But we're not talking about different charecteristics, we're talking about a defective product. Leaf should offer a full refund to anyone with the centerfold issue or whatever there calling it these days.
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But we're not talking about different charecteristics, we're talking about a defective product. Leaf should offer a full refund to anyone with the centerfold issue or whatever there calling it these days.
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The centerfold issue is specific to Non-Retrofocal lenses (large format lenses like the 24, 35, 47, and 60mm Schneider digitars). Do you know how the other backs perform with these same lenses? The eMotion, Leaf, Phase One, and Hasselblad MFDB's all suffer from a lack of uniformity using these lenses. So you can return your Leaf back, but then what are you going to replace it with? Anyone with a real interest in this issue would be asking how each manufacturer solves the issue through hardware or software, rather than demanding a refund.
Leaf and Sinar resolve this issue by creating new RAW files using reference captures to remove the defects in the image. It is a permanent and archival solution. Sinar and Leaf users can then process their RAW files in any software package.
Phase One offers a closed solution. A similar reference capture is used to create a process setting for the output files. The correction is only applied to the output. The RAW file is never corrected. I have several jobs shot with the P25. If I want to process any of those images in 20 years from now, they will still have the color casts, and will require that I have a current licensed copy of C1 Pro to remove the casts from the Output files. Great solution, just don't forget your checkbook!
The Phase one software solution is easier to use in the studio, especially when tethered. If you are shooting higher volume, I think it is a good choice. If you shoot landscape, architecture, fine art work, then you may have a body of RAW files which do not get processed right away. Perhaps you will comb through your RAW archive in 15 years to do a retrospective of your work, or to make an edit for a new book. At that time, the Leaf and Sinar files can be opened with any software without the color casts or centerfold, because it was removed right after the shoot. The Phase one files would require a software that can still remove the Lens cast, and that means C1 pro only for now.
I say all this to elaborate on what James Russel has said "I really must say again, try these camera in the way you work from setup to shoot, shoot to process, process to delivery.
All will work but some will do more for you than others in specific situations." My "specific situation" might make people rethink their opinion centerfold.
If you went out 6 months ago and bought an Aptus 75 for architecture work, you were told that shooting the white plexi and running a correction was not necessary. This caused many people to choose A75's for architecture. When the backs arrived, this turned out not to be true. Therefore, the back was defective, and we started complaining.
At the same time, people were out buying P45's full well knowing that they would be shooting that white plexi card all the time. This was known up front, and therefore, is not a defect.
Now that I know the Plexi card is a fixture in my kit, I do re-visit the choice to buy the A75 over the P45. Switching to Phase One would be a difficult choice. I would be locking myself into using the Phase software forever. If Phase One went out of business in ten years, I could still process my files in third party software, but how do I remove the lens casts? In this case, the Phase One "defect" is more permanent than the Leaf's "defect".
I would love to know what MR thinks about this. Is he still shooting with Non-retrofocal lenses and his P45, or is everything with the Hasselblad now? There is a lot to learn about this topic for architecture, landscape, and viewcamera shooters. Finding the right questions, as always, is more difficult than coming up with the right answers.
-Eric