Today i just ordered a hasselblad h2 with a Phaseone p30+. I ended up choosing the Phaseone for a number of reasons. i if go through the Leaf first, there were some things that did not satisfied me.
The first impression of the LCD impressed you, with all its functionality. You could type in text, you could set the WB with the stylus pen, adjust alot of settings etc. It is like a nice new gaget. But do you need them. No... I do not think so. But they do no harm. The LCD is not usable outside, which is a downside. So for me overall the functionality ended up to be a disadvantage...
Another ting that made me choose the Phaseone is that i had a beef with the "company" that tried to sell me the Leaf. That do not say anything about the Leaf product, but they were not very professional on a number of occasions, so i would expect that the service they could provide were of a lover standard. I called one of my colleague that uses Leaf, and he had a lot of problem with his back, and the "Company" did not agknowlage his problem, and he had to bring on a layer to sort out his problem. Overall i did not trust the to support the way that i would expect. (Actually they were so eager in trying to sell me the Leaf, that they offered me a espresso-maker worth 2.000$...) So frankly i was scared away. if you have to barging with a coffemaker to sell something that expensive, what is the catch then?!
I tried the Leaf-software and it worked alright, it was easy to use as one would expect it to be. But nothing fancy.
I could not say anything about the Leaf aptus 65s couse i did not ever test it... They borough me the Aptus 22... strange... But i can only expected that the file is splendid, as one of my other colleagues says. The service that they promissed in case something went wrong and you had to return the back were 4-5 days. It had to either be sent to belgium or Israel.
So it is a mix of personal relations with the dealer and that the LCD looked like something from Hewlett-Packard, and the numerous updated software issues from Leaf made me not choose The Leaf.
I choose the Phaseone, because it seemed like a rock solid product. The Backs interface worked like something from B&O (Another Danish brand). Four buttons that did the job. Not so much to choose from. (i Think that their philosophy is that what you can do at home, you do not need to be doing on the job.) That really appealed to me. The battery was integrated in the back where the Lefs was underneath.
The Software were nice to work with, and it is recommended to process your Canon files from it as well (i own a Canon ds mark II as well)
But the most important thing were the support. they promise you 24/48 hours swap and since i live in Denmark (Phaseone is situated in Copenhagen) i could have an replacement within a couples of hours. And i must say the dealer of Phaseone were super professional.
So if i should conclude what made the difference i would say that i is a matter of trust. I frankly cdo not believe that the Phaseone produces better or sharper pictures than the Leaf, but i believe that the support is better and is worth 2.000$ more plus a coffemaker.
Best
Ulrik
