Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Medium Format / Film / Digital Backs – and Large Sensor Photography => Topic started by: Atina on March 10, 2014, 02:30:19 pm
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So far I have seen that the user gerald.d used an Alpa, I'm not sure if it's the TC or the FPS, Cameron Davidson used to have a nice picture of his Alpa TC here (http://www.camerondavidson.com/-/galleries/blog/mary-virginia-swanson-and-the-alpa-tc/), but now it seems that you will have to use Google to find the picture, and there was another person on one message board that mentioned a Cambo, but he hasn't specified the model.
Which camera would be best? By that I mean not the most handy and the cheapest model.
The ideal one?
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Alpa TC, Alpa STC, Cambo RC400, and Arca Factum would be the first ones to come in mind due to their small form factors and emphasis on portability and handholdability.
You can compare the numerical stats at technical camera technical overview (https://digitaltransitions.com/page/tech-camera-overview) but to get a better sense beyond that you'll really need to work with a dealer and get your hands on each of these models. All three warrant consideration in my opinion.
The RC400, for what it's worth, will be the least expensive once you add up body, adapter, lens, and basic grip. Given that image quality only depends on lens and back, and not on the hunk of metal between, if you're after maximum quality at least cost of entry the RC400 would get my vote. Don't mistake that for meaning the RC400 isn't just as nice or feature full (some people assume more expensive means better rather than evaluating quality and value separately) as the other two. It actually has the largest range of movements (not important for aerial applications but presumably this won't be the only thing you do with it).
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So far I have seen that the user gerald.d used an Alpa, I'm not sure if it's the TC or the FPS, Cameron Davidson used to have a nice picture of his Alpa TC here (http://www.camerondavidson.com/-/galleries/blog/mary-virginia-swanson-and-the-alpa-tc/), but now it seems that you will have to use Google to find the picture, and there was another person on one message board that mentioned a Cambo, but he hasn't specified the model.
Which camera would be best? By that I mean not the most handy and the cheapest model.
The ideal one?
Hi - I wouldn't pretend to be an expert on this subject, but I do prefer using the FPS simply because of the faster shutter speeds available.
(The Dubai aerial I shared here was shot with the FPS.)
Kind regards,
Gerald.
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Alpa has made specialized aerial cameras in the past, maybe they're still doing it? As far as I understand this means lenses fixed at infinity (ie you can't change focus) and built with possibly even higher precision requirements than the usual cameras to make the sharpest possible image at infinity.