hi ralf,
in general i would recommend you the same or a similar setup than i use myself.
although i know that its possible to make hi-end work with each of the four brands ( haseelblad/imacon, phase, leaf, sinar ) you should consider the strong/weak aspects esp. if it comes to architecture/landscape photography using shift lenses for this.
i prefer in general the dalsa sensors as used in leaf and sinar backs for less color casts if used with wideangle shift lenses, further they have less energy consumption and also i prefer the "look" this sensor is creating for my kind of work.
things might be completely different if shooting fashion/portrait work, but thats not what me and you are doing.
an advantage ( the onliest i.m.o. ) i can see in phase backs is the possibility to make exposures which take several minutes, but in practice with mf lenses and more so with the rodenstock HR lenses this is less useful than it might look at first view.
this lenses allow s.o. to work without centerfilter and in case of the HR lenses also at widest possible apertures. so an exposure time of 30 seconds at iso50 or 100 using the lens at f4,5without centerfilter is the same than with a 4x5" chrome a time of 180 seconds at f 8-11 with a 5. wideangle, using a 2 stop centerfilter.
further the long times with the phase backs require the same time again for taking the black reference and the same time again to shoot a white reference, if you dont want to work with pre-made reference files which is in practice often unaccurate and complicate.
for me the choice for architecture soting comes down between sinar and leaf.
between this two sinar seems to have several advantages.
1. the large internal buffer (6GB which can be expanded with cf cards).
2. sinar backs come with interchangeable mounts, i used that a lot because i used my backs in the last years with hasselblad, comtax, sinar-m and gottschalt plates and i exchange often the plates from contax 645 to sinarM to gottschalt..
3. the centerfold issue is not existing with sinar. it still can apear with leaf backs if you have the bad luck to get a back which shows it, even if you use the lcc tool which seems to work often ok.
4. the brumbaer software which is by far the fastest workflow i know if you have to work with motifs which need many white reference shots , which i would strongly recommendedfor every motif if you use shift lenses.
the software also has an algorythm which restore highlights better than any of the official programs. in pratice you gain one or two stops in highlight aereas and can expose much more to the right without having fear to blow out clouds a.s.o.
the display in the leaf is bigger but not bright outside,- with sinar you can have good luck or bad luck with the display,- they differ a lot. some are with great contrast and brightness, some have lo contrast.
about the lenses:
i would select either schneider or rodenstock lenses. the digitar lenses from schneider find their counterpart in the rodenstock digital serial, prices are similar, quality too,- but schneider has a 24mm which rodenstock does not have. image circles are big ( except the schneider 24xl which can only be moved 2-3m ), quality is good but the lenses want to be stopped down at least till f8 to be sharp. shifting more than 15mm will result in reduced sharpness at the edges, but its possible.
i.m.o. the best lenses are the rodenstock/sinar HR serial. they are tack sharp at all apertures but the wides ( 28mm + 35mm ) can only be shifted 12-13mm, which is more in practice than it might sound. the longer HR lenses have more room here, about 20-25mm although the specs dont tell this. dont know why.
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further the rodenstock 28HR is pretty expensive, but really a great lens. for the larger image circle it can be stitched and reach than the same f.o.v. than the schneide 24xl.
the cameras are the most diffcult part to find i.m.o..... ( i dont know the silvestri.)
the new arca 3r sounds great but i am not sure if it is already available in all parts and also i am not sure how exact the tilt mechanism is to reset to 0 degrees and how good may work this in practice. dont believe in any promises, if the hings are not available now look for another system,- dont wait because most of the manufactor promises of availability are dreams.
myself i use a gottschalt camera with a sliding back with rotatable sensor, which never was made in serial so i am not sure of mr. gottschalt would make another one. yu can see the camera here in this "making of" shots...
http://tangential.de/tangential-de/_html-s...g-off/index.htmthe camera works ok but it was not an easy way till it was complete and it has had several break downs and faulty adjustments, which have had to be made even during the shootings. i really felt as a beta tester ( which was not my wish a all).
i am still with it because there is no alternative camera visible which allows me to work with a sliding back in a similar way.
several times i was tempted to go for an alpa, esp, the XY but its size didnt tempted me and that there is no sliding back available was THE deal breaker for me. often i work at "bad" locations and i cant imagine to get used in the mounting up and mounting down of the back and the exchanging the ground glass. working with optical viewers also is not what i want so here the gottschalt is great. the back remains always on the camera and can even be rotated without de- attaching it.
but as i said,- it was not easy. so i scratched 3 (!) ir sensor glasses till i found out that the dark slider was too thin and could touch the sensor under certain circumstances, and it took its time till i found out that it was this little tool which scratched my sensors.
i got a new one which seems to work now fine and is much more stable..... and had to exchange the glasses. this is what i mean to be a "beta" tester, but it seems so that there is nothing in the market which is really well thought for us architecture shooters. many expansive compromises..... so i was searching to get a system which is "perfect" for me.
good luck
rainer
