I know the p30+ file well. Great back(s) (all the + backs) and if those backs had decent screens, I would own one.
Just a question, could you get a Fuji NPC (flat and dreamy) look by moving the in camera curves and still shoot raw? Like profiling a raw file?
What a silly idea to actually make tether cable lock and put it in a position that doesn't flap in your face all the time… I do admire the sense of humor phase has when it comes to cable ports – the usb3 hole in my IQ back was a great place to store a cigarette for the longest time.
Then you're the only one not dissing it (No need to comment Doug, I'm kidding, kind of…).
It's okay, but it's still a Mamiya 645 at heart. Although I do love the AF/MF ring on the Schneider lenses (Okay, not really part of the Mamiya) – I use that ring constantly.
Do the Leica lenses have manual focus overdrive? I don't remember anymore how switching between af and mf worked on those lenses.
The new Phase body… it's like waiting for the second coming of Christ – we have high hopes, to put it mildly.
I'm pretty sure if Mamiya is involved it's gonna be the Graham Chapman of Messiah's…
The p+ backs I have are very good, it's just with a contax, they are a three to four part system. In other words the back, prism, body and lens must have completely clean and secure connections or it will drop off and everyone knows you have to watch firewire because it's fast but also can disconnect slightly and your off. Capture integration has a cable, kind of like the old leaf cable that has fw 400 to 800 connector that works well, but the old Leaf fw 400 cable was the only cable I used that always worked without issue.
Also on my contax all the batteries have to be fully charged and if the body drops off your off, or the back, so you have to keep an eye on both.
Honestly I wasn't going to spend 50 grand on another still camera and if the Leica hadn't accepted all of my contax lenses I would probably have passed. The Zeiss Contax lenses are so well built that they feel the same as when I bought them new and all but two out of the 8 lenses I own are new, so I assume they'll last a long time.
The one leica lens I have, the 120 is very good, to me doesn't look any different than the contax lenses, though to our crew they all said they saw a difference, but who knows? The Leica is a little smoother maybe with less crisp bite than the zeiss, but it's all close in digital.
For manual focus you just set it for manual focus on the back, a two button push and it's fine and easy and you have a button on the back to hit for autofocus if you need it.
The thing is though I like the form factor of a contax with a removable prism, but for some reason it makes me work more static. I can't say why, but it just does, where with the Leica I work more fluid. Probably all in my head, but the Contax I'm much more gentle with the Leica I kind of toss around like a 35mm.
I have only one minor complaint of the leica and it's the f stop wheel on the back. If you push it in it goes to auto and for me I know it but as you know, hand a camera to an assistant to hold and some will hit or change every setting on the camera, but it snaps right back to where you were so it's not a search the menu type of issue.
The leica menu is simple, simple, looks like the p back buttons but easier, as each button moves it to a different section that is fast to access.
The battery on the leica last all day. I have three and we changed it for safety but didn't have to.
As far as color I can make any look I want, though color is very subjective, what looks like Agfa or Fuji to you might look like chrome film to me. What I like about the Leica is it seems less prone to ambient color bounce. I never saw the room syndrome, which means if a room is white or grey then the subject is colorless. Cmos cameras seem to do this a lot where the surrounding colors seem to dominate the scene.
I love that it's a dng file though not all dng's are created equal and it works in lightroom and iridient very well, so I'm pretty much covered before I go to photoshop.
C1 is great tethering software and fast but I stay on 7 as c1 7 requires newer computers with newer graphics cards. I have some, but since I have three locations and I don't know about 12 computers I run, I just don't want to start tossing out computers because of file formats and software requirements so for the Contax I stay with c1 6 and if I want an effected look like I shot Saturday, I tether through c-1 but run a hot folder to lightroom anyway, so working a with lightroom doesn't bother me, though the images come into lightroom in bursts if your running corrections so you have to get use to it.
The clients at first said it was slow but then everyone got use to it and honestly I don't like people seeing every frame before I get a session partially started because you start getting direction saying now move this, move that before you ever get started.
The thing I found most amazing was how the contax lenses were all in focus with the leica with their adapter and worked natively. I found that pretty amazing as I'm usually not a fan of adapters, but for safety I bought two and there wasn't an issue or even a thought about it.
IMO
BC
Just a note. Bottom line to me was I wanted a ccd camera for some still work, didn't want to go the 50 grand route of changing everything I own and the leica is kind of a modern version of the contax, though still kind of old school.
It tethered, it works, it was stable in a very brutal week so I have no complaints. Would I like some things faster, sure, but overall it's fine, the price is good, I shot the gigs, the check will clear and not to buy into brand bling, but it has a nice feel to it, nicer than any camera I own except probably my m8 and my olympus.
Now truth be told, if the olympus would tether and maybe was a little larger format, I'd probably never have thought of the leica, but it doesn't it won't, probably never will and in all honesty professional production usually requires robust equipment.
Note 2 and this is a wish not a reality. If Sony would have made the a7/R with a full set of fast lenses, a reasonable tethering option, the full frame autofocus of the olympus and panasonic, a touch screen like the panasonic for pulling video focus and a module like the gh4 for 10 bit 422 video and true xlr inputs, they would have covered most of my still and video needs. But Sony like they only took it part way and I guess that's the way the consumer digital world works.
It's a shame because like someone said the Sony "could" be perceived as a digital back for lenses of all sorts, but they didn't go as far as leica and make the focus as robust and they limited other factors.
I assume to hit certain price points, but with add ons like the gh4 bottom module for video, they could have really had something.