H3D-39 - is it the right camera for me?

[Shedaoshai]

hey guys,

i'm thinking about buying an used h3d39.

how are your experiences with shooting tethered?
How stable is it?
How fast are the previews are being generated?
What's about the buffer? How many shots till it's hit?

i'm mainly shooting commercial and editorial beauty and hair.

THX A LOT !!!!!!

[Nick-T]

Hi Keith
I've not heard of any dramatic differences in noise between the two, I suspect the removal of the fan in favour of heat sinks is simply a more elegant solution and probably reduces power usage, certainly the fan does not push dust on to the sensor. I think the main difference between the two would be the LCD I think it's generally regarded to be the best of the MFDB screens at the moment.
Nick-t

[Robert Moore]

Keith,

There was some concern about the IR Filter on the original H3D causing hot spots or specular reflections in certain lighting.
It was seen in the studio and I know of one landscape photographer who bemoaned its presence in harsh contrasty lighting.
Check the old threads about the time of the H3D II release as it was discussed and there were pics demonstrating it in the old body
and showing its absence in the new.

The new screen may be the best out there but I can say that yesterday I was shooting in afternoon light and should have had a
dark cloth with me to see it...probably a bad idea as I was standing on the side of a very busy bridge very little room for my tripod.
I do have a Hoodman loop to help but as usual left it at home in the rush to get on the road.

Bob

[phoTOMgraphy]

hi,
i'm a new member to h3d-39 doing landscapes (non profit - just for my personal fun).

my first experiences are as follows:
great usage of the controls. i did not even have to look in the manual once to use it for my needs.
even handheld very usable.
image quality: superb (as far as i can say by now).

lcd screen: pretty unuseable. i ended up to leave it off - that saves power and the preview of the image is quite useless for evaluation.
and the histogramm is displayed on the grip's lcd anyway (to me one of the nicest features).

another thing thats cumbersome is battery life. after 30 shots (ok there where some several second shots) an error occured: "magazine battery low".    
you have to quit this alert before you the camera is willing to work again. this is really annoying me. i was able to shot another 50 shots with this battery but after almost each shot there was this alert again.      
i don't know if the battery life is way better with h3d II ?

and finally weather seals are not very well (especially the back and it's fan slots) - like discussed a few days ago. but maybe not much of an issue to your work.

after all i can say that i don't know if it was a good decision, because there are pros and cons, but where aren't?
i like it but worrying about the high price of the lenses, not to mention the price of the camera itself even 2nd hand. it took me some sleepless nights.  

cheers
tom

[O.Ricter]

hi,
i'm a new member to h3d-39 doing landscapes (non profit - just for my personal fun).

my first experiences are as follows:
great usage of the controls. i did not even have to look in the manual once to use it for my needs.
even handheld very usable.
image quality: superb (as far as i can say by now).

lcd screen: pretty unuseable. i ended up to leave it off - that saves power and the preview of the image is quite useless for evaluation.
and the histogramm is displayed on the grip's lcd anyway (to me one of the nicest features).

another thing thats cumbersome is battery life. after 30 shots (ok there where some several second shots) an error occured: "magazine battery low".    
you have to quit this alert before you the camera is willing to work again. this is really annoying me. i was able to shot another 50 shots with this battery but after almost each shot there was this alert again.      
i don't know if the battery life is way better with h3d II ?

and finally weather seals are not very well (especially the back and it's fan slots) - like discussed a few days ago. but maybe not much of an issue to your work.

after all i can say that i don't know if it was a good decision, because there are pros and cons, but where aren't?
i like it but worrying about the high price of the lenses, not to mention the price of the camera itself even 2nd hand. it took me some sleepless nights.  

cheers
tom

Hi Tom
The battery life is better on H3D-II, however, you can make the battery on H3D-I work a lot better - you just have to reset the battery. How?, go to www.Hasselbladdigitalforum.com and learn how you do it or contact your dealer.
It is very easy!


Best regards,

O.R.

 

[Shedaoshai]

thanks for feedback.

anyone experiences with my initial questions? would be great! thx!

[Nick-T]

hey guys,

i'm thinking about buying an used h3d39.

how are your experiences with shooting tethered?
How stable is it?
How fast are the previews are being generated?
What's about the buffer? How many shots till it's hit?

i'm mainly shooting commercial and editorial beauty and hair.

THX A LOT !!!!!!

To respond to your questions.. I shoot with an H3D31 so not quite equivalent but your experiences should be similiar.
The tethered setup is extremely stable. You can disconnect and reconnect the firewire at will without any hiccups. It's very rare these days that I have any connection issues, maybe once every 3 months. If it does happen I will simply disconnect and shut everything down and re-start.
Previews come up in I guess about a second plus another second for it to draw hires (this is with Phocus). I have yet to hit the buffer, I think on a fast machine (I'm on a dual quad 2.8 10 GIG ram Macpro) you'll never hit it, you will have to wait however as the images load in the background (if you have shot a big set) before you can start editing the images. This is an area that the Phocus guys are working on improving.
HTH
Nick-T

[Robert Moore]

Keith,

I have searched for the original thread about the starburst flare with the old IR Filter on the H3D and the following threads mention the new improved IR Filter on the H3D II:

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....ction+ir+filter

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....ction+ir+filter

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....ction+ir+filter

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....mp;hl=h3d+flare

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....c=21499&hl=

I believe that the example pics have been deleted but you may have luck contacting the posters directly.

Bob

[Shedaoshai]

thx!!!!

one question ;-)

can the h3d-39 powered via FW800??

[happyman]

thx!!!!

one question ;-)

can the h3d-39 powered via FW800??

No, not the camera. But if you use the back solo on a viewcam it can.

[Shedaoshai]

thanks!
so the h3d is also only capable of shooting 250 photos per battery although it's tethered to a mac?

[David Grover / Capture One]

thanks!
so the h3d is also only capable of shooting 250 photos per battery although it's tethered to a mac?

Incorrect!  ;-)

When connected to FW800 power demands are split between the batter and sensor unit.

So, the camera body draws from the grip, the sensor unit (most power thirsty part) draws from the FW800.

If in some case (like on later Macs) the power requirement is too low on the FW800 port, then the battery will 'top-up' as needed.  This still means you can work with long cables on any Mac without having to resort to special firewire cables or adapters which cut the power from the FW port.

Also if you are working on a PC with a non powered port then automatically the H3D will work off the battery.

The user does not need to make a selection in the menu.

Best



David

[David Grover / Capture One]

hi,
i'm a new member to h3d-39 doing landscapes (non profit - just for my personal fun).

my first experiences are as follows:
great usage of the controls. i did not even have to look in the manual once to use it for my needs.
even handheld very usable.
image quality: superb (as far as i can say by now).

lcd screen: pretty unuseable. i ended up to leave it off - that saves power and the preview of the image is quite useless for evaluation.
and the histogramm is displayed on the grip's lcd anyway (to me one of the nicest features).

another thing thats cumbersome is battery life. after 30 shots (ok there where some several second shots) an error occured: "magazine battery low".    
you have to quit this alert before you the camera is willing to work again. this is really annoying me. i was able to shot another 50 shots with this battery but after almost each shot there was this alert again.      
i don't know if the battery life is way better with h3d II ?

and finally weather seals are not very well (especially the back and it's fan slots) - like discussed a few days ago. but maybe not much of an issue to your work.

after all i can say that i don't know if it was a good decision, because there are pros and cons, but where aren't?
i like it but worrying about the high price of the lenses, not to mention the price of the camera itself even 2nd hand. it took me some sleepless nights.  

cheers
tom

As O.Richter says, you need to reset the 'fuel gauge' in the battery.  Very easily done.  Let me know if you haven't already done it and I will post the details.

David

[Khun_K]

hey guys,

i'm thinking about buying an used h3d39.

how are your experiences with shooting tethered?
How stable is it?
How fast are the previews are being generated?
What's about the buffer? How many shots till it's hit?

i'm mainly shooting commercial and editorial beauty and hair.

THX A LOT !!!!!!

When it was the Flexcolor, I was not too impressed but the H3D39 with Phocus, it is just as fast as my P45/P45+ on C1 Pro. Very stable, I can ran thru 1,000 captures in one single folder just on an iMac 24" 2.4G/4G RAM and the camera/software still perform nicely.  I don't know how fast you shoot, but usually during a fashion work I communicate to model to have her synchronize the speed f the shoot and have her work on s sequence of poses, I didn't time it, but I think you can run a sequence of 5-6 captures before pausing for a few seconds. To me it is fast enough and I do wish the Phocus to offer the highlight/shadow recovery as the C1 Pro. But, H3D39 and Phocus is a very good combination. If price is met your budget then go for it. All the digital backs in the market today is quite good, to my eyes, it depends on how do you see yourself i your own work, but choices are more than just one.

Regards, K

[phoTOMgraphy]

As O.Richter says, you need to reset the 'fuel gauge' in the battery.  Very easily done.  Let me know if you haven't already done it and I will post the details.

David

hi david,
i've not done it yet but will do in these days when i got some free time.

how many shots should a fully loaded battery provide - roughly, i think it will depend on several things like shutter speed etc.
but only to have a feeling for it.

btw.: how high is the power consumption of the lcd on the back of the h3d? as i meantioned i leave it off, cause it's almost useless anyway. does this give me significant more shots?

cheers
tom

[David Grover / Capture One]

hi david,
i've not done it yet but will do in these days when i got some free time.

how many shots should a fully loaded battery provide - roughly, i think it will depend on several things like shutter speed etc.
but only to have a feeling for it.

btw.: how high is the power consumption of the lcd on the back of the h3d? as i meantioned i leave it off, cause it's almost useless anyway. does this give me significant more shots?

cheers
tom

Battery life depends a lot on wether you use AF, shutter speeds, lens used, no of captures per hour and so on.  So it is pretty hard to make a general statement.

However lets say around 300 shots.  If you are working outside then the ambient temperature will have a lot to do with it as well.

The LCD does not draw a huge amount of power and it will cut off when not being used so it is largely irrelevant.  As for it being 'useless' some people like to see what they have just captured.    

Best


David

[phoTOMgraphy]

However lets say around 300 shots.  If you are working outside then the ambient temperature will have a lot to do with it as well.

ok thats far better than i've experienced.

As for it being 'useless' some people like to see what they have just captured.  

you are right, but i can see the picture through the viewfinder, and for control i can see the histogramm on the grip's lcd. the back's lcd is simply not good enough for precise image control - in my opinion.  
ok, i admit i'm photographing landscapes nothing that moves a lot between shooting.  

cheers
tom

[neil snape]

To respond to your questions.. I shoot with an H3D31 so not quite equivalent but your experiences should be similiar.
The tethered setup is extremely stable. You can disconnect and reconnect the firewire at will without any hiccups. It's very rare these days that I have any connection issues, maybe once every 3 months. If it does happen I will simply disconnect and shut everything down and re-start.
Previews come up in I guess about a second plus another second for it to draw hires (this is with Phocus). I have yet to hit the buffer, I think on a fast machine (I'm on a dual quad 2.8 10 GIG ram Macpro) you'll never hit it, you will have to wait however as the images load in the background (if you have shot a big set) before you can start editing the images. This is an area that the Phocus guys are working on improving.
HTH
Nick-T

I had problems recently with a 800 to 800 FW cable. It didn't connect well. The 800 to 400 Hasselblad supply worked everytime. This is not the case though with Phocus running on a PC.
The icons do come in quickly but I can't see any way you can have a high res preview in 1 sec in Phocus. This is on multiple Macs , even my editing Mac with 9 GB of RAm, and a RAID striped for scratch. There are some things that can crash Phocus but overall it is very stable, well designed, an application with need for just a few improvements.

[neil snape]

Battery life depends a lot on wether you use AF, shutter speeds, lens used, no of captures per hour and so on.  So it is pretty hard to make a general statement.

However lets say around 300 shots.  If you are working outside then the ambient temperature will have a lot to do with it as well.

The LCD does not draw a huge amount of power and it will cut off when not being used so it is largely irrelevant.  As for it being 'useless' some people like to see what they have just captured.    

Best


David

Yesterday I shot around 150 shots in succession without much draw on the battery itself although it was tethered with a FW 800 cable. Speed of shooting with the 39II was surprisingly acceptable compared to my new Canon 5DII. The transfer between camera and Mac, was fluid and safe without a hiccup. True it does buffer out at about 5 or 6 images but that is like a warning that one should slow down and really look through that big beautiful viewfinder.
The power management with the new camera is really as good as it gets, both the camera operation, LCD, and the back itself.

[mazma]

hey guys,

i'm thinking about buying an used h3d39.

how are your experiences with shooting tethered?
How stable is it?
How fast are the previews are being generated?
What's about the buffer? How many shots till it's hit?

i'm mainly shooting commercial and editorial beauty and hair.

THX A LOT !!!!!!

my experience. i have had H3DII 39 for over two months and shot a bunch with it.
prior i was with mamiya and a P25.

camera is great. i love it.
phocus is giving me a bunch or problems. hasselblad support in a month has not been able to solve them yet.
mainly two issues:
1- preview at anything lower than 25% is soft, and unusable to determine focus. even if you are supposed to look for correct focus at 100%, it still helps to give a quick glance at the whole frame and understand the focus.
2 - phocus crashed on me few times, creating unusable files, and corrupted 3F. that could be computer related, but on both my macpro and my macbook pro it happened. on the macbook pro i now shoot 30/40 images, and then create a new folder. not the best, as i feel i am back to changing rolls of film... but at least is solving my issues for the time being.

previews and buffer are not super-fast, but they are ok in speed. if you shoot many images using the 1 fps rate after a while it tends to fill up and you have to wait.
battery not an issue for me when tethered. more than 1200 shots in one day with no recharge.

other thing to consider, i am positive you know, is that currently you are stuck with phocus or flexcolor for processing. no LR/photoshop support, apart from exporting to DNG first.

best,
alberto