Same idea.
VERY different programming/implementation on both the camera side and the viewing device side.
Main difference to the end user: much faster than the Valeo bluetooth solution.
I briefly owned a Valeo before my Aptus came in, great studio camera, really great as it didn't take much power to run it and it was bulletproof.
Used the Ipaq thing on two location gigs. It took a long time to get it worked out, larger batteries for the Ipaq and Leaf was upgrading the firmware, but once it did work it worked great except the bluetooth signal only went to one ipaq.
Shot one gig on a great loft on Wooster. Had 11 clients and the room we were shooting in they just couldn't fit (than god), so they went to another room and 9 people huddled around that little Ipaq and watched every frame.
Doug, which leads to a few question on your new backs.
1. Does the wi-fi signal go to more than one Ipad? This to me is really important as 1/2 the projects we do have multiple "eyes" that want/need to see.
2. What is the fps or spf of the 260?
3. Can you set color/tone/look on the Ipaq, like in C-1 so the view is a little more customized?
4. What is availability for other camera platforms. Usually Contax is last on the list to come out. In regards to mounts what will be offered. Obviously DF+ and H, Contax, but any other mounts without adapters?
5. What is the REAL useable ISO? Keep in mind that I don't mind some noise if it's pretty and shoot my P30+ at 800 iso all the time. Does all the IQ series do as well as the P30+ because the last time I used an Aptus with a Dalsa sensor, I loved the look but it didn't go to 800 as well as the Kodak sensor.
6. I know your just getting these in, but how is the realiability. Stability is first on my list and I have zero time to go back and forth with issues? (This isn't a knock on Phase, because nearly all digital devices seem to need a series of firmware updates to catch some issues.
7. Will a Leaf version on the wi-fi become available. I love the reliability of my Phase backs, but recently did a quick test (actually testing LED fresnels) and tested a H4d, a Aptus and a IQ and in my very brief test, like the Leaf interface. On a side note I thought the DF (not the plus) autofocus was very good. I know there are some people that didn't think that, so when I tested these cameras, I really tried to trick the DF autofocus with people passing the foreground, soft backlight, walking to camera at a quick pace, etc. and thought the DF worked very well in autofocus. I did have more difficulty hitting manual focus on the DF and not to hijack a thread, but thought the H4d40 I tested had good manual focus.
8. Will the IQ backs (the new and the older IQ versions give a black and white preview? I don't shoot a lot of B+W only projects but when I do it's great to see it in black and white.
9. This question is going to seem kinda of crazy but for years we've investigated ways to get multiple screen views from one camera. Let me explain. I've always wanted to have a custom frame build (kind of like rack mount video/field monitors, that work like this. Let's say you have 8 monitors (of Ipads). When you fire the first frame it goes on screen one and holds, frame 2 goes to screen 2 and holds, frame three goes to screen 3 and holds, etc. etc. until frame nine that then refreshes to frame 1 and starts the process again.
(sorry to go off topic but . . .)
I know this sounds like a dog and pony show (it is) but these is a usefulness of this as clients are always huddling around the tech station when we're shooting saying "can you go back to the previous frame.
Also, regardless of economy, regardless of stripped down production, client's love production like this. This really takes viewer ease to a different level and is something they can't do at home with their dslr.
If you ever been on a film set, there are multiple viewing monitors all around the set and allows client's ADs to be in one viewing area, the on set art crew can view from a closer to set area, etc.
People on this forum will tell you that the camera or system you use doesn't matter to clients, but today it does, especially when the client comes off a gig where the previous photographer only shot to a powerbook or no tethering at all. Your not going to ever have them come over and say "wow" I hire you guys because of the camera you use (in fact I'd never want to hear that), but the last few projects we've done have illustrated how the complete view of the production impresses a client.
A few weeks ago we shot a TV/financial celeb, in Bev Hills. He works 324 days a year and came directly off our set from a network set across the street in a rental location.
I peeked into the Network set and it wasn't as advanced as ours, as we ran three reds, our two phase backs and two people with Canons shooting behind the scenes and some stylized behind the scenes to be inserted into the digital video piece.
The subject actually inserted a line in the script talking about how much production value was in the shoot and I heard the AD tell the client "this is why budget is important to give you and your subject a first rate production".
A shoot, a month previous was for a book cover. The most challenging (to put it politely) subject I've ever worked with. Because of outside forces the publisher became pressed for budget and was looking for ways to cut costs . . . after the shoot.
They briefly asked if I would trim a somewhat large amount and before I could respond they put the invoice into payment at full price. When I talked to the AD she said she looked at our estimate and compared it to what we brought on set in regards to production values in equipment and crew and said it wouldn't have been fair to cut our price.
Had we been running a leaner project it would have shown and I bet they would have tried to cut the costs.
10. How will the IQ2 impact the prices on the IQ1? Will there bee a rush of trade ins/ups?
11. Any word (wink wink) of what the new phase camera will be like.
I vote for a removable prism with a series of finders, high eye point, chimney tube, 90 degree prism. Also I'd love to see a series of cropping guides (actually black out would be better) so when you go 4:3 to 2:3 you can exactly see the crop.
Actually I'd love for this to be on a some kind of orientation sensor. In other words the crop changes if you move the camera from horizontal to vertical.
Every horizontal I shoot is either cropped around 2:3 or 16x9, or 2:1, every vertical I shoot is 4:3.
It would be great if the camera did this.
Another option would be an RZ type of blade system where the back rotates and when it does blades crop out the optical viewfinder so you exactly see the orientation.
I'm not wild about little red lines or etched ground glass (plastic) because under pressure with a revolving back you just forget sometimes.
Also on dslrs that have those crop lines AND all of those little blinking focus points blocking the screen makes composition a little difficult.
12. I doubt if this will happen, but what is the chance of a back that mounts to different platforms, like a Hasselblad and a Contax? I know, I know, but a person can wish.
13. Is it possible to put my p21+ inside an IQ2? Just kidding, actually not exactly as I love the speed, the file look of the p21. I've shot that back so often and worked it so much in post I have it zoned out like I know my favorite pair of shoes. It's just all automatic to me making that file look like film.
I know, I know nobody is going back in pixels.
Actually I find all this high pixel count talk interesting.
When Phase/Leaf/Hasselblad comes out with more megapixels, I know a lot of photographers that use dslrs that said they don't need more megapixels. Of course the same photographers flipped when the Nikon came out saying "see, see, this camera has the same megapixels as a medium format back.
Go figure.
Sorry for the long post.
IMO
BC