I tried the new AFDIII and P39+ combo, manual focus with lenses wide open is really, really hard. Live preview would make focusing a lot more doable. Shooting stopped down negates the DOF advantage of dMF, and spraying focus bracketed shots is just inefficient. The viewfinder is hardly bigger than the 1DS3 but much dimmer. I don't know how you guys focus honestly. With the new Phase 80mm f/2.8, I did focus and recompose an that totally results in the subject being blurred. That's one thing that really discouraged me about dMF, there are no outer focus points and manual focusing with accuracy is nigh impossible for my eyes.
I currently use the 1DS3 and live view for focusing with almost all my lenses, if you haven't tried it, it's a revelation. I can focus the 50mm f/1.0 in formerly impossible situations, where outer focus points would fail to lock due to lack of light.
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Focusing can be an issue with any camera, though with medium format it's a mixed bag.
I can manually focus my Contax's just because I've done it for so long and I find autofocus to be good, but not great, but I find that also on the Canons. When it's good it's good, but a lot of the times it's not really that accurate either.
One thing I find almost impossible to do is manually focus a 1ds2. That ground glass (plastic) never looks sharp to me.
I am also curious to what the next medium format camera will be. If it's just more megapixels without better previews and a really good lcd, then I think they're going to set on the shelves.
If you've ever shot a D3, next to a medium format back and showed the AD the images on the back of the camera, they will look at the D-3 and say "wow I bet that's a billion megapixels or something".
I have never understood a few things about medium format and the first is why there is no in camera processing of jpegs or larger embedded previews and second why they cannot use these interfaces to wi=fi to something like an Ipod touch or an I-phone or even a laptop.
I know the difference in working a medium format file next to a dslr, but client's don't know ( or should they be concerened) especially at the capture level and more to the point if your shooting non tethered they really should be able to look at the back of that camera and believe that something amazing is going to come out of it.
The maker that makes a "great" camera lcd and develops a "simple" wi-fi to computer to iphone/ipod view system will then have an almost must own camera, but 60mpx's that may move some people but most just won't care and no client I have is even remotely asking for it.
The second thing I don't understand is why are medium format sensors ccd rather than cmos?
I've read the papers where everything points to the fact that a ccd with larger sensors has less noise and will go to higher iso, but in reality that just isn't the case and since cmos is less expensive why not go that route?
Working professionally digital capture can be broken down into very distinct and different processes, but the very first process, the preview is what makes people go wow or hmm?
Now the third thing I am positive medium format must address is the costs.
This week a retail client handed me their digital capture price list that is set from one of their suppliers, a studio that is in multiple cities.
The capture package is now about 1/2 the rate as it was a year ago and instead of being based on the latest digital back or even the Canon Mark III, it was based on Canon 1ds2s.
Now this is a fashion retailer and they don't know or care if its a P30, an A75 or a 1ds2 and they don't care if you use their supplier or not, but they only pay what they pay and owning $60,000 worth of cameras vs. $9,000 doesn't change their pay structure one bit.
Actually the group that is making the most out of this retailer is the digital capture company, because they are essentially selling old tech that pretty much pays for itself in the 2nd week of shooting, vs. investing in new systems.
Now that doesn't mean that I'm going to sell my backs and buy two used Canons or that doesn't mean I won't use what I want to use, but if medium format is going to continue to sell at high prices, then they have to find ways to make working with their cameras easier, not more difficult.
Iso, better and more capable previewing will go a long way to moving us to purchase. Slow iso, rough previews, computer generated processing doesn't make our life any eaiser.
In other words don't look at ways to just sell the photographer, look at ways to sell the photographer's client.
JR
