Alpa 12 XY

[Mr. Rib]

It's hard to find any feedback on the camera, pros, cons.. Is there anyone at LL that uses this camera with a MF and could share his experience here?

Is there any chance this camera will be reviewed at LL News section?

[narikin]

for some reason the Max seems to be the Alpa stitching camera bought more often, and so discussed here more.

the XY has a bigger range, but is a far bigger camera for that modest increase, and a more complicated mechanism for stitching.
I've seen a couple of second-hand XY's being sold on eBay, but never a Max. (for whatever that means!)

[archivue]

it looks like the Max fits the bill and the XY seems overkilled !

Arca offers the RM3D, and the bigger RL3D
RM3D is similar to the Max
While the RL3D makes sense for film user as you can make 4x5... 6x12...

lets say that the XY is a specialized hight-end camera for stitching... overkilled for single frame, but probably a good camera for art reproduction.

[ixpressraf]

I had the Rm3d camera and must say this is the most perfect WA viewcamera i have ever used. It is compact, extremely precise focussing, ingenious viewfinder, perfect tilt mecanism and very good service altough they do not have a website  
I now have the Cambo WDS, also nice but 3,7895482 zillion lightyears away from the Arca....

[yaya]

It's hard to find any feedback on the camera, pros, cons.. Is there anyone at LL that uses this camera with a MF and could share his experience here?

Is there any chance this camera will be reviewed at LL News section?

I know several architecture photographers who have used the XY and then when the Max came out have changed to the smaller and lighter camera.

[narikin]

the only reason to get an XY is if you require extreme stitching capabilities with extreme wide angle lenses.

if it is not extreme wide angle, but you do need a lot of stitching, then you are maybe better off with an Arca M line 2.
if it is extreme wide angle but just a normal 2 or 4 part stitch, then you are better off with a Max (or Cambo or ...)

I dont think they make an extreme wide angle for digital that is capable of huge stitching without suffering giant fall off or LCC anyways, so best of luck if those are your requirements.

[Mr. Rib]

Thanks for your the anwsers everyone.

I consider XY because I am thinking about it's extreme stitching capabilities  however, I'm also aware that it may be seen as an overkill when you take into consideration current image circles of the lenses. If portability and weight isn't an issue (and in my case it isn't) then one can regard 12 XY as a 'better' version of recently released MAX.
MAX, Artec and RM/RL3D are the cameras which I take into consideration. Which of the aforementioned cameras need short barrel lenses if I want to use tilt? Max has a tilt adapter , in fact 6 deg and 12 deg versions but below 80mm they work as an extension tube, am I right?

Happy holidays to everyone.

[filmcapture]

the only reason to get an XY is if you require extreme stitching capabilities with extreme wide angle lenses.

if it is not extreme wide angle, but you do need a lot of stitching, then you are maybe better off with an Arca M line 2.
if it is extreme wide angle but just a normal 2 or 4 part stitch, then you are better off with a Max (or Cambo or ...)

I dont think they make an extreme wide angle for digital that is capable of huge stitching without suffering giant fall off or LCC anyways, so best of luck if those are your requirements.

As a proud owner of both XY and Max, I could not agree on the above points. Both XY and Max have about same stitching capabilities, however, XY is still the best camera Alpa has ever made. It features geared shift which Max does not have. XY also has better function controls for shift. If money and weight are not concerns, I would definitely go for XY.

[narikin]

As a proud owner of both XY and Max, I could not agree on the above points. Both XY and Max have about same stitching capabilities, however, XY is still the best camera Alpa has ever made. It features geared shift which Max does not have. XY also has better function controls for shift. If money and weight are not concerns, I would definitely go for XY.

The XY has 70mm vertical shift, 50mm horizontal shift, whereas the Max has 43mm + 36mm
that's quite a difference.
but I agree with you about the geared shift on the XY.

if weight not a problem (studio?) then go for it. It's definitely a great camera!

[Mr. Rib]

Landscapes, but city landscapes mostly. I used to walk around for a whole day with tripod + manfrotto 400 geared head + rollei 6008AF + 3 schneider lenses so it shouldn't pose a big problem even if I had to carry a suitcase for it.

The XY has 70mm vertical shift, 50mm horizontal shift, whereas the Max has 43mm + 36mm
that's quite a difference.
but I agree with you about the geared shift on the XY.

if weight not a problem (studio?) then go for it. It's definitely a great camera!