"Pretty sure the few P65+ shots posted on the blog were shot with the Phase One tech people–who were van drivers not instructors and were there to help with camera problems and to supply accessories and lenses...yes, they did shoot with the cameras but as I recall they were pretty much shooting the Phase One cameras like big expensive point and shoot cameras..."
Sorry this makes the situation actually worse not better. If you were selling a Ferrari Challenge Stradale F1, would you select a one-legged man to demonstrate the car's capabilities? I think not. It smacks of poor management and a Company run by amateurs. This type of event would need close management and supervision. If that is not the case, you just don't allow anyone to post images like these for the whole world to see. Two friends actually contacted me and suggested that I log on to KR's site to see what was going on. Hundreds of thousands of people have already seen his Blog. The damage is done.
It is doubtful any posting on KR's site will actually damage Phase or MF reputation. His site is aimed directly at amateur photographers and its sole purpose is to make him money. His dig at PODAS was an attempt to maintain his long preached stance that the camera doesn't matter, and he himself pulled it once he found out his mistake . It is doubtful that any loyal readers of his site are potential clients of phase. If they want to buy into his philosophies it is more a statement about their level of photographic knowledge and skill ... they certainly are in no position to need or be able to use MFDB. Unfortunately he does the photographic community a great disservice and misleads many. Not all of his information is bad, but unknowledgeable and inexperienced photographers have no way to cull the bad from the good.
Considering how much he's backed off (very politely so), I wonder why the readers of this forum can't do the same? The following is from his site ...
"Phase One
Good news: I researched last week's PODAS workshop, and learned a lot more about Phase One. That blog was put together each night as they were trying to put things to bed, so we'll hold off looking at their photos until they are presented formally. The great news is that I sniffed around enough to learn that Phase One Capture 1 software not only works with DNG files from the LEICA M9, it already has calibrated profiles for the M9!"
Personally I'd be more than happy to have Ken shoot along side me some where and see what he can do with his gear compared to what I can do with mine. If he really wanted to do his readers a great service, he should attend the workshop, use the equipment and go through the training ... and print some 40x60 prints. Then perhaps he would understand there are two parts to capture, the artistic part and the technical part, and there is a difference in this equipment's ability to capture images.
(I find it somewhat amusing his constant claims of the camera doesn't matter and yet he's a huge fan of the very pricey Leica M9)
If I were selling a Ferrari I would make sure my customers could actually afford one and then provide them an opportunity to try it out. The PODAS blog intent was to demonstrate to others that may want to test drive the equipment in the future an idea of what attending was about ... there is a great deal of interest in this, and Phase already has a list of those interested in the next one. The blog's intent is not to demonstrate the capabilities of the equipment (which is completely impossible to do via the web anyway) but provide insight as to what the event was like. In that regard it was quite successful. The fact that others have tried to read into the blog something else has been for their own interests, but I'm doubtful Phase will see any negative impact.
I'm quite sure that eventually the blog will provide some very nice images taken by the actual attendees as they find time to prepare them. As Jeff said, I'm not sure when any of us will get around to it.
The simple fact is the only way you can find out what this type of equipment delivers is to to see actual prints and to use it. You can't demonstrate it with web jpegs, and not much point in trying.
personally the workshop was one of the most enjoyable events I have ever attended. The instructors were knowledgeable and willing to share, many times 1 on 1. The other attendees were all great and I don't think any of us were there with the intent of capturing any world class images (although I saw several being worked on that were pretty amazing). I was able to spend 2 hours riding from Vegas to DV with the CTO ... the driving force behind the technology who came from Denmark just so he could get feedback on how to make the system better. The PhaseOne staff is full of terrific energetic people with a real passion for what they do. Anyone considering MFDB would be well advised to use an experience such as this in the decision making process. Considering what it would cost to rent the gear for a week, add in an isolated location that has interesting things to shoot and hours of instruction from outstanding talents on how to maximize your quality from the equipment, and the fact that if you choose to buy the equipment the discounts given you were far greater than the cost of attending ... pretty smart way to evaluate things. Personally I think PhaseOne completely understands how to sell a Ferrari.
Are we to "good night gracie" yet? I know I'm outta here ...
