Taken it from me the Nikon D800E raw files are as good as the Leaf Aptus 75.
I've done the tests myself and yes for my purpose the D800E are as good as Leaf Aptus 75, D800 is clearly a bit better on DR, the Aptus probably a little bit better on color, but from my perspective they are essentially equivalent.
My reasons for using MF is however not mainly the great pleasure of using a digital back
, but rather to use a technical camera. My photographer's personality fits very well with the slow view camera concept, I actually thought about getting a 4x5" camera but I'm not really into the film hassle so the next best thing was getting a Techno. I've used a Canon with their new TS-E 24 lens quite much, and to be satisfied with tilt-shift lenses on a DSLR I want that flexibility, i e shift and tilt separately and no locked axis like on Nikon's PC-E. I also find it troubling that there is no 35mm TS-E, the 1.4x converter with 24 produces okay results, but well, I just prefer using a tech camera.
I just need a trusty digital back, it does not need to be the best, just fairly competitive with the DSLR equipment I could otherwise afford. The Aptus 75 fits perfectly there and is also a perfect combo with a tech cam (low color cast, no synch issues, decent focus check capability), but I'm had some bad luck with my purchase, which you can have when you buy second hand. I think the previous owner was totally honest when he sold to me, but since he shot only in studio/warm conditions he have not come across the problems I have now and did not know they existed.
I want to own and use MFD, but as seen in my latest post on the previous page the support is not making it easy for me.
It's quite simple. In the current condition the back is unsellabe (it's no worse than when I got it, but I now know about the problems and I would not fool anyone to buy it), but it costs about as much to make it sellable as I would get from a sale, and dealers won't take it as trade-in. The value of the back is thus essentially zero.
When I decided I'll try getting into this I calculated with the risk of losing money and ending up with an unusable system until I can replace or sell the working parts, so I'm not that upset. Sh*t happens. What I did not calculate with is that I would love using the tech camera so much that I have a hard time thinking that I need to go back and do landscape work with my DSLR. The love is not about image quality, it's about the compositional workflow. So I will not give up that easily I'll try to get a working system again, first see if it really isn't possibly to get this Aptus 75 to run properly, and if not look into getting another second hand back.
The support communication is still ongoing though, it may be much about miscommunication about things. Hopefully things will sort out, I'm prepared to spend quite a lot on my back, just not more than I bought it for or what another second hand unit sells for. I did actually look up service fees the best I could before buying the back in case something like this would happen. What I've got now is perfunctory communication of those numbers but adding them on top and then adding a "or more" afterwards, which have made me feel really uneasy. I'm not in for sending it away and get a surprise invoice a week later. The latest I've heard is that it is not really that way things are carried through, but they surely was good at giving that impression.