at least for outdoors work. There may be
other things go consider for your usage photographing artworks but the
guys I know picked Phase One. I think one advantage is the software
since the Phase One Capture One raw converter software is extremely
good.

Would a P30 back for instance be too "strong" for a Mamiya RZ
using a 90mm lens?

What do you mean by "too strong"? If you are referring to the crop
factor (where the 90 mm becomes effectively something longer due to the
smaller sensor size) then you could back up or buy a wider angle lens.
If you are asking if this lens has enough resolving power to take
advantage of the high resolution of this size sensor, then I don't know
but would think at f/8 or f/11 you should be OK. I have five Mamiya
lenses for their 6x7 rangefinder camera and they are excellent, but I
think the RZ lenses aren't quite to that level.

There's an offer on at the moment for Phase One's P30,
attached to a Hasselblad H2 with an 80mm lens that is retailing
for 19,000 euros (without tax). Any thoughts on this?

I know Hasselblad is pushing the Imacon back (since the merger) but
many people with Blad's are using the Phase One, like Bill Atkinson in
one of the articles linked to above (he's the smartest digital guru
I've ever met). Before spending that much money I'd insist on doing
some test shots, ideally with both backs you are considering, and also
consider the costs of leasing.

Bill

Dear Bill,
thank you so much for your input. Out here in the middle of Kansas,
France information is hard to come by (and so are leasing
possibilities). I'll follow your advice and we'll do some serious test
driving. Merci, merci!
Jane

Dear Bill,
thank you so much for your input. Out here in the middle of Kansas,
France information is hard to come by (and so are leasing
possibilities). I'll follow your advice and we'll do some serious test
driving. Merci, merci!
Jane

jane writes ...

Dear Bill,
thank you so much for your input. Out here in the middle of Kansas,
France information is hard to come by (and so are leasing
possibilities). I'll follow your advice and we'll do some serious test
driving. Merci, merci!

Here's a link on leasing Phase One backs ...
http://www.phaseone.com/Content/p1di...s/Leasing.aspx

From your post I can't tell if you're "in the middle of Kansas" or
France But here's a list of dealers in North America, if you're in
Kansas I think I see a Texas # so that would be the guy to contact
about a demo ... on their web site they also mentioned a road show ...
if in France there are dealer links for Europe on the site as well.

I'm pretty sure Imacon and Hasselblad offer something similar with
demos and leasing (I'm familiar with Phase One thru their Raw converter
software).

Bill

jane writes ...

has anyone used Phase One's P30 back yet? ... it's hard
to find unbiased views from porfessionals who've actually
used them.

Jane, your original post is about 3 weeks old by now but recently I saw
a comparison on the web that might be of interest if you're still
looking at various backs ... they tested the following items ...
Phase One P45 back(s): 39 Megapixel
Phase One P30 back: 31 Megapixel
Phase One P25 back: 22 Megapixel
Canon 1Ds MKII with Canon Macro 100mm f/2.8: 16.6 Megapixel
Canon 5D with with Canon Macro 100mm f/2.8 : 12.7 Megapixel
Canon 1Ds with with Canon Macro 100mm f/2.8 : 11 Megapixels
Linhof 679cs camera with Rodenstock HR digital lenses: Various backs
Linhof 4X5 camera with Sironar HM lenses: Drum scanned film
Linhof 4X5 camera with Sironar N lenses and BetterLight Super 6K
scanning back
Hasselblad H1 with Hasselblad H lenses: Various backs
Mamiya 645 with Mamiya lenses: P45 39 Megapixel and drum scanned Velvia

The best part is that you can buy a DVD from them for around $10 with
the original RAW files (plus demo software to convert the RAW files) so
you can compare the results for yourself, ideally in prints at the
sizes you're most interested in printing.

If interested the link is
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...-testing.shtml ... I took
a 3-day advanced Photoshop class from two of these guys (Atkinson and
Cramer) and they are very sharp individuals (Atkinson was one of the
early Macintosh software gurus).

Bill

In article .com, Bill
Hilton writes
jane writes ...

has anyone used Phase One's P30 back yet? ... it's hard
to find unbiased views from porfessionals who've actually
used them.

Jane, your original post is about 3 weeks old by now but recently I saw
a comparison on the web that might be of interest if you're still
looking at various backs ... they tested the following items ...
Phase One P45 back(s): 39 Megapixel
Phase One P30 back: 31 Megapixel
Phase One P25 back: 22 Megapixel
Canon 1Ds MKII with Canon Macro 100mm f/2.8: 16.6 Megapixel
Canon 5D with with Canon Macro 100mm f/2.8 : 12.7 Megapixel
Canon 1Ds with with Canon Macro 100mm f/2.8 : 11 Megapixels
Linhof 679cs camera with Rodenstock HR digital lenses: Various backs
Linhof 4X5 camera with Sironar HM lenses: Drum scanned film
Linhof 4X5 camera with Sironar N lenses and BetterLight Super 6K
scanning back
Hasselblad H1 with Hasselblad H lenses: Various backs
Mamiya 645 with Mamiya lenses: P45 39 Megapixel and drum scanned Velvia

The best part is that you can buy a DVD from them for around $10 with
the original RAW files (plus demo software to convert the RAW files) so
you can compare the results for yourself, ideally in prints at the
sizes you're most interested in printing.

If interested the link is
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...-testing.shtml ... I took
a 3-day advanced Photoshop class from two of these guys (Atkinson and
Cramer) and they are very sharp individuals (Atkinson was one of the
early Macintosh software gurus).

Bill

Thanks for posting that, Bill.

Interesting how much the 5D sensor improved over the 1Ds. The 1Ds MkII
is clearly better, but not (on the web blowups) enough to justify the
price/weight difference for me. (It may be different for someone else,
or the differences may be more obvious from the RAW files.

Seemed to me the 5D was only barely inferior to the scanned 645, and the
1DsII was superior.

I don't envisage paying £15-20k for a Phase 1 back, so I suppose it is
(for me) rather academic how they compare!

David
--
David Littlewood