Hi Everyone.
Thanks a lot for all the useful feedback and suggestions.
Mark, I adjusted the brightness of the viewfinder and I now find it excellent! Thanks for helping me out. I increased brightness and contrast. Obviously it affects batterylife, but I don't know how much as I didn't exhaust the battery today. Extra batteries are an obvious must.
Thanks for the suggestion of the ND filter, it will be a good tool to get, but I think that I need to choose a system that 'works' for me, without thirdparty accessories. But I think it would be nice to have one anyway.
My dealer didn't inform me that the offer has been extended, but I'll ask him tomorrow. He did say that it was Hasselblad's intention to have a camera at this price level in the future and this offer was a test to see how the market responds. Appearently the market has responded very well and this is good news for all of us as the competition is obviously forced to follow suit. So it might be a good idea to keep chequebooks in pockets until Photokina, to see what news are in store for us.
I am aware that I can use V-system lenses on the H-system, but I like the AF for my purposes, I shoot kids (and they move, quite often a lot). I don't shoot products and so only use a tripod with the older kids, when I need to. Tripod before increase in ISO.
Fotografz, thanks for the info on Phocus. Hopefully the pc version will appear soon, so I can test it on the files I have shot this weekend. Aperture is strictly Mac, I think.
Like Mark I also like CS3 a lot and that is my preferred workspace. So phase and Leaf files that open up in CS3 are an obvious bonus. I have been working with Flexcolor and I can use it but I would hate for that to be my only option. It's ok to process a handful of images, but I'd hate to have to complete a big commercial shoot, processing 50 or 100 files under time pressure in Flexcolor. I also like Iview media pro and again both Phase and Leaf files are supported.
Yair thanks for reminding me of the Leaf option, would I go to Peartree to set up a test of the Leaf/Mamiya system? I handled the AFI briefly and I am sure it will grow into a great system, but I feel it's too early for me to buy into a brand new system. Funny you should mention Spiros, we used to print next to eachother at Rapid Eye when we were still shooting film, he is Danish too. CAV is the Leaf dealer in Copenhagen and I have bought a lot of Elinchrom gear from them, they give really good customer service. I guess I could give Kenneth a call. I downloaded LeafCapture 11 and a couple of raw files, processed them in both LC11 and CS3, both are great options! Bravo Leaf.
One of the things I ran into today, shooting kids, and H3D/31 users, please comment, I used the 50 and the 100 a lot. The 50 is a perfect "35'er" and the 100 is such a lovely portrait lens, it sits somewhere around the 85/90mm mark, equivalent to 35mm. But the 80 I hardly used...when I compared it to my Canon, it was exactly equal to a 70mm lens, too tight for a 'normal' lens. This is a problem, the lens I use most now, working with Canon is my 50mm lens...and there isn't an equivalent in the H-system. I know I can buy a v-system 60mm, but that would be manual focus, so not for me. Or buy the zoom, which will not give me the low apertures. I am sure the zoom is great optically, but it kind of goes against my way of working. I know that changing system is also in a way changing style, but not having a 'normal' lens is not so nice. It might help to choose one of the larger sensors, but it seems that Hasselblad are phasing out the 22, and that leaves the 39, which is still quite expensive...
Shooting with the Hasselblad today has convinced me that the camera is really very good. The ergonomics are great, the lcd is great, the autofocus and shooting speed is good enough and the batterylife is not as bad as I feared. So altogether a very positive experience. I just have a few concerns about software, being locked into Phocus, and about the lenses available in this system.
I'll spend the next few days going through the files I shot today, looking at higher ISO shots etc. So more on that later.
Thanks again for all the great suggestions, this forum is awesome!
Best regards,
Anders