LENS CAST FOLLOW-UP

While visiting family for the Holidays I brought along the Mamiya 645AFD II and Phase One P25 since the dealer (Linear Systems) was located in Southern California. The Phase One dealer reviewed several files and agreed that the lens cast was out of character for an 80mm lens on a P25 back. We tried the back with their AFD and 80mm lens, and then again with my 645AFD II and 80mm lens. Same results. They are opening a support case with Phase One and we will see how things progress over the next several weeks. Applying LCC in C1 works most of time and fixes the cast to about the 80%. I think we can do better.

WORKING WITH GRADUATED FILTERS

Besides visiting with dealer, we did manage two outings with the 645AFD II and P25. Both outings were at golden hour (about 1 to 1.5 hours before sunset) and this is where the Canon 1Ds Mark II shines. Just about any lens pointed in any direction with some negative EC adjustment and the Canon turns out a nice sunset shot.

In contrast the P25 was far less forgiving. Mainly, it does not like head on shots with the sun unless the lens is stopped down to F8 or F11. I think the incoming light overloads the sensor and it simply crashes. The portion where the sun would be, ends up just being a white, nearly perfect rectangle. I have never seen anything like it before. Stop the lens down to F5.6 or F8 and the problem seems to go away. I tried to help the P25 by using a graduated filter; however, I did not have a 58mm grad on hand, so I used a 67mm with a 58/67mm step up ring. That proved to be less than effective since darkest portion of the graduation was beyond the 58mm diameter. I am not sure what’s up with shooting sunsets, but the P25 doesn’t like it (at wide apertures).

TROUBLES WITH FOCUS

I am used to shooting manual focus lenses with the Canon 1Ds Mark II. I switched to AF confirmation adapters and the keeper ratio improved dramatically. As such I felt pretty confident in my manual focus skills. With the 645AFD II the number of mis-focused shots skyrocketed. I think focus is spot on when taking the picture, but the LCD tells the tale - I’m simply not seeing focus. Maybe a split screen or a 2x magnifier will help.  Though, these aids will not help much with off-axis focusing, so I am not sure how to improve the keeper ratio just yet.

ISO 50 also contributes to focus errors. The slower ISO translates into shutter speeds being halved (compared to the Canon 1Ds Mark II @ ISO 100), so camera shake is compounding the focus errors. Shooting with a tripod is a must. Canon’s IS lenses and relatively clean high ISO performance meant a tripod was usually optional. Those days are gone. Fortunately I did bring a tripod and cable release - and it was used on almost every picture.

THE P25’S LCD

For whatever reason I am not in sync with the P25’s histogram and flashing highlights. The most obvious issue is the 2.2” LCD screen quality stinks compared to the Canon 1Ds Mark II’s screen. Trying to decipher what is blown out and by how much is guess work at best. The screen is almost impossible to see in sunlight. Add in the filter issues and things only got worse. So let’s see - blew focus, wrong filters, exposure issues, low shutter speeds... fortunately this was just a test run.

Gauging blown highlights is pretty important. Pulling details from clipped highlights does not work will with the P25. If a highlight is clipped, it really is is clipped.  It is best to expose for the highlights and then fish out shadow detail with C1 and Photoshop. The shadow recovery tool in C1 (version 4) is quite good; definitely better than Adobe’s shadow recovery. Adobe’s shadow recovery can create halos or glows, C1’s does not create a glow. Using the “Extra Shadow Detail” film curve and shadow recovery parameter can pull an amazing of detail without adding much noise. At times it seems like the shadows and mid-tones can be boosted (raised) over and over again in Photoshop with no noise penalty. Shooting ISO 100 or higher and the rules change, but if the image is ISO 50 then file can withstand levels, saturation and contrast adjustments in Photoshop (as a 16 bit TIFF).

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Of the handful of keepers that I do like, the Phase One P25 captured amazing amounts of detail. The Canon 1Ds Mark II sorely lags behind in this area. Also, the amount of detail that can be teased from P25’s shadows is amazing. The color and vibrance in the P25 files is so, so much more than Canon dSLRs too. This images were not processed for color accuracy, so levels and saturation were pushed to extremes just for the fun of it.

The next time around I’ll have the right filters on hand for the sunsets, but that’s just a technical issue. In general I’m finding the 4:3 aspect ratio more challenging - especially after shooting 3:2 for the past 5 years. The 4:3 aspect ratio demands better composition. I feel like the images need a central point of interest. Plus, shooting with a very expensive digital back and camera system adds some extra pressure to come home with great pictures.

Overall I learned that I need to practice quite abit with the P25 to learn its ins and outs. Going from Canon dSLR to Canon dSLR has been pretty easy. The P25 is a whole new beast with different strengths and weaknesses. I am hoping the next couple entries after this one will focus on the strengths. I’m tired of writing about what’s different, harder or more challenging. To be honest, I think I’ve touched upon most of the negatives by now. Shooting with medium format is simply different. Right now it is more demanding. What worked for 35mm and a 3:2 aspect ratio doesn’t mesh with medium format.

Weather and time permitting, hopefully next week’s entry will be more interesting. Have a happy and safe New Years.