sent me an e-mail telling me to buy just a Nikon before I bought the P30 but I was actually hyped up on the DB and actually thought it was supposedly way better.
Snook
I didn't think I'd written you, but found you on an old e-mail from 2007.
What I said was that compared to any medium format back the dslrs are just easier. I don't think that is really a revelation.
I didn't mention moire but even in that area, the dslrs really are easier especially if you've tried to remove pattern moire from a blue shell top or sweater.
Those are oh my god moments that are almost non fixable.
Looking at that old e-mail what I really mentioned was I felt the p21+ was a nicer back to work with than my p30+ and maybe it's just because I like the look of the file better, though most of the reason is the smaller back is so much more responsive.
If medium format has any issue, something about sticking a medium format back on a camera like the Contax just changes the way it works and feels. It kind goes from instant on, instant shoot, to slightly sluggish, slightly delayed, obviously slower and the p21 takes the contax almost back to the speed of responsiveness of shooting a film camera.
I own a lot of cameras, actually too many with 4 nikons, 4 Canons, two digital backs and a Leica and though they are all different and all have there place but 2007 to today the phase backs I use less and less, the Canons and Nikons I use more, but mostly because my work has moved to more continuous light, faster shooting and more spontaneity. When I bought my Phase backs, especially at the time moving from Leaf and LC-10 to C-1 I felt they were a revelation. They are solid, produce a great file when everything is completely controlled or slow and a digital tech stands guard and constantly checks files for focus and moire, but they kind of remind me of windows 2000. They work, but they just haven't taken that huge leap that Nikon and Canon have made in the last few years and everything seems a little more work and as we all know client "requests" are much more demanding today that the were in 2007.
Last night I saw the documentary, The September Issue, which had a few quick moments of photographers shooting for Vogue. All used Hasselblads and some kind of digital back in studio (I think Phase), all tethered, all slower, with the standard client, stylist, makeup artist standing around a computer screen staring into the image as it came up, but once outside the photographers all had a Canon in their hands and we're just banging away non tethered. Once again this documentary was in 2007 and the world was much different then, the book size of Vogue had grown by 100 pages, the production budgets more lavish, the time from soot to edit to final much longer. As we all know the print publishing world has changed drastically since then.
This week we begin production on a studio and location shoot, mostly studio and I toy with the thought of dusting off the digital backs, tethering them up and shooting the studio portion with them, but as the shot list grows, the time to shoot shrinks, I'll probably just shoot the studio with the Canons, the outside locations with a Nikon, cut my on set and post production workflow in half and get on with my life.
This doesn't mean my digital backs are less workable or mysteriously produced a different file today than they did in 2007 and it doesn't mean that I don't see value in a slightly more robust file or even the 4:3 proportion for vertical images, but we are now in world where every second of the day is used up with shooting time and offers few moments for reflection, so knowing the client, the parameters of the shoot I'll probably make life as easy as possible for myself and he crew, because at the end of the day, the client will never ask if that was a Canon, Nikon, Phase or Hasselblad.
They'll just look for that one pose, the one frozen moment and in two weeks and the only magnifying glass they use will be on the invoice.
Given all of this, I don't understand your issues with the Phase. Obviously in two years time you should have more than made your money back from your Phase back and in 2007, I don't think Phase or Mamiya had made any promises of leaf shutter lenses. Also if in 2007 your Phase back wasn't working well for you, it was a pretty easy sell, much easier than today.
I do agree you have to take a lot of this forum talk with a grain of salt. Everyone shoots different, everyone has different expectations. A lot of the proponents of medium format don't shoot a lot of imagery per day, or even shoot for commerce where the responsiblities of a problematic file will fall on the photographer.
JR
