As a still-live photographer I use the Leaf Live View every day.
Given a few tweaks, we are all more or less agreed that all medium format backs have similar image quality. So you are looking for things that are individually beneficial to the way you work, important practicalities that sway us to go for one system in preference to another.
In my case, the Leaf Live View was simply the best I could find. And since for the kind of work I do, focussing is critical and composing on a large monitor is quicker and very helpful in making small tweaks to the items in the set, I went for Leaf and haven't regretted it at all, the two Leaf backs have given my studio impeccable continuos service for the past two years, very reliable, and they do get used!
I considered the Sinar lcd solution which ostensibly gives you a better live view, but when I saw the contraption, it was a massive, heavy thing that would make the already heavily laden view camera, a bit unwieldy.
If you are a photographer who has never experienced Live View, it comes as a bit of a shock, as it did to me, I simply couldn't believe that 20 grand camera backs could have such archaic live view, grainy, slow, oversensitive to light and to contrast ratios, a disaster!. All sorts of technical problems were explained and understood, but I never accepted and never will until someone out there decides to find a way to do it properly, thinking out of the box, it probably needs to be something like a miniaturised Sinar lcd, something light and simple in the way of attachment, or maybe a redesign of the chip or software and eletronics, but there is probably little call for it, and no overwhelming competition, so no financial incentive to make it.
I saw what the competition offered, and they were worse, or non existent.
So Leaf Live View it is, you have the best of the Live Views, it's quirky, slow and temperamental, but there is nothing better (built in), so it pays to get used to it, as we have. Like many things digital, you quickly learn to adapt and work within their restrictions.
It works amazingly well in medium to low contrast sets, but it starts to struggle on high or low key sets. We often use the main light with the modelling light at its minimum power (and the light is generally quite diffused anyway) If you use very direct undiffused light, you'll probably have problems. Some people use a very low power, diffused tungsten light just for that purpose. I reckon a 30Watt bulb will be more than enough, but it pays to experiment, it you find the optimal light, the refreshing rate of the image will be at its fastest. It doesn't like fluorescent tubes, for some reason, I think their phasing creates stripes on the live view.
Edward
