Thank you Henry:)
Bernard,
I have Helicon Focus and you are right, just as the equivalent in CS4, it works well in many cases. However, after extensive testing we find that it is not consistent with certain subjects. These programs work best when there is contrast to detect, such as in hard lines, texture, etc. On jewellery and watches they sometimes work but they often fail.
What I mean is that the results are sometimes not as good as you can get by doing it manually, as it takes longer to rectify the masks etc. than to do it manually in the first place. There is also the uncertainty, as in "is this really the best and sharpest image that I can get out of a combination of three or four pictures"? When you check it out, often you find that there is a slight blurring at your sharpest point (not always, as I say), and in a an environment where you can't afford to waste time, or get less than best results, we found that we saved a lot of time by doing composites manually with layer masks. Once you do it regularly, it becomes common place, fast and reliable.
Rob,
Thank you. When I had the demo, the Hass had lovely colours, a slight neutral warmth that I found appealing. Unfortunately I couldn't test it with the 4-shot mode. I would never in a million years go by what a manufacturer sends you, or by the raw files that you get on their websites, although they are a good initial indication. Since I have also owned a four-shot back in the past, I could quickly see subjects where the four shots were clearly superior, but I also produced shots where you had to look really hard to see the difference, if any.
My concern is that with current 1-shot cameras being so incredibly good, I find it hard to believe that a four-shot can be that much better, unless you go for niche subjects, like in the case of Dustbak.
Dustbak,
I know exactly about your DOF problems, I deal with these every day of my life!
Whether you will be better off using a view camera depends on your clients demands/budget. If you are doing fast, production line shooting, such as the typical e-commerce stuff on white backgrounds and the like, I am pretty sure that you'll be fine with the Hass with the HTS adaptor, which looks pretty good on paper. I know quite a few photographers who use medium format for still-life. It really is beyond me, because a Sinar 5x4 gives you soooo much more control, and if you use it constantly, I find it just as quick as medium format (if you know what you are doing).
In my case, I'm old school, I've always shot 5x4 Sinar and continue to do so, albeit with Leaf digital back. I tried medium format with my Mamiya AFDII and the wonderful 120 Macro and it wasn't for me, top quality, but too many compromises for the type of photography I do. By the way, if anybody wants to buy my pristine ++++++ Mamiya AFDII camera + 80mm + 120 Macro, make me a good offer! You will not find a newer one anywhere else, other than brand new.
It's a pity that you can't use Lightroom in the way I use it with Leaf, a great pity, although I would need to check out the new Hass software to see if I could live with it.
Edward
