I just started out too with an Aptus-17 on a Hassy V-body.
I have been shooting digital since several years on a Canon 1D-II, and chose the Aptus-17 instead of a 1Ds-II upgrade.
Impressions: Overall very positive.
I did so far on-location portrait work and some outdoor shooting to test out the combo Hassy-503cw/Aptus-17.
Outdoors, glass sculptures:
Gallery link:
http://psorantin.smugmug.com/gallery/2011910/1/102950997This gallery shows some images from the Chihuly glass sculptures exhibition in the New York/Bronx Botanical Garden. That means - highly specular surfaces, saturated colors, reflections. I shot this not with pixel-peeping in mind, but some of the shots (in full resolution on the screen, not really on the web) show what the system can deliver in terms of color fidelity or sharpness (e.g. the boat shots with the magenta glass works in it).
System impressions so far:
PRO:
- Tonality and colors look very good; files "robust" for processing
- Sharpness solid (Zeiss Distagon 50mm)
- On-camera operating system of the Aptus superb; easy to use, good information content, several time saving features
- Its great that you can program certain "color-look" features right into the back configuration settings
- Swicthing between H and V-orientation via rotating back much easier than I thought it would be
- No problem with sync-cable to lens
- Battery life OK; I like the fact that one can purchase 3rd-party Samsung batteries
- Tethered capturing with Leaf Capture 10.0.4 on a MacBookPro laptop easy
- Overall makes shooting with the V-system very convenient.
CON:
- Lead Capture 10.0.4 is for my workflow a real problem:
a) By factors slower than any other software (PS CS2, Raw Developer) in handling; so slow that when I wanted to show somebody a slideshow of the raw files, it took minutes for the first shot to load. I am running this on a very well equipped PowerMac G5 (two CPU's, 6GB RAM, super-fast G-SATA disk with 130MB/s, ATI Radeon 256MG GPU). Its not the machine, its the software
b) No Kelvin color temp slider (although that is announced for the next update
c) There are some other useability issues, which I could live with, but the slowness of the application and the conversions is ridiculous.
d) I can't get the .mos files into Aperture, where all my Canon files sit; I have Aperture in full production usage since 12/05 and it has been very valuable to streamline my shot selection, backups and metadata management.
- A User Forum that is so far very slow and lightly "populated" (compared to Capture One/Phase One for example).
=> My recommendation to Leaf: Work with Apple to get .mos into Aperture; and support DNG; I know Leaf is saying "we have given Apple what they need to get the integration done".
I think the situation with LC10 is that Leaf should very very actively push this from their end; the software is way behind. I as a user have no interest to follow Leaf in a "catch up" process to industry standard levels on the software side.
If Leaf would support Aperture and DNG, they would turn a current weakness into a strength.
MIXED Feedback:
- I have experimented a bit with the color-look presets (e.g. Portrait-4, Portrait-5 etc.) but they have not been too useful so far; it needs more experimentation to be fair. Does anybody know whether these "looks" have specific film emulsion equivalents? Or is this just a kind of "goodie" thing and a total experimental byproduct of some Leaf testing?
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To sum up:
Photography-wise +++
Workflow-wise -
Peter
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Peter Sorantin
Mountain Lakes, NJ