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Tease of the year?

tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
I have in my hot little hand the NEW PhaseOne body, the 645DF. And, just to make things even more exciting, the new 80mm leaf shutter lens.

I'm heading out the door to test them - pre-production but waaay past prototype so watch this and other spaces for further news.

I will post some comparative test shots later of the 80 leaf vs the 80d, plus some impressions as to the ergonomics and performance of the new body.

Later!

t
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
Right. I'm backl after a while shooting with the new setup and in the meantime the press release is out so I don't need to be coy about the fact that the optics in the leaf lens are Schneider.

I am about to dive in to Capture One land for the pixel level details on the lens but on the body itself: (all comments relative to AFDIII)

It looks a bit bigger but feels a little smaller or possibly just a little better.

Shutter lag is indeed significantly reduced. However, on using MUP, there is still the irritating delay on shutter release with the little whir noise that sounds like the camera is trying to focus even though it's done that already. The shutter button has a smoother and easier release which will make users of the AFDIII trigger it unintentionally at first.

AF is clearly faster but my loaner still hunts a little compared to a pro DSLR and its Continuous mode isn't notably great.

The shutter realease cycle including mirror action feels a little smoother and less jerky but it is still quite a whack and though possibly a touch quieter, it has added to it the extra noise of the leaf shutter doing it's thing when it is doing it's thing.

Importantly, the default setting for the camera is to use leaf shutter until a shutter speed over 1/800th is needed (in AV mode) and then it automatically switches to focal plane shutter BUT in Custom Functions you can force it to use FP if you want to.

The new tactile buttons don't feel significantly better to me.

I really like the three new Custom Settings positions on the main dial.

Right, back with images soon.

EDIT: PLEASE NOTE - the version I have is pretty much ready for release physically but the FW is still being tweaked and some aspects of its performance might well still be optimised.

Tim
 
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tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
Guy Mancuso said:
Okay you get the tease award for sure. Already Jack and I are number 1 and 2 to buy one. LOL
Click to expand...
:angel: and I hope you enjoy them! Clearly the shorter lag, faster AF and usefulness of higher flash sync speeds will be the main inducements here. My first take is that everything is a bit better but that this is a welcome progression rather than a step change.

I'm about to write a few lines about the new lens compared to the old.
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
Optical results

Right. I'm not going to post endless test shots and rigourous stuff with charts and tripods, though I have done some of that.

I have spent the best part of an hour poring over clinically accurate shots of the old versus the new lenses at the same range of apertures, with and without MUP, all on tripod/cube etc and there is pretty much no difference in sharpness. Or rather, the tiny differences I did see are most likely due to tiny differences in AF. If really really pressed I would say that wide open the new lens might be very very slightly sharper in the corners. Might just be.

Similarly pushed I would admit to a suspicion that the old lens was slightly sharper at the edges at F16.

BUT these differences are tiny tiny tiny, more likely due to sample variation or AF differences. I would not prefer either lens on this basis alone.

Bokeh is supposed to be the selling point of the new lens (other than its leaf shutter functions of course) and I did shoot a series to display this, using identical framing and tripod and so on BUT the AF on one of the key frames decided to focus on different areas within the central circle (despite identical framing) so I won't show those Instead, these handheld shots at F2.8 and F4 will have to do despite slightly different framings - focus on all of them is very accurately on the angle's face.


Leaf Lens F2.8



'Old' lens F2.8





Leaf Lens F4



'Old' lens F4

What do people think?
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
And the upgrade news is...

...that depending on when you bought your AFDIII you might get the chance to upgrade to the new version at a very significant discount to the price of a new body alone.

Also, there'll be a new handgrip that will allow vertical release, take a battery the same as the Phase backs, and will allow for body FW upgrades without return to base...
 
carstenw

carstenw

Active member
Nice to see Phase/Mamiya finally deliver on their promises. Once the grip comes out, I think they have delivered all they have promised, right?

The boke and sharpness in these images looks indistinguishable. Do you see something anywhere, other than the possible slight corner differences? In your other images?

The open question on my mind is if this changes anything for anyone other than flash/studio photographers. The slight improvements will not likely sway anyone, if one ignores the leaf shutter lenses, unless I missed something. The 55 or 110 might sway someone, I suppose. Tim, you once said that you hated the Phase body. Has this changed?
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Re: Optical results

tashley said:
Right. I'm not going to post endless test shots and rigourous stuff with charts and tripods, though I have done some of that.

I have spent the best part of an hour poring over clinically accurate shots of the old versus the new lenses at the same range of apertures, with and without MUP, all on tripod/cube etc and there is pretty much no difference in sharpness. Or rather, the tiny differences I did see are most likely due to tiny differences in AF. If really really pressed I would say that wide open the new lens might be very very slightly sharper in the corners. Might just be.

Similarly pushed I would admit to a suspicion that the old lens was slightly sharper at the edges at F16.

BUT these differences are tiny tiny tiny, more likely due to sample variation or AF differences. I would not prefer either lens on this basis alone.

Bokeh is supposed to be the selling point of the new lens (other than its leaf shutter functions of course) and I did shoot a series to display this, using identical framing and tripod and so on BUT the AF on one of the key frames decided to focus on different areas within the central circle (despite identical framing) so I won't show those Instead, these handheld shots at F2.8 and F4 will have to do despite slightly different framings - focus on all of them is very accurately on the angle's face.


Leaf Lens F2.8



'Old' lens F2.8





Leaf Lens F4



'Old' lens F4

What do people think?
Click to expand...

Certainly not worse . I see a small improvement wide open and it maybe contrast. Sharpness hard to tell until we get to the pixel level and really test it out but certainly the added leaf shutter is a benefit. Myself the 55 and 110 seem to be what I would want
 
carstenw

carstenw

Active member
The boke on the second shot may be a teeny tiny bit softer. Did you really switch from new/old to old/new?
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Looks like it has more mid range contrast ala the Clarity in C1. Tim just for kicks bump the Phase lens a notch on clarity in C1 bet that maybe the difference I am seeing.

Actually take that back . I thought The Phase was the bottom image reverse that request
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
carstenw said:
Nice to see Phase/Mamiya finally deliver on their promises. Once the grip comes out, I think they have delivered all they have promised, right?

The boke and sharpness in these images looks indistinguishable. Do you see something anywhere, other than the possible slight corner differences? In your other images?

The open question on my mind is if this changes anything for anyone other than flash/studio photographers. The slight improvements will not likely sway anyone, if one ignores the leaf shutter lenses, unless I missed something. The 55 or 110 might sway someone, I suppose. Tim, you once said that you hated the Phase body. Has this changed?
Click to expand...
I see very very slightly nicer (gentler, more poetic, dreamier) bokeh from the new lens, which I think has slightly less contrast at mid apertures - but only very very slightly!

As to my old enmity with the body. Hmmm. I must say, this one is an improvement.... but I ain't falling in love just yet! I need another few hours with it. First off, it's such a relief to have small improvements but it still sounds and feels a bit like a barn door going off in your hand. Just a smaller barn door in a less ferocious wind. Also, since I only have one back (poor me!) I can't switch quickly from one to the other for direct comparisons.

The real test will be a direct comparison with the S2, rather than me trying to compare the two from memory. And production models will be important to that comparison.
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
Guy Mancuso said:
Looks like it has more mid range contrast ala the Clarity in C1. Tim just for kicks bump the Phase lens a notch on clarity in C1 bet that maybe the difference I am seeing.

Actually take that back . I thought The Phase was the bottom image reverse that request
Click to expand...
OK Guy, now I AM lost! But if you see the leaf lens as being lower contrast in these shots at F5.6 (of the cross with the church wall behind) then you're right.
I see that in most series of comparative shots where the subject matter doesn't have huge contrast range. It gets swamped in the cherub shots cos there's higher contrast in the scene and the setup changed a little but in all the tripod series, the leaf lens is lower contrast and that gives slightly nicer bokeh BUT as we all know, Clarity sliders KILL bokeh!
 
H

Henry Goh

Member
Thanks for sharing these Tim.

To my eyes, IQ are about the same. I think the new "D" Sekor lenses have done well.

I can continue to use my existing lenses with the FP shutter on this body and perhaps pick up the 110mm f/2.8 when that is available. That would be my motivation to use my upgrade offer.
 
tashley

tashley

Subscriber Member
Henry Goh said:
Thanks for sharing these Tim.

To my eyes, IQ are about the same. I think the new "D" Sekor lenses have done well.

I can continue to use my existing lenses with the FP shutter on this body and perhaps pick up the 110mm f/2.8 when that is available. That would be my motivation to use my upgrade offer.
Click to expand...
I agree 100%. The upgrade offer is a good deal and the differences are worth it but on current showing I'd be buying the 110 LS as my studio portrait lens and the 55LS as my location 'balance flash with ambient' lens but I wouldn't be replacing the 80D with the 80LS, simply because the 80D is a very hard act to follow!
 
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