Alpa 12max - lenses and coverage?

[narikin]

am interested by the 12Max concept, but somewhat confused by the lens situation. Alpa has made a long song and dance about having 'digital' lenses especially created for their cameras designed for the small image circle needed for MF digiback sensors.

but now... we have stitching cameras with much bigger potential image area, so doesn't this mean that some of those fancy new 'digital' lenses that were designed down to an MF sensor, do not have enough coverage? or to put it conversely - that you would be better off with an older style lens with bigger image circle?

[Mort54]

am interested by the 12Max concept, but somewhat confused by the lens situation. Alpa has made a long song and dance about having 'digital' lenses especially created for their cameras designed for the small image circle needed for MF digiback sensors.

but now... we have stitching cameras with much bigger potential image area, so doesn't this mean that some of those fancy new 'digital' lenses that were designed down to an MF sensor, do not have enough coverage? or to put it conversely - that you would be better off with an older style lens with bigger image circle?

I'm not sure Alpa has made a song and a dance about having digital lenses especially created for their cameras. There are a few exclusive lenses for Alpa, but those are all older models. Most of the lenses available for Alpa are simply the standard Schneider and Rodenstock lenses, in an Alpa mount. If there is a song and a dance being made (funny expression :-), it's the lens manufacturers, who have been touting the newer digital versions.

All of the Schneider and Rodenstock digital lenses (including Rodenstock HRs) allow some shifting, tho clearly some allow more shifting than others. Most of the Schneider's allow a lot of shifting. The HRs are more limiting with their 70mm image circles.

By the way, the MAX isn't the first Alpa to support shifting. The SWA and XY also support shifting, with these same lenses, and have been around for quite a while now. So Alpa has been in the "shifting" game for a long time. This isn't something that's new with the MAX. Also, the Cambo WDS supports shifting with these same lenses.

[Jost von Allmen]

I have been using a ALPA SWA with a P45 for almost a year now with great results, my lenses are the Rodenstock HRs.
Camerawise the stitching possibilities are rather limited at only 25mm, I can't usually shift more than 15mm, due to the image circle of only 70mm (the sensors diagonal is 60mm).
The ALPA XY and now also the 12 MAX do offer considerably more.
You are absolutely right though in that the lens situation for stitching (and shifting) isn't quite satisfactory: The resolution of the (usually) older lens designs offering larger image circles isn't enough for the best sensors (33MP or 45MP).
I have been testing a Schneider 47mm which has an usable image circle of 115 mm but shows strong CA towards the edges. However this can be removed in post.
Best for you might be to download their brochure and compare the image circles of all the lenses
http://www.alpa.ch/index.php?path=press
On the back cover you'll find all the details.
My way of stitching images is with the  Photomerge feature of Photoshop CS3: Absolutely amazing results, huge files and no need to mechanically stich images anymore.
I even shoot handheld, the ALPA ist probably the only camera which lets me do that with a P45!
I do overlap all the images quite a lot, say 50%, to avoid uneven exposures.
Give it a try!

[rainer_v]

I have been using a ALPA SWA with a P45 for almost a year now with great results, my lenses are the Rodenstock HRs.
Camerawise the stitching possibilities are rather limited at only 25mm, I can't usually shift more than 15mm, due to the image circle of only 70mm (the sensors diagonal is 60mm).
The ALPA XY and now also the 12 MAX do offer considerably more.
You are absolutely right though in that the lens situation for stitching (and shifting) isn't quite satisfactory: The resolution of the (usually) older lens designs offering larger image circles isn't enough for the best sensors (33MP or 45MP).
I have been testing a Schneider 47mm which has an usable image circle of 115 mm but shows strong CA towards the edges. However this can be removed in post.
Best for you might be to download their brochure and compare the image circles of all the lenses
http://www.alpa.ch/index.php?path=press
On the back cover you'll find all the details.
My way of stitching images is with the  Photomerge feature of Photoshop CS3: Absolutely amazing results, huge files and no need to mechanically stich images anymore.
I even shoot handheld, the ALPA ist probably the only camera which lets me do that with a P45!
I do overlap all the images quite a lot, say 50%, to avoid uneven exposures.
Give it a try!
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=187120\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I stitch often shifting left/right.
Shifting a 33mp sensor and a HR lens in vertical position 12mm to the right and 12mm to the left results in an image with 60x48mm size.
This equals 55MP resolution.... a lot more than 33MP.
It allows also a wideangle lens as the 28HR the same f.o.v. as a unshifted 21mm lens.