These camera discussions can get so passionate.
I've seen it and become involved with it on other boards and honestly it makes no sense to me, unless you have a reason.
Obviously Steve sells Imacon/Hasselblad and wants the story to be as correct as possible . As far as Michael's ties with Phase, only he can answer if that leads to bias or not.
It's funny I own two Aptus'' or is it Apti and through the early days of working through some of the issues, I have become friends with some of the people at Leaf.
If you asked me which is the best back I would say Leaf, if you asked me if I was unbiased towards Leaf I would say defiantly not.
That's just the way humans are built, we always have bias towards the people we know and trust and we develop a bond with the tools we use, especially when our end product is also a passionate endeavor.
In regards to medium format cameras, there has never been a perfect one, in fact 35mm consumer cameras have always had more features and were easier to use than any medium format camera, at any price.
Personally, I think you decide on cameras and backs with separate thoughts.
The camera is as much what it allows me to do as much as what it won't allow me to do. I went with a Contax because it allows me a lot of lens choices and the lens are generally a stop faster than most leaf shutter lenses.
I then select a back as I would a film and in most cases a film and a lab combined. The Leaf just gave me more lab options and it turns out currently my lab of choice is Adobe's Raw Converter.
It's not that my decision was the only right decision, it just was the only right decision for me.
With this in mind it doesn't really matter to me what Hasselblad, Rollei or Mamiya does. Medium format cameras, even out of date ones last a long time.
Contax has been gone for what . . . 2 years and if needed I can rent lenses and bodies in almost any market in the world, large and small, with no worry about what firmware the camera has installed.
Today I can buy anything (except the elusive waist level finder) for the Contax with the click of a credit card and have it tomorrow.
I assume that regardless of what Hasselblad does in the future H1/2's will also be on the market for years to come and work just as well in 5 years as they do now.
Even if tomorrow Leaf, Phase and Sinar stopped making backs for my Contax or an H-1 it won't stop me or anyone from shooting anything and I would imagine if that happened, all of the mfdb companies would make changing mounts a fairly fast and cost effective upgrade.
I think the most interesting part of this conversation is the overall direction.
One or two years ago this would be about Canon's vs. all medium format and now it's about mf backs and cameras. It shows me the professional market is growing and many people that got their digital feet wet with dslrs and are now shooting mature work with digital backs.
That is probably why we are told that digital back sales are on the increase.
If there is a market for an H3, a new HY6 maybe someone else will also step up and compete.
That's good for all of us.
JR
http://russellrutherford.com/
