Hi Asher
I moved from A to D in a matter of 4-5 years, not talking about film cameras only digital.
Started with a Nikon 5000
Price point A; up to $5000: So that was film with a Nikon 5000 scanner?
Price Point D; up to 25,000: so that Hasselblad H2d was perhaps in the range of
Hasselblad H2 Camera Kit[/URL] with Viewfinder HV90x, Magazine HM and 80mm f/2.8 HC Lens $8000
and Digital back, say $10,000-$17,000?
which you will be convert to
Price point E. an H3D within the next month or 3.
With each upgrade I could get better clients, and each
upgrade was also easily paid for by the extra money I earned.
My plan
Towards the end of this year or so I will probably move to
Price Point E, up to $35,000: The H3D
Hasselblad H3D-22, 22.2 Megapixel, 36.7 x 49.0 mm sensor, SLR Digital Camera (The body, DB, view finder and 80mm 2.8 lens) $27,000
$27,000
This is an integrated system with
built in lens corrections for light fall of, color shifts and distortions!
Of course we must add the to be
envied Ultra-Wide Angle 28mm f/4.0 Auto Focus Lens for H3D Camera ONLY for the bargain
price of $3,875!
Total $30,875! For a mere $5,000 whiloe you are at it you can go from 21MP to 31MP and have bragging rights! I'm sure you can get hte whole Shebang for well under under $35,000!
Since the H3D back can be put on a view camera, I might upgrade to a shift system with Rodenstock lenses. I am not sold on that idea a 100% yet, as I don't know how my way of working will be affected. Working with an slr system is very fast and maybe a bit of extra time in postprocessing for tilt.
With a tilt/shift camera I will probably work a lot slower, but I might end up with files that are
less distorted, I still do not know this for sure. I have searched the web extensively to see if
someone can show me a photo of a building shot on a slr and illiminated distortion in post
production and a photo shot where it is done with tilt/shift. So far no one seems to have shot
a proper comparison and I have found only anecdotal evidence that one is preferred over the other.
Yes, a paired test would be helpful!
Still, we know that Photoshop cannot create pixels that are not there! So when the top of a converging tall building is made orthogonal, the upressing in the narrow portion might be unoticed in an 8x10 but as you enlarge it, the picture for sure must soften in the corrected areas. For high-end architecture, certainly, that is undesirable.
When the Rollei Hy6 has been on the market for about half a year or so and all the hick ups are straightened out I might even switch over to that system with a Leaf or Phase 1 based back.
Unless a 3rd party makes an adapter plate, using a Phase One back will be impossible as only Sinar and Leaf are in the consortuim (with Sinar badged as Rollei in China etc).
Note that DB Shift requires attention to presence or absence of micro lenses and lens-back pairing combinations so that there are not unacceptable colr or vignetting aberrations!
Although I am happy with the Hasselblad files, I would eventually like to get more range with better noise control, unless of course Hasselblad delivers on their promise to equal all other brands on this issue.
I think I'd look seriously to holding out a little beyond your 3 months upper limit!
By June I expect the Sinar or Leaf version of the Hy6 will be available. All DB have potential issues with the CF (Center fold line) issue, the junction of the two sides of the sensor. Right now, sinar has solved this. Leaf partly AFAIK and will no doubt do it completely. All DB need to be chosen for the characteristics needed for your work:
High ISO
Shot to Shot timing
Micro lenses
Moire
Single v. Multishot
and so forth.
So I'd wait and see, how the Hy6 proves itself.
With the Leica M8, it took just 2 weeks to find the issues and another 2 for Leica to find solutions.
That's fast!
No doubt Leaf and Sinar can easily match that and meanwhile Phase One, Pentax and who knows, even Canon will not be sleeping!
Let's see what PMA brings us!
Asher