Hope this will be interesting for the community:
Last week I have a chance to play with top of the Leaf’s line of digital backs, Leaf Aptus-II 12, 80-megapixel digital back mounted on Phase One 645DF camera. Many thanks to Steve Hendrix from Capture Integration for bringing all this beauty to the studio.
As usual, I it was interesting for me to see how camera + back will be performing in a studio, in the controlled light condition. I shoot particularly product, jewelry and food, and ability to recover shadows and highlights is very important to me, along with resolution and IQ (image quality).
Many times I am dealing with subjects contained high glossy pieces and dark areas where it is hard to direct the light. Therefore, a high dynamic range does really help in post-production.
This is our hero:
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Leaf-Aptus-II-12-80-Megapixel-sensor-digital-back.jpg)
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PhaseOne-645DF-Medium-format-camera-120mm-macro-lens-Leaf-Aptus-II-12.jpg)
All the test were performed at ISO 50, F14, tethered shooting to Capture One 6.
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/leaf-aptus-II-12-80mpx-studio-test-review-original.jpg)
100% crops from the above:
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/leaf-aptus-II-12-80mpx-100-percent-crop-details-2.jpg)
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/leaf-aptus-II-12-80mpx-100-percent-crop-details-1.jpg)
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/leaf-aptus-II-12-80mpx-100-percent-crop-details.jpg)
Highlights very well handled:
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/leaf-aptus-II-12-80mpx-100-percent-crop.jpg)
Just for a reference, Hasselblad H4D-50 with 120mm Macro, the same subject:
(http://akelstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/hasselblad-vs-canon-overexposed-example-100-crop_h.jpg)
The rest of the results (shadow and highlight recovery in particular) is on the blog:
http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/leaf-aptus-ii-12-80-megapixel-digital-back-review-it-is-not-only-pixels-that-count (http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/leaf-aptus-ii-12-80-megapixel-digital-back-review-it-is-not-only-pixels-that-count)
I do not want to spoil mouse over functionality by re-posting everything here. It is very cool to see the difference by hovering the image.
Alex
www.Koloskov.com