The End of an Era, Aptus II approaching EOL

[Doug Peterson]

The supply of components for Leaf to make new-for-sale Leaf Aptus II backs has been exhausted.

There are a few dozen (total) backs left as new inventory, and as part of the clearance refurbished Aptus II 10 (56mp 3:2 ratio) will be sold for $11,495 until supplies exhaust.

As usual for Team Phase One a healthy supply of components was set aside for support/service/repair needs for the foreseeable future. Service/support will remain in place for many years (as a comparison note the Valeo series started in 2002 is still serviceable today). However, no more Aptus II backs will be made for sale.

I think it's appropriate for us to all hold a moment of appreciation for the Aptus era. It began with the Aptus 17/22 in 2005 and culminated in the Aptus II 12R in 2010 - the first 80mp back. I shot most of my college portfolio with an Aptus and did all my first professional jobs with the same back.

If you have time to post images taken with an Aptus of any kind (Aptus/Aptus S/Aptus II/AFI/AFI-II) I think it would make a fitting tribute to the years and years of hard work of many Leaf engineers to make that product a reality. It had some very strong positives and a few weaknesses (like any product) but it was the tool used for many great and iconic images and deserves a holiday toast!

[TMARK]

My favorite backs.  I always thought the P+ series backs from Phase were more reliable but I always liked the Aptus color.  RIP Aptus!

[torger]

Oh well, they won't RIP just yet ... these will serve many of us poor amateurs on the second hand market for years to come. I have Aptus 75 now and an Aptus-II 10 seems like a quite likely upgrade path for me, but for now I'm very pleased with the Aptus 75, although those $12K seems like a bargain when we're talking new gear.

[eronald]

My favorite backs.  I always thought the P+ series backs from Phase were more reliable but I always liked the Aptus color.  RIP Aptus!

How long does a fan dance last?

I mean, how often do the fans need to be replaced, and are they in good supply?

Edmund

[yaya]

how often do the fans need to be replaced

Statistically? Never!

[TMARK]

I don't know anybody who has EVER had a fan fail.  I'm sure a failure could be found on the WWW, but its that last think I'd worry about.

Statistically? Never!

[pemihan]

Here's a recent image:

Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona.

In November 1776 the Domínguez-Escalante expedition led by two Spanish priests, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, traveled up this canyon in search of a passage to the plateau on the left in order to reach a ford of the Colorado River. They climbed a huge sand dune which took them to the rim of the plateau and through a crack in the cliffs which today is known as "Domínguez Pass"
Five days later they crossed the Colorado at a spot now known as "Crossing of the Fathers" which today lies deep beneath the waters of Lake Powell.

Cambo WRS, Leaf Aptus II 7, SK35XL - Two shots stitched.

[EricWHiss]

Yair,
Does this also mean the end of the super awesome AFi-ii 10 and 12 backs?  There is nothing else like it out there.  That rotating sensor is so great!

Eric

[Prakash Patel]

 I think it would make a fitting tribute to the years and years of hard work of many Leaf engineers to make that product a reality. It had some very strong positives and a few weaknesses (like any product) but it was the tool used for many great and iconic images and deserves a holiday toast!
[/quote]

Doug,
Just curious as to what the weaknesses are for these last generation Aptuses.
I purchased my AFI-10 just as the Credos and Phase IQ's were released a couple of years ago but opted for the Aptus.
This back has performed flawlessly in extremely hot and humid weather as well as below freezing temperatures
and is truly a robust designed back with features that are not available in the new Phaleaf products ( rotating sensor,tilting lcd,
quantum battery packs for long or cold weather use, etc).

It is a shame that Phase would purchase an innovative company like Leaf only to strip its assets and kill it.
I mean all the profits from sales of all backs (Phase,Credos,Aptuses) go to the same bank account in Denmark.
It just means less diversity and price points for people interested in medium format.


pp

[torger]

It is a shame that Phase would purchase an innovative company like Leaf only to strip its assets and kill it.
I mean all the profits from sales of all backs (Phase,Credos,Aptuses) go to the same bank account in Denmark.
It just means less diversity and price points for people interested in medium format.

Credo is still a Leaf product, still priced more attractively than the IQ backs. It's quite clear when dealing with Phase One that they consider their own brand to be the premium, and Leaf products is an economical alternative, just not quite as good. Depending on your contact it may be more or less subtle how they differentiate the brands. In reality I'd think that Phase One has been a more tested product, ie the P and P+ series was more robust than the Aptus and Aptus-II, I've got the impression that there's been some sample variation issues with Aptus backs (I've had problems with two, but the third has worked flawlessy), but for the IQ/Credo I'm less sure if there's a difference.

There is the IQ260 with the new sensor technology which arrived first to Phase One, that will probably continue be the case, that the Phase One brand gets the latest medium format technology first.

I'm quite sure most Leaf employees like us Leaf users would have wanted Leaf to be independent from Phase One, something they of course never will state in public so I can only speculate. I've seen enough mergers to know the pattern though. A Leaf owned by a financially strong Phase One is better than a bankrupt Leaf though, and I think Phase One gains from offering a lower priced brand so I think we'll continue to see Leaf products in the future, and at better prices than Phase One backs. It shall be interesting to see how differentiated in terms of user interface and color they manage to be. They've dropped their own .mos file format in favor of Phase One's .iiq, I'm not sure if it's good or bad, for just storing the raw data it does not really matter, but if they share file format much more in the rendering pipeline could be shared and thus reducing the products uniqueness. It would not affect user interface though I guess, and a thing I appreciate with my "ancient" Aptus is that the user interface is way better (for my tech cam use) than any back made at the same time.

[synn]

As long as Leaf maintains its trademark skintones, I don't really care who owns them.
It's a bonus that they are cheaper too.

[torger]

As long as Leaf maintains its trademark skintones, I don't really care who owns them.
It's a bonus that they are cheaper too.

Part of that is in the sensor, other part is in the processing pipeline and profiles. Phase One and Leaf share sensors. The Aptus .mos format has a slightly different processing pipeline and a different type of ICC profiles that IQ backs have. I have not yet looked into Credo profiles but as those are using the .iiq format I'm assuming that the profiles are formatted the same as for Phase One backs, ie the .mos ICC/color pipeline has been abandoned. This doesn't mean that they necessarily lose their unique skintone rendition, but it would surely be interesting to make a A/B comparison of the same subject between say an Aptus-II 12 and a Credo 80 which have the same sensor but different file format and ICC profiles. I don't know what the result would be. Have they maintained the same color rendition or not?

[yaya]

British Columbia, June 2006, on a trip with Michael, Chris and 3 other good guys...

Aptus 75, Mamiya 645AFDII and a 35mm/f3.5 lens

I'm working on a new emotional blogpost 

[Dustbak]

I still have great memories of my Aptus17 (even though the files came out way too green and needed a pretty hefty WB correction). The only people asking about the Aptus fans were people that have never used one for a long time. I understand that you can have second thoughts about a fan in a product like this, especially when you think about the fans used in pc's but I have never had any problems with the fan. Never heard of another user that had issues with it either.

[Neil Folberg]

Hello,

Attached is my favorite- History Lesson.

Neil

[bcooter]

My favorite backs.  I always thought the P+ series backs from Phase were more reliable but I always liked the Aptus color.  RIP Aptus!

Same here.

We all have impressions and opinions, regardless of logic.

I'm  familiar with the people at Leaf, same with phase one and I have always had the feeling that Leaf was a photographer's camera maker, Phase an electronic imaging contractor.

I know that when I have those thoughts of buying anything medium format today Leaf would be higher on my list than phase, but that's from an emotional standpoint not a logical view, then again who ever said photography was a logical pursuit?

It's strange I sold my Aptus because back at the time (many moons ago)  Leaf had workflow issues with software, phase didn't and I had heavy work to do so I switched, but given my choice I would have always stayed with Leaf.

Of course a week after I sold it, Leaf figured out their software (thank guys) and I'm not one to live with regrets, but wish I had kept the Leaf.  

Also in my experience with Leaf, positive and negative, I usually received an honest response  where in my dealings with Phase they seemed to.................oh well, probably best not to elaborate.

Now Leaf is owned by phase, which means I wouldn't be paying leaf anymore, I'dbe paying phase and that's where I stop for a number of reasons.  (To be clear I do like the Phase One dealers).

It's interesting last year Leaf asked for use of an image and I stopped my schedule and furnished it without hesitation,

though it's not a money maker for me, at least Leaf will get our name on the image and with Phase . . . from past experience it will take them 4 tries.

Anyway, I should have just kept this e-mail simple and say "thank you Leaf".

IMO

BC

[HarperPhotos]

Hello,

I had a Leaf Aptus 75 for seven years and it was a wonderful piece of camera equipment which served me well and never let me down. The service I got from Leaf was also superb.

Cheers

Simon

[UlfKrentz]

Here´s my pick. I chose it because funny enough we won the Hasselblad photographer of the month with it (which I think was nice of them, knowing it was taken with a Leaf back).
We use the Aptus backs for many years now and they never let us down, and we´ll continue to work with them. The files are from exceptional quality, a pleasure to work with every day.
So also from here: Thank you, Leaf.

Cheers,

Ulf

[Frank Doorhof]

Leaf never let me down.
Started with a Mamiya ZD back which I "hated" due to purple blotches, replaced it with the Aptus22 which I used for many years, did some testing with the leaf system camera and actually aptusII 10, later switched to the aptusII7 and now am shooting the Credo60 which is a great back.

I don't see it as a RIP but more as an end of a great series but replaced by something better, because in all honestly and never liked the displays, the credo on the other hand.... Wow.

[aaron]

Yair,
Are you aware of any similar clearance offer on refurbished Aptus II 10 in the U.K ?

Thanks,
Aaron