Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Medium Format / Film / Digital Backs – and Large Sensor Photography => Topic started by: LUWAfx on October 21, 2011, 03:50:53 am
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Hello and greetings to all,
i would like to convert my mf cameras in the digital era.
i have got a mamiya rz 67 pro and and a fuji gx680III.
I am looking for a solution to use the same digital back on both of them with different adapter.
is it possible and could you recommend a good back for them , phase one, leaf aptus?
it does not need to be one of the new ones something arround 22 megapix would be great
im mainly doing portrait and studio work, but would also love to do landscapes outside
would be great if someone could give me the right direction
greetings Luke :)
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Hello Luke,
I think it will need to be a Hasselblad V-mount back, to work on both those cameras.
If your budget is modest, you might look at a used back like the square-format 17MP Kodak DCS Pro Back Plus. This was V-mount, and came with (or had the option of) an RZ67 adapter kit.
Kapture Group make a GX680 adapter kit for this and many other V-mount digital backs...including Leaf and PhaseOne (in fact check ebay right now for them, at 50% off).
Leaf and PhaseOne also make V-to-RZ back adapters, so you have a wide choice of new and old backs. In 22MP rectangular format, I'd go for a PhaseOne P25 or P25+.
Ray
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Thanks a lot John and Ray
i thought of the leaf aptuss 22 and the p25/+ cause they go for a acceptable price range
yeah that wide problem is also a concern for me cause i see that the crop factor is 1,1 on both digital backs
i thought of using the 50mm on the mamiya and the great 60mm on the fuji for landscape work , hmmmm they end up bein 35mm i think ....
do you guys have picture where i can see how much is left of 6x7 and 6x8 ? or a picture of the mask
are the V/rz67 adapters still available at leaf? cause i have the older modell rz67 pro not the II
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thank you very much John, ohh thats not very much, looks like a big lose to me :-\ , i think i need to test this...
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Hi Luke,
+1 for the Leaf Aptus. Try to find a good deal for a 75S or AptusII7 back, the 33MP back is kind of a sweet spot for the RZ, a lot less moire than the 22Mpx backs, very fast and nice skin colors for your portrait work. There also is an H to RZ adaptor plate, so you could also look out for a H-back. Though we are 100% satisfied leaf users I would recommend to get a hands on first, a good dealer will be able to give you answers to questions you might not know yet...
Cheers, Ulf
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I also have a GX680iii. If you want the simplest solution then Sinar is the way to go. No need for the Kapture Group solution and all its messy cables, OK for the studio I guess, but a pain on location. The Sinar backs use adapter plates that are user changeable, one back for both platforms, just swap the adapters, and they work "natively" with the Fuji. There is an issue with the sync signal on the GX680 as they were never designed for digital, but Sinar figured it out, so it is just a single sync cable and off you go. The only drawback is they are not as common on the secondhand market due to smaller share.
Jason. :)
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Luke, if you go the Leaf route we make 4 different adapters for the RZ: Mamiya 645AFD, Hasselblad V, Hasselblad H and Leaf AFi,
All types let you rotate the back vertical/ horizontal and require One cable from lens-to-back and they come with a marked focusing screen and the sync cable
+1 on what Ulf said re good dealers
Best
yair
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Luke, if you go the Leaf route we make 4 different adapters for the RZ: Mamiya 645AFD, Hasselblad V, Hasselblad H and Leaf AFi,
Yair,
Just out of interest, are there any other adapters other than the RZ one for Leaf AFi backs?
Thanks, Joris.
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Yair,
Just out of interest, are there any other adapters other than the RZ one for Leaf AFi backs?
Thanks, Joris.
Yes we also make a Graflok adapter for 5X4 cameras. In addition there are adapters from ALPA, Arca-Swiss, Cambo, Linhof, Mergin-X and Silvestri. Sinar also made one for the P3 but I don't know if it is still available
Yair
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I also have a GX680iii. If you want the simplest solution then Sinar is the way to go. No need for the Kapture Group solution and all its messy cables, OK for the studio I guess, but a pain on location. The Sinar backs use adapter plates that are user changeable, one back for both platforms, just swap the adapters, and they work "natively" with the Fuji. There is an issue with the sync signal on the GX680 as they were never designed for digital, but Sinar figured it out, so it is just a single sync cable and off you go. The only drawback is they are not as common on the secondhand market due to smaller share.
Jason. :)
+1 The Sinar 54lv has rotatable (portrait-lanscape) dedicated adapters for mamyia RZ and a similar one for Fuji, it uses the same sensor as leaf 5 (or 54) which doesn't use microlenses and has 3GB internal memory which makes it usable untethered without a CF card or backing up your card! It also has a great cooling system with no fan and is very fast at 0.9 fps. The disadvantage is (was?) its software that is (was?) lacking the stability or ergonomics of Phocus or Capture one (I refer to the previous version, they just released new software, but I sold my sinarback a couple of years ago). I think that Graham Mitchel has one to sell (he replaced it with an 80mpx Aptus 12), if you decide on it, I've kept the adapter for Mamiya RZ of mine, it will be to your benefit to consider it. Regards, Theodoros. www.fotometria.gr
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Thank you very much for the great input , and its a lot input for me :o ;) im really new in the MF digital world and you have to take so much into consideration and relearn your workflow :-\ , its quite challenging 8)
@ jason
the sinarback solution sounds really interesting, the reason i have never looked into sinar is because i always thought they have no back display for fast image check, all backs i had seen were non display backs, maybe the new line changed that, and the changeable adapter plate sounds promising
im really thinking of something in the p25+ or Aptus II 5 area , the older Aptus 75s would be great too, thx a lot ulf and yair for the tip!
i think i will try to post a "want to buy" thread here in the forum , perhaps some has updated their older backs and would like to sell their older ones....
@ yair
what are the price the leaf adapter plates are going for? RZ and GX680III ?
@ Theodoros
thank you very much for your offer, so yours is an RZ adapter for the sinarbacks ? Where could i get into contact with graham?
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Thank you very much for the great input , and its a lot input for me :o ;) im really new in the MF digital world and you have to take so much into consideration and relearn your workflow :-\ , its quite challenging 8)
@ jason
the sinarback solution sounds really interesting, the reason i have never looked into sinar is because i always thought they have no back display for fast image check, all backs i had seen were non display backs, maybe the new line changed that, and the changeable adapter plate sounds promising
im really thinking of something in the p25+ or Aptus II 5 area , the older Aptus 75s would be great too, thx a lot ulf and yair for the tip!
i think i will try to post a "want to buy" thread here in the forum , perhaps some has updated their older backs and would like to sell their older ones....
@ yair
what are the price the leaf adapter plates are going for? RZ and GX680III ?
@ Theodoros
thank you very much for your offer, so yours is an RZ adapter for the sinarbacks ? Where could i get into contact with graham?
Luke -
As has been pointed out, the biggest disadvantage of using a digital back on an RZ or GX680 is the lens crop factor. It is not uncommon for someone with an RZ to augment their RZ with a Phase One/Mamiya 645 camera, and for wide shots, switch from the RZ to that camera, and gain auto focus as well for those situations. That said, if you don't shoot wide angle, that is not an insurmountable issue. The RZ and GX680 cameras are actually extremely popular with those who use them. Someone coming from a non-medium format background might have the impression of - My gosh, run away - or - These are awesome cameras....
They are awesome cameras. From a traditional perspective, they feel like "real cameras". They're big, heavy, complex looking - though complex looking from the standpoint of how manually do you adjust them, not which buttons or menus should I use. Very different from the mainstream cameras of today. Even with the reduced lens coverage, looking down into a waist level viewfinder on a 6x7 or 6x8 camera is a wonderful thing. I've always loved the focusing rail of the RZ. And there is nothing today like a Fuji GX680 - a medium format camera that has in-camera tilt/swing movements with a variety of through-the-lens viewfinders. We still have numerous clients using them in multiple set studios because of their unique feature set.
Using them outside the studio in less than locked down conditions does present some challenges (though not without ways to overcome them).
Both the Phase One and Leaf digital back products can be used on a Fuji GX680, but both require the KaptureGroup OneShot solution. neither Phase nor Leaf ever made a front end comm solution for the Fuji. However it is possible to utilize the KG OneShot Box for the Fuji in a pretty inconspicuous manner with a custom tripod mount that tucks the box away. There is no digital back that can shoot to a Fuji without some sort of cabling, so cables are a given regardless.
On the other hand, you can connect a Phase One P40+/65+/IQ140/160/180 or any Leaf Aptus/Aptus-II to an RZ/RZ Pro with a simple $20 sync cable, no wake up box required. However, a P25/25+ (or any P45+ or older P back) would have to be in Hasselblad V mount and require the Phase One V mount > RZ adapter interface, which automatically wake those backs up (the newer Phase One backs don't necessarily require a wake up).
However, an RZ Pro-II D would not require a cable of any kind when used with the Mamiya Pro-II D adapter and any P40+ or newer Phase back or any Leaf Aptus/Aptus-II back.
Steve Hendrix
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LUWAfx,
here:
http://www.graham-mitchell.com
[email protected]
Best regards
Thierry
... Where could i get into contact with graham?
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thanks to all of you for helping me out so far
i let you know which road i will take, currently im collecting all informations ;)
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Both the Phase One and Leaf digital back products can be used on a Fuji GX680, but both require the KaptureGroup OneShot solution. neither Phase nor Leaf ever made a front end comm solution for the Fuji. However it is possible to utilize the KG OneShot Box for the Fuji in a pretty inconspicuous manner with a custom tripod mount that tucks the box away. There is no digital back that can shoot to a Fuji without some sort of cabling, so cables are a given regardless.
However, an RZ Pro-II D would not require a cable of any kind when used with the Mamiya Pro-II D adapter and any P40+ or newer Phase back or any Leaf Aptus/Aptus-II back.
A question, Steve: why would a Leaf PC-synch cable not work with a 680 in view camera mode with an Aptus 22?
Curious, because I would love to acquire a 680 with a couple of lenses for product work, but Kapture additions would make it too expensive.