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Author Topic: Current Hy6 / Afi situation  (Read 39642 times)

EricWHiss

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #80 on: September 13, 2012, 11:27:48 pm »

I am hopeful that the 35mm will be announced or spoken about at Photokina.   Considering the Mod2 and the new electronic shutter, it seems they definitely are moving forward and not just hanging on. 
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Gigi

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #81 on: September 13, 2012, 11:42:49 pm »

What's nice about the news we've heard so far is that the improvements are very strategic and very focused: they are helping their shooters who need it, not closing the system, allowing upgrades for a modest price (how about that?). With the shutter, they are finding niches, working important gaps in the current market, they can fill. Its lean, its small, but its scrappy, and more importantly, worthwhile.

Hats off to them.
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jeanlucco

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #82 on: September 14, 2012, 04:19:12 am »

JeanLuc
do you mean matching the outside color scheme?  Or compatibility for the digital back to work with the camera?   I have heard that DHW is committed to keeping the same communications protocol and mount so there should be no probs with the AFi or Credo or other backs.
Hi Eric, no my question was more is DHW will be able to take in my Leaf AFI bodies and install the mod2 upgrage. Anyway, I should be in meeting in Holland Monday, I will do my utmost to make a return flight to Copenhagen via Koln. Cannot hurt so much to spend few hours in the Hall 4 ::) Ciao and take care. Jean-Luc
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yaya

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #83 on: September 14, 2012, 06:14:02 am »

Jean-Luc don't forget to stop at hall 9.1 on your way in/ out  ;)
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Anders_HK

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #84 on: September 14, 2012, 10:24:03 am »

Eric,

Per my telephone conversation with Mr. Hartje, CEO @ DHW today he explained the MOD 2 upgrade to me. I fill in your below with A>.

I got an e-mail from Reiner stating what would be improved in mod 2.  I'm pasting that below. He also wrote that there will be a chance to upgrade existing bodies for a fee. :)


The new HY 6 mod.2 will be completely in black. (Note - this is only for new cameras. Upgrades to existing camera bodies will not include replacing the colored body parts.)
The new camera includes the following :

Innovation 2012 – Hardware

Modifications of the handhold detent for better handling
A> Due few number of units had been reported to get their handle detent stuck in one position they have revised the design.

Reinforcement of the handholds adaption, to guarantee the maximized protection for the housing In cases of dropping or collision
A> This protect the housing if the handle accidentally get smashed into a wall or something, then there will be plastic damage to handle and not damage to housing of body.

Stand plate revised for protecting the autofocus module from damage
A> The AF module is located right above the tripod plate. Thus when using long tripod screws there have been risk to damage the AF module and this is fixed using a blocking plate to avoid this to occur. The AF module is expensive to replace.

Innovation 2012 – Firmware

The objective lens register for the AF-Offset has been remarkably extended
The possibility to individually save the AF-Offset of the registered objectives
A> Offset for more lenses is possible. AF-offset for all AFD lenses are now possible and are retrieved automatic for each lens used. User can modify the factory settings. E.g. for the 180/2.8 I believe he mentioned a factory offset of -15 and user can modify it if experience another value to better correspond to the actual offset.

Best possible control of the battery capacity through a symbol in the operation center on the viewfinder display or in percentage shown on the handhold display
A> This refers to power left in the camera handle battery.

Fault management improvement
A> To better avoid crashes (I have had nil so far ;D)

A> Mirror is more dampened through firmware improvement.



In all seem like good durability and usability improvements.

I very much like that they offer as upgrade, as compared to all other camera makers selling us incremental new models for $$$$$... such as Mamiya, Hasselblad, not to mention Nikon and Canon and the likes...  ;D
« Last Edit: September 14, 2012, 10:28:41 am by Anders_HK »
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EricWHiss

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #85 on: September 14, 2012, 11:21:25 am »

Anders,
Thanks for the additional info. 
I was reading the part about the mirror being even better damped - wow!  I mean the Hy6 Mirror was already the best damped in all the MF cameras and now its even better? Incredible!
RE: crashes... I've not had any either, but I've had some older AF lenses report an error when there wasn't any.

What I want to know is if the older non AF lenses can be modified such that the camera will recognize their focal length.    Also I am wondering about whether the light color temp sensor has been incorporated or not.  This would be great to have the ability to do auto white balance.
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xinchenc

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #86 on: September 17, 2012, 12:31:47 pm »

Credo on Hy6
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JV

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #87 on: September 17, 2012, 05:07:17 pm »

The Photokina announcements so far make it pretty easy to justify a €350 upgrade :)
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xinchenc

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #88 on: September 18, 2012, 02:33:26 am »

The latest news is:

to upgrade the HY6 mod1 in HY6 mod2 it is not possible.
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EricWHiss

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #89 on: September 18, 2012, 02:36:34 am »

Of course it is!  You just can't get the all black body panels.  You do get the firmware and other hardware.
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Anders_HK

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #90 on: September 18, 2012, 04:11:54 am »

The latest news is:

to upgrade the HY6 mod1 in HY6 mod2 it is not possible.

Above is incorrect.

Per my personal teleconvesation with Mr Hartje, CEO of DWH the upgrade of existing Hy6 will be available about two weeks after Photokina. It includes all Mod 2 updates but not change of body panels.

If you are in China perhaps conyact David at Livecoal in Hong Kong for clarification.

Best regards,
Anders
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rolleiflexpages

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Re: Hy6 improvements
« Reply #91 on: September 19, 2012, 01:13:49 pm »

Here's some nice improvements I'd personally like to see:

- Weather sealing (!)
- Better cold weather performance. (No error messages due to use in low temperatures).
- Overall more robust camera body, with control wheels that don't fail due to normal use.
- That 35mm lens would be nice, if it has filter threads and performs better in terms of overall sharpness than the current 40mm

Rune Molnes

Dear Rune,

I am reading this thread with quite some interest. Good to see that DHW is actually improving the Hy6 concept and taking it further into the future. I have been trying for over two years now to arrange a factory visit but so far was advised that the time was not right. I hope this may change soon.

While the announced improvements for the Mod.2 can be useful for a number of users, I second in particular what you have put forward as desired improvements (see above). My Hy6 and AFi had to be sent in for parts replacement as they were not coping well with cold weather. It seems better now, though now and then it can still pop up sporadically (as witnessed in Icelandic weather recently). I would also have wished the camera/lenses were more weatherproof, or let's say, water-proof :-) Now I have to take extreme care of things and wipe rain drops away as soon as possible in order to avoid water getting into the camera or lens system.

One thing I do not quite approve with - the change in color. Frankly, I really like the dark greenish/greyish color a lot and much more than the dull black. So, if I ever get another Hy6 mod 2 or 3, it should be the same green/grey.

Cheers,
Pascal
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EricWHiss

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #92 on: September 19, 2012, 02:25:52 pm »

Both of my Hy6/AFi bodies are not blue but gray and I like this a lot.  I prefer what I have to an all black version as well.  I do not like the very early blue gray bodies though.

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Rune Werner Molnes

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #93 on: September 20, 2012, 04:19:19 am »

I find the strong opinions in here about the looks and color of the camera quite fascinating. Personally I do not find it interesting or particularly relevant.

If there was introduced a new camera with the specs I'm looking for, I would buy it in pink if I had to  :P

On the other hand form usually follows function, and functional design usually ends up looking good, which is a nice bonus but not very important. (To me that is).
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #94 on: September 20, 2012, 04:52:41 am »

Both of my Hy6/AFi bodies are not blue but gray and I like this a lot.  I prefer what I have to an all black version as well.  I do not like the very early blue gray bodies though.

I would probably invest in the Hy6 system if they had a pink version with irregularly spaced red dots.

Cheers,
Bernard

Mr. Rib

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #95 on: September 20, 2012, 08:09:29 am »

For me, so far, from MF players, DHW / Rollei is the unexpected winner. They've shown that they survived and keep developing their product which in their case is at least 'good enough' announcement for a camera which is in my opinion currently the best MF camera, although I played with it for a short while only (but I did 'play' with H3D and AFDIII / DF.. jesus...). They offered an upgrade program for current camera bodies (do you hear that L/H/P1?) and the upgrade is priced REASONABLY (nah, this part won't even be heard by H/P1 or L). The biggest vulnerability of their system was the vague future of the manufacturer and their message tells us 'we are on our own two feet now'. That is a message good enough for me to make them the winner from L/H/P1 bunch and their 'announcements'.

Probably owning two camera manufacturers under one roof would be too much.. but anyway Phase One is probably working on a totally new camera- as well all know it's costly and time consuming, why didn't they take the opportunity and buy/invest in Rollei? Would that be a bigger cost? Was the patents situation an obstacle not worth it? It IS a great system.. They could fine-tune the Hy6 and introduce a revamped version in a year or two from the moment of their takover (so it would be NOW) and it would be more like a rev 3 camera with P1 resources.. Everyone would be happy- film magazines, interchangable viewfinders, great lenses.. one thing that isn't there is the V-grip and again, with their budget I think they could modify the body to make a V grip possible, then probably work a bit on the weather sealing and all the other stuff to make it even better.. but yeah, that's would be too good to be true.
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EricWHiss

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #96 on: September 20, 2012, 11:00:09 am »

I would probably invest in the Hy6 system if they had a pink version with irregularly spaced red dots.

Cheers,
Bernard


You might have better luck with Hasselblad on that one! 
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Anders_HK

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #97 on: September 20, 2012, 12:37:34 pm »

Was the patents situation an obstacle not worth it?

The interesting fact is that the rights to Hy6 have been and are with Leaf, and thereby indirect in hands of Phase One...

I agree, P1 should have gone the Hy6 and Rollei Schneider path. The quality is way above Mamiya 645.  8)
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EricWHiss

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #98 on: September 20, 2012, 01:04:40 pm »

Anders,
I agree too. The Hy6 would have made a better platform for them to start with.  Maybe phase will still pick this up? Not too late!

But the licensing issues must have been more complex.   There were four companies involved - actually five if you include F&H too.    Jenoptic, Sinar, Leaf, Kodak, and F&H.  Now there is also Phase too.   I do not know if they had any contractors or other groups that could also have some rights.  Anyhow there could have been several groups holding some individual rights after everything so maybe none had a complete enough set to move forward?    In any case I think I read somewhere that DHW now has the rights to work on the firmware from Jenoptic or a group that was contracted by them.  I am completely reading between the lines so I could be wrong, but it appeared that DHW had the rights to make film cameras (which happened to also work with digital backs) but that they may not have had permission until recently to sell bodies for digital use or something like that.  You'd have to wonder if there was also any other movement in rights at the same time that would make the path open for other groups to work with this?

Anyhow I can't tell you how happy I am to see them be free to move forward with this and make updates!  The best getting better!

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Anders_HK

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Re: Current Hy6 / Afi situation
« Reply #99 on: September 20, 2012, 03:24:29 pm »

Eric,

Here;
http://www.photoscala.de/Artikel/photokina-2012-Rolleiflex-Hy6-Mod2-Rolleiflex-FX-N-Electronic-Shutter
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A//www.photoscala.de/Artikel/photokina-2012-Rolleiflex-Hy6-Mod2-Rolleiflex-FX-N-Electronic-Shutter

Above was first time I read of it officially, though I heard from reliable source the other year. The rights have as far as I reckon been with Leaf for some years and since the Kodak pull out. It was just recent resolved that DHW will be able to continue developing the camera. Mr. Hartje admitted that had taken some time to solve.

It sure is good news  ;D
« Last Edit: September 20, 2012, 03:27:12 pm by Anders_HK »
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