Is there a 4:3 mode for Leaf Aptus-II 10?

[torger]

I'm beginning to think about upgrading my Aptus 75 to 6um technology. I like the Aptus user interface and especially the 100% sharpness check which I use quite often. Sensor-wise the Hasselblad CFV-50 would be a first choice for upgrading, but I've heard that its screen is unusable for sharpness check, so then the alternative is Leaf Aptus-II 10. The problem with that however is the 56x36mm sensor format (3.1:2), sure when I do wide compositions (which is like 1 out of 50 in my shooting style) it will be great, but really 4:3 is the format I want to work with.

So I'm wondering if there is a configuration setting so the Aptus-II 10 displays 4:3 format on its screen and preferably also generate 4:3 format raw files, ie a mode where it works just as if had a 48x36mm 48 megapixel sensor.

I'm also interested to hear opinions about the 3.1:2 format, for example if someone skeptical about the format changed their mind when having used it for a while. I find the choice of format quite odd, so I don't know why Leaf chose it in the first place, if it was manufacturing-related (ie easier/cheaper to make a wide sensor rather than increasing the 36mm height) or if they really thought 3.1:2 is a great format to work with.

[yaya]

There is SensorFlex on the Aptus-II 10 which allows you to chose between 56x36 (56MP), 48x36 (48MP) and 36x36 (36MP), but it only works if you shoot tethered to Leaf Capture.

On the Aptus-II 12 it is also implemented in portable mode or if you shoot into Capture One. You get 60MP if you use it for 2x3, 4x3 (cropped) or 1x1.

Note that SensorFlex physically crops the RAW file!

What you can do is use one of the factory 4x3 presets on the back (A4, US Letter etc.) which will show a Red frame on the screen. You can try it on your Aptus 75 to get the idea

Hope this helps

Yair

[torger]

Thanks. I've read the Aptus-II manual but it's missing information. I'm assuming the red frame is what is called "crop mask" in the manual, and it's adjusted by the "size" setting on my Aptus 75. There's no documentation of the "size" setting in the Aptus-II manual I've found.

On my Aptus 75 one can choose between 8x10, US letter, A4 etc, naturally there's no preset for 4:3 as the sensor is 4:3. All the presets exist in "H" and "V" (horizontal and vertical), but there's no option to make it follow the camera's auto orientation, so if I have "A4 H" and change the back from landscape to vertical the crop mask goes haywire, tries to draw it horizontal anyway (and then it does not fit, so it seems like a bug).

If the Aptus-II 10 crop mask functions the same way as on the Aptus 75 it won't really be pleasing. I would like a 4:3 preset (A4 is not 4:3, it's 1.41:1) and crop mask fixed on the sensor, ie if I rotate the back the mask should not be stuck in horizontal/vertical orientation. A bonus would be auto-zoom, ie that the masked sides of the wide format is not shown on the narrow format screen and thus making the preview image bigger.

Is this the case, or is the Aptus-II crop mask function exactly the same as on the Aptus 75, ie no 4:3 preset and same rotation bug?

[yaya]

If you're on a Mac you can use Leaf Capture to create your own crops and save them on the CF card, name them e.g "4x3 Full H" and then select them on the back, under "Size" (it's the same on the Aptus-II). Note that these are tags that tell Leaf Capture the size of your output, so an A4 H will come out as 297x210mm and at the specific dpi that you have set in the crop.

If you look in your Pictures>Leaf Images folder, you will find a folder called "Leaf Tables" and inside you'll see several folders with different image settings in them. When you create a custom one it'll go into the relevant folder. You can then copy the tables folder onto the CF card.

The behaviour your are seeing is not a bug. It follows the rest of our old "Capture to Output" Philosophy: You set it all up in the field and then when you load the files into Leaf Capture you can just press the process button and it'll create an image that is essentially scaled, cropped and sharpened to the output size that you have chosen.

If you set it to "Aptus 75 A4 H" it will show a horizontal crop also on a vertical image etc. and when you hit Process in LC it'll export a cropped and scaled image.

BR

Yair

[torger]

Ah, cool, thanks for helping out.

I'll see how I'll do it, good to know about the options. The red frame would help in the beginning but with more experience I guess I would get used to estimating the composition without having the frame there, and then it's probably likely that I choose to turn it off to make switching between horizontal and vertical smoother.

My dream feature would be the SensorFlex without requiring tethering, ie that you could actually get smaller raws. But it's not there so I have to live without it :-).

There's a special type of satisfaction I get when I make the composition with all the tech cam movements, press the shutter and the raw file is just right directly out of the back - no post-process cropping required. But I guess I can live with post-cropping 90% of my files.

I see one advantage of the 56x36 format though concerning my shooting style, and that is when I want to make big prints the form factor is often wide (panoramic scenery) and in that case the wide format of the sensor gives me more megapixels when I need it as most. So it's not all bad. Although I'd rather save some money and have a 48x36 6um sensor instead, but there is no such product in the Aptus series.