LCD Sharpness Phase One IQ150 in comparison

[cyron123]

Hello Guys,

because of a discussion in an other threadwith LCD of other cameras:

I have made the experience that controlling sharpness on my IQ150 is not easy. My D810 LCD is ways better to control the focus. The older P45 are more worse. What is your experience with other Phase One Backs? Are the IQ3xx different? Whats about the Credo backs?

Thank you.

[Paul2660]

Interesting,

I have used the IQ160, 250, 150 and 3100, and to me the LCD's all pretty much are the same in how they handle.  I have always assumed that P1 is using the same LCD between all of them.   

As some have pointed out, the time it takes to zoom to 100% can be time consuming.  And once zoomed it may take a few seconds to refocus if you move around with your finger.  But again, this is the way it's always been so I am I guess used to it. But it's also a reason I will attempt to tether in the field when I can as the Surface pro and C1 solution is much faster.  As for focus with Live View, once zoomed to 100% I usually have no problems, with the XF very easy to determine what is in focus.  However the Acra rm3di makes things a bit harder since it has such a micro control on focus it can be hard to determine the best focus.  But that is not due to the LCD, at least to me.  The IQ screen does allow you to control the brightness of the display on Liveview which can help a lot in lower light.

I have also use the Nikon D800, D810, etc and it's easy to zoom in to far on those cameras, I have always dialed into 100%, then backed off 3 steps to get the best focus.  I would love to see focus peaking the Nikon and Phase as I have it on the Pentax K1 and love it.

I was happy to see the comments Bernard made on the Hasselblad 100, as it appears to handle both the Liveview and zoom feature quite well, and it sounds like the process is much faster than P1 especially the zoom.  But where P1 to me is the slowest is when previewing a captured shot on the LCD, where it can take several seconds to get the image zoomed up to 100%.  Many times you will get a overpixelated like 400% view and you have to back off to normal and start again.

Paul Caldwell

[DrakeJ]

I have no issue whatsoever checking focus with an IQ180 back. Always easy to see if I nailed a f2.8 portrait, and never have I been disappointed when importing to C1.

[Christopher]

Paul what cards are you using? My 3100 certainty takes no seconds to display 100%


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[Paul2660]

Hello Christopher.

Here is the card I mainly use.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1031509-REG/lexar_lcf64gcrbna10662_64gb_pro_compact_flash.html

Things are faster with this card but I still see some dragging on zooms once the card starts to fill up.

Paul Caldwell

[BernardLanguillier]

I was happy to see the comments Bernard made on the Hasselblad 100, as it appears to handle both the Liveview and zoom feature quite well

Indeed, that works quite well on the H6D-100c.

Now there are other problems with the H6D-100c and functional shortcomings (lack of Auto ISO, lack of auto-WB, one annoying bug with high shutter speeds,...) that are a pain and I sure hope that Hasselblad gets their act together quickly.

The important things on the H6D-100c are done really well, too bad these "little" things come in the way of the shooting experience. It should be a matter of a few weeks hopefully.

Cheers,
Bernard

[dchew]

Bernard, I'd be curious how you compare live view on the H6D 100c to say the D810. In my experience, I rank live view for focusing Canon>Sony>Nikon>P1.

I recalibrated all my lenses/HPF rings over the weekend. Might seem worthless now with CMOS live view on the digital backs, but obviously if I have a lens that front focuses it won't focus at infinity (which I do, so I have to shim to that one and set the other HPF rings accordingly).

Anyway, after using these backs for the last six years along with the other popular DSLRs and mirrorless cameras I've come to a few conclusions:

• 100mp is so unforgiving at 100%. There are things you can see on screen you just don't see in a print, regardless of how big the print is.
• Canon, Nikon, Sony, all have a "shimmer" that nicely defines the focus point when in live view. This exists on the P1 digital backs, but it is much less obvious and harder to define, especially in poor light. I don't know why that is. Maybe the screens are not as good, maybe something is lost in the electronic piping, or maybe we are zooming in so far there is just a different effect, at least with a 50-100mp sensor. Regardless of why, live view on the P1 backs is not quite as easy to use for focusing as other cameras like Canon, Nikon or Sony.
• For me, the most reliable and accurate way to focus is still with a laser and an Arca/Alpa style helical system. Better than live view and certainly better than any auto focus system including Hasselblad and Nikon. Live view gets me "close enough" because I'm ultimately shooting at f/8-11. But if I'm shooting wide open or close up, pull out the Disto.
• Soon after the IQ3100 came out, I was shooting in Iceland with a friend who had one. We noticed the image on live view appeared "sharper" or more detailed than it did in the post-capture image rendering. With my then IQ180, I always wondered why the images did not look as good on the back of the camera as they did on-screen in the computer. That little experiment made us think there is some loss going on in the screen-rendered image.

Dave

[Paul2660]

One facet of the IQ100 I did not realize was diffraction, and how it can effect the capture vs Live View, (at least to me).  When I first started using the LS240, I kept seeing very sharp images in the LiveView display, but when viewed on the same LCD (on on the back), the images would be softer.  By dialing down the aperture to F8 from F12, or F14, I started seeing much more equal images.  I don't notice this as much with the wides, 35mm, 55mm etc.

Also until the ES arrived, many times the final image still had a slight amount of mirror slap/shutter bounce, with both the 300mm and 240 and sometimes the 150.  All taken on Tripod with the vibration reduction ON.  Once the ES feature arrived this problem totally went away for me. 

Paul Caldwell

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi Paul,

I don't know about the IQ3 100…

But, I have noticed that magnified live view shows you a bit more than what you really want to know.

Still, in my view live view is the best way to achieve accurate focus. But, lenses do have focus shift and optimal focus may be a bit diffuse. Gearing of the lens may matter a lot. To steep and it will be very hard to focus. To shallow and the image will not pop in and out of focus. With the Hasselblad V-series lenses, in and out of focus is razor thin, just a movement that is barely noticeable on the lens barrel may be the difference between a sharp image and an out of focus one…

Best regards
Erik

One facet of the IQ100 I did not realize was diffraction, and how it can effect the capture vs Live View, (at least to me).  When I first started using the LS240, I kept seeing very sharp images in the LiveView display, but when viewed on the same LCD (on on the back), the images would be softer.  By dialing down the aperture to F8 from F12, or F14, I started seeing much more equal images.  I don't notice this as much with the wides, 35mm, 55mm etc.

Also until the ES arrived, many times the final image still had a slight amount of mirror slap/shutter bounce, with both the 300mm and 240 and sometimes the 150.  All taken on Tripod with the vibration reduction ON.  Once the ES feature arrived this problem totally went away for me. 

Paul Caldwell

[voidshatter]

Hi Paul,

I don't know about the IQ3 100…

But, I have noticed that magnified live view shows you a bit more than what you really want to know.

Still, in my view live view is the best way to achieve accurate focus. But, lenses do have focus shift and optimal focus may be a bit diffuse. Gearing of the lens may matter a lot. To steep and it will be very hard to focus. To shallow and the image will not pop in and out of focus. With the Hasselblad V-series lenses, in and out of focus is razor thin, just a movement that is barely noticeable on the lens barrel may be the difference between a sharp image and an out of focus one…

Best regards
Erik

Agreed. For lenses without spherical abberation, Live View at wide open is preferred, especially for tilts.