Alright gents,
I'm about to pull the trigger on a very economical P25 purchase tomorrow morning.
It is quite affordable that I'm hoping to get a Mamiya AFDII body with lenses into the deal.
I'll be doing some basic checks and looking at the RAW file for imperfections etc.
Is there anything specific I should look for? Is there a checklist that I could use?
Thanks and regards!!
You can post a raw file to me and I'll have a look. If there's dead columns and stuff it can be calibrated out so you won't see it unless you disable the calibration data application which you can't do in most raw software. Maybe you can do it in RawDigger, not sure. I just modify the source code and recompile my own tools or RawTherapee when I do the check :-).
In addition you should look for scratches on the glass, shooting an LCC shot at small aperture is easiest for spotting but usually you should be able to see it just by looking close on the glass filter and see if there is any scratches.
See if the clock date is still working.
Check firmware version, hopefully it's the latest. It should be possible to upgrade otherwise, but I know there were a few of the older Phase One backs that would fail on firmware upgrade and needed to be sent in.
Otherwise if the back has been used before quite recently by the previous owner (and not just sitting on the shelf as a backup) and it has worked well and you trust that info you should be fine. While buying virtually unused gear (backup units) can be attractive for this old gear I think it feel safer if it has been used and proved working.
Also don't get dependent on the gear too early and prepare for a worst case that it will fail some time from now and you need to repair it (I don't know the exact status but I think most repairs should still be possible). It's an unlikely case, but it's just like making a private deal with a car or something, you need to accept some risk.
I don't know anything about the Mamiya body.