As for the new 3" high-res display of the just annouced "Sinar Hy6 - 65": I would suggest everyone to have a look at it. It is my opinion that it will please all.
Thierry
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Thierry,
This really isn't directed at you, or Sinar, or any one company in particular, but for all medium format (actually all professional digital capture).
For my use, shooting people in various situations from high lighting production studio work, location, to available light lifestyle what I need is;
1. Higher iso. A real clean 800. Not blochy, or noisy in the shadows but an 800 that at least equals the 1ds3. The instances where this is important means the difference from either not getting the shot or pulling out a dslr.
I would think the last thing any medium format camera company would want is for their system to lack a feature that would guarantee that their customers have to purchase a different system.
2. Stable software and a open source file. The software, must be completely 100% stable. One crash, one lost file and the mood in the room changes 100%. When tethering the software must be adjustable. No crunchy or hard previews but the ability to present on screen a very close representation of what the final image will look like. If the first frame on the screen produces a "wow" then the battle is half over. If the response is "is that moire, or is the image going to look like that?" then time, energy and mood is lost in conversation, rather than shooting.
With the Phase backs I and others have tethered to Lightroom even as far as running a processing script in photoshop on files so the client can see exactly where the image is going. The ability to achieve this close to final look in the tethering software has obvious benifits.
For high volume work the ability to rename, sort and move files quickly is a must. Flipping from one software to the next, just cause complexity and increases the chance to get it wrong, rather than insure that it is right.
A file that works direct in almost any 3rd party processor has obvious benifits. I believe digital is a much more intimate process than film, just given the fact that I can take one "roll" and process it over and over in many different labs to achieve a different look. The workflow advantages of an open source file that works in anything just can't be overstated when you are working with thousands of images and a tight deadline.
3. In camera processing. Obviously Sinar has addressed this and for quick previews, web galleries etc. if the jpeg is good, the colors close to correct then this can save many hours in workflow. With the Canons I use the small jpegs and do some batch corrections in 3rd party software like lightroom. This makes for very fast previews and processing and keeps the raw files untouched. Working on a 24" I-mac and lightroom I can reprocess out a thousand jpegs for web galleries in just a few minutes.
4. LCD. It seems Sinar has addressed this also, though the proof is in the looking. I've owned Phase, Aptus, Canons (all of them) Leica and Nikon and if you shoot a non tethered image on any camera and compare it to the Nikon LCD, the client will look at the nikon image and say, "yea, use the big camera". Obviously Nikon has raised the bar on what a 3" lcd can do.
As Billy said, the lcd to run in parallel with the computer when tethered is a must. For locations where the monitor is 30 feet away it's almost impossible to run over every 10 frames to see if the changes and framing are correct. Even for studio, it takes the attention away from the process for the photographer to have to move over to the monitor to check a lighting change.
Having both the camera and the computer with close to the same look and tone really keeps the energy where it needs to be, which is on set.
5. Cameras. I like the thought of the AFI and HY6 (especially now that it's black and not appliance blue). I would like the thought of the camera a lot better if it worked on any digital back. Not that one back is better than the rest, (these forums are full of those comparisions), but to invest in an expensive system, I would to think that at least the camera is a 10 year buy and will not be viable only if the digital back is vialbe. As we all know things change fast in the digital world.
I also think this and other systems must have a series of wide lenses and more important, (at least for my work) a 110 F2 lens. That is the magic mm and closely matches the Canon 85 1.2.
I can't even count the number of times my 80mm contax is too wide and too distorted for fashion work and the 140mm and 1.26 crop of he p30 puts me too far back for anytype of full length shot on location. For the Contax my only alternative is to use a stop down hasselblad or Pentax lens and working fast under pressure that is just another element I don't need to address.
6. Rentals. All of these systems must be in the major market for rentals. With the Contax and it's pricing almost anyone can afford to own two complete systems, but few people will do that with a camera like the AFI and HY6. The lenses, at least the lenses, should be in every major rental house in every major market. What do you do if the 150mm goes down in studio?
7. Price. I know every maker wants to get the news of their new equipment out, but the first thing I look at is price. Not just the buy in for the new equipment, but what I presently have invested. I'm careful in the way I purchase but right now, even with Contax and the smaller P30+ and P21+ backs I have close to $50,000 invested in those systems. For me to scrap that and go to any new back or camera, I have to know exactly what it is going to cost me.
8. Clairty. Maybe I'm reading this wrong but the new HY6 camera annoucement somewhat confuses me. You do have it where it rotates on the camera and you don't have it where it rotates on the camera. Why not just one back that fits the HY6 that rotates? Is this a cost measure or an engineering problem, actually that doesn't matter to me, but what does matter is the usability. You mention you might go to 800 iso or might go to 1600 iso. No offense meant but medium format is notorious for making a "suggestion" and then not following up for long time.
Once again I know you want to get your message out, but I don't understand partial messages because at this price range you can't make a decision based on partial information.
Take this with a grain of salt as this is just what I need from a system and I don't know if it is what others would necessarily ask for.
I wish you all the best with your new camera.
JR