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Author Topic: Contax645 + Arcbody  (Read 5014 times)

Tomas Johanson

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Contax645 + Arcbody
« on: September 13, 2006, 08:56:52 am »

I use a Contax 645 with a Kodak ProBack for most of my work.

For the arcitectual work I use Hasselblad Arcbody and film.

Can Sinar emotion with adapters for both cameras be a good step to an all digital solution or is it better to change the Arcbody to another camera with digital lenses. Arca Swiss, Linhof or something similar.
Is it possible to get good images with "old" Arcbody Rodenstock lenses and a new digital back?

Any ideas?

/Tomas
« Last Edit: September 13, 2006, 09:02:14 am by Tomas »
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mtomalty

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Contax645 + Arcbody
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2006, 12:02:58 pm »

Is it possible to get good images with "old" Arcbody Rodenstock lenses and a new digital back?

Tomas,

I've tested both the Phase P25 and P45 on my ArcBody with both the 45 and 75mm lenses.

Results with both were excellent and,truthfully,I don't see where digital equivalents have much
room for improvement on a camera such as the ArcBody and its limited movements as compared
to a more full featured technical camera such as the Linhof 679 or the ArcaSwiss 6x9 series.

I tested for  landscape application where lens tilt to get extreme near/far focus correction was a priority and didn't test with much rise/fall which would be more of a concern for architectural
use so there is the possibility that the dedicated wides for the ArcBody might be compromised
in this useage so someone else will have to confirm performance in that regard.

Sharpness with my two lenses on both backs was excellent and overall performance left
nothing really to be desired except for the usual Phase green/magenta color shift with wides which
is easily dealt with LCC calibration in CaptureOne

Mark
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Morgan_Moore

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Contax645 + Arcbody
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2006, 02:28:15 pm »

Emotion backs can be changed to fit different systems via adapter plates

but all is not so easy

This change of plates is done with very small screws - very close to the sensor - not something I would recomend 'in the field'

also the position of the chip is adjusted (to get focus through the lense) via a 'foil stack' that you can fine tune focus but the foils stack is 'one use' you can only unstack not stack back up again

The latter may not be an issue as you dont focus the Arc using a mirror

I would say that the changeability of the Emotion backs is a great selling point as it gives , for example, contax onwners the ability to change to blad should contax supply dry up without buying a new back

But (as a user) I would not consider regular changes

I would therefore consider moving to V system or more likely finding another W/A solution that accepts contax mounts - a small view camera or alpa
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Sam Morgan Moore Bristol UK

Tomas Johanson

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Contax645 + Arcbody
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2006, 05:10:09 am »

Mark,
Morgan,

Thanks for your thoughts!

Nice to hear it´s possible to use the Arcbody with a digital back.

But to switch back between the Arcbody and Contax will not be practical as you write Morgan.

It´s not actual to sell the Contax system, two bodies, several lenses, auto bellows and so on. And the cameras works very well for me.

I will take a look at Alpa at Photokina, I´m using a Roundshot 220  from the same manufacturer.
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Gary Ferguson

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Contax645 + Arcbody
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2006, 06:45:27 am »

I wrestled with a similar dillema, in the end I use a P25 on a Linhof M679 (mainly architectural) and on a range of Hasselblad V series cameras including a Flexbody (mainly interiors).

I confess I've never owned the Arcbody but I looked closely at getting one. However, I was sceptical that the quality would really be there with a digital back if the lenses were shifted for architectural use.

I can easily see the quality difference with a digital back between the slightly older 40mm Hasselblad lenses and the new 40mm IF or the outstanding 38mm Biogon. Or between high quality traditional large format lenses like the Schneider 48mm XL and digital large format lenses like the Rodenstock Apo-Sironar Digital 45mm. And on that basis the published MTF curves for the Arcbody lenses didn't look to me like they'd stand up to a digital back.
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