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Leaf Aptus II-5 Image's
- Thread starter routlaw
- Start date
routlaw
Member
Thanks for the comments Steve. I agree, just spent the last half year working on a large project dealing with a variety of garments, and accessories. It never ceased to amaze me what would exhibit or not moire using the D3, also a 9 micron sensor. When it did rear its ugly head the only cure I found was to move in to half the distance, stitch two images together using my 85 PC lens and stopping down to F22 which all but cured the ailment.
Regarding ISO performance your assessments seem right on the money. Since some one asked about its performance in the thread I went ahead and did a quick still life running through all of the ISO settings and will post some of those photos later. 400 is definitely sketchy.
routlaw
Member
What provision was there that allows you to do multi pop flashes with this back? Nikons allow this attribute but did not see anything in the software, maybe I missed it allowing this.
Have not tested the back for skin tones, mainly because its low on my list of things I do. Hopefully I will have time today before having to return it as the demo ends.
I am surprised to hear your 5D was even remotely close to the II-5. Just yesterday I had the opportunity to see some Nikon D3x files and while nice they did not get close to the II-5. Even the owner thought the same. Taken a step further I also compared some stitched D3 files using my D3/Cambo Ultima setup with Rody 105 digital lens. The composite files from the D3 were much larger but still even that did not compare to the II-5. For me at least this put an end to any argument about dslr vs mfdb image quality.
Agree totally about the software, what a pill. And that idiotic Grain control thing you can't turn off. This more than anything forced me to use LR.
Leaf are you listening? LOOSE THE GRAIN CONTROL. rant over.
Regarding battery life, so far it seems really quite good on this setup. Have only used one battery for the time I have had the back.
Thanks
Rob
routlaw
Member
Since there seemed to be some interest in noise levels at the higher ISO, thought I would make one more post of images for all to see. The setup is a simple basic table top deal with controlled conditions as much as the camera would allow me to do. 
So the first image establishes the scene at 25 ISO, the crops with captions to explain.
Thanks for looking.
Rob
just realized I left out the bellows detail for ISO 25, but can tell you even without noise reduction it is clean as a whistle. And oddly enough tried several different pieces of cloth/shirts in the setup to create some moire, as luck would have could find a thing that would do this, go figure.
So the first image establishes the scene at 25 ISO, the crops with captions to explain.
Thanks for looking.
Rob
just realized I left out the bellows detail for ISO 25, but can tell you even without noise reduction it is clean as a whistle. And oddly enough tried several different pieces of cloth/shirts in the setup to create some moire, as luck would have could find a thing that would do this, go figure.
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Great to see some more! So, ... it s a ISO 100 camera, with occasional grab shots in ISO 200 and a ISO 400 to better forget about. Maybe some trickery with software is still possible to extend a little further.Since there seemed to be some interest in noise levels at the higher ISO, thought I would make one more post of images for all to see. The setup is a simple basic table top deal with controlled conditions as much as the camera would allow me to do.
So the first image establishes the scene at 25 ISO, the crops with captions to explain. ......
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routlaw
Member
Thanks glad you have found it helpful. I might post one more image, and believe me this one is a very quick and dirty one, but tells a lot of the IQ of this back. 25 second exposure @ ISO 25, jaw dropping results!
Rob
yaya
Active member
routlaw
Member
It is a very strong consideration at this point, although I would not buy the Phamiya camera with it. The downsides as another poster pointed out is the Leaf software, and some attributes with the very large and mostly nice monitor. Its nothing like the one on my D3, nor are the user controls and interface.
If I do belly up to the bar for one most likely it would be with a tech view camera, the Linhof Techno being at the top of the list assuming these things ever become available.
One of the sobering aspects of this past weeks test and trials was going back to look at some scan back files shot at the same locations at 50% resolution (equal to a 12 mp camera). And yet the scan back images are so superior to this MF back even with far less "resolution" or rather far less pixels. And its not just the absolute detail either, there is a quality and separation of hue, tone and value bayer sensors just can't seem to duplicate.
I also doubt after doing this I can be completely satisfied with my D3 images for landscape work either. Lots to ponder from here.
Rob
routlaw
Member
Thanks for the tip, but unfortunately this worked sometime and others not. By that I mean I would slide the control so that its in the middle for zero effect, then do something else with the image within Leaf Capture and all of a sudden the grain control would be right back where it was full bore tilt max. It was a constant battle with this thing. Hated it. Pushing the slider to the right btw will max it out to 50 which was the non defeat-able default of all images coming into LC. I did have 11.2.9 version of the software.
Thanks
Rob
Understand. Lets hope C1 will support the Aptus II Line soon, including live view, (it is promised) and then the software stuff may be sorted out.
routlaw
Member
Ok this is the last one. The image was taken some half hour maybe more past sunset, in other words it was quite dark and dim on the street, so the tones are bumped up a tad for clarity. ISO 25, 25 second exposure, @ F11, developed in LR with default noise control (color 25) and USM. As previously stated I was quite amazed by the performance here. I suspect most of this picture would have been mush with the D3.
Rob
Rob
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Steve Hendrix
Well-known member
Rob:
I'm wondering if it is possible you made the adjustment, but didn't save the settings? I haven't experienced this issue with the grain control.
Regarding the Linhof Techno, it is indeed available as I sold the first one in the USA about a month ago. It is a beautiful camera and quite modular within the Linhof family, accepting legacy lensboards and sliding backs (Linhof and KaptureGroup versions for the M679).
http://www.captureintegration.com/category/steve/
Steve Hendrix
routlaw
Member
Yep did all that too, hit the save command, the it would just flip back to the 50 mark again no matter how many times I made the change and hit save. Still I suspect I was doing something not quite right, but it might be in Leafs best interest to make the whole thing a bit more user friendly.
Would love to have seen one of these Technos. They sure look like they would do the trick.
Rob
schweikert
New member
Steve's gonna shoot me for resurrecting this (joking), but here is my comparison back in 2008 of my Aptus22 and Canon 5DII: http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=29931&hl=aptus+5dii
I shoot Comet packs. I would just do multi pops with the studio blacked out, camera set to a multi second shutter speed to equate 2 secs per pop. I also have a Comet pack that can auto fire in sequence for multi pops which is faster than doing it by hand so shutter speed can be shorter. Why keep the shutter shorter even in seconds? Noise does creep in a tiny bit the closer you get to the 30 sec max on the Leaf even at 25-50 ISO.
As for moire, in all the people shoots I did, I would see moire quite a bit in fabrics the subject wore. So I spent time doing many different removal techniques depending on what I wanted to preserve. But for the most part the files worked out well in print.
In all honesty, I think you would be pleased with the Leaf on a technical cam, it will create beautiful and clean files, but ISO 25 inherently forces longer exposures with waning light, and 30 secs max comes into play often then. At higher ISOs, noise amplifies quite a bit with long exposures. A 100 ISO file at 30 sec is passible in print but don't expect doing much adjustments at all if needed without seeing some chunky noise. I have gotten away with a lot even in full page and spread magazine shoots.
I shot the back a lot and knew what I could and could not do, but I still pushed it at times with results that passed but some purists would balk at. It all comes down to the print and not 100% screen view.
I moved on and sold it simply because I needed a camera that was much more flexible to my needs, a 5DII provided such flexibility.
In prints up to 17x22 (largest I print in house), anyone would be hard pressed to see a difference in print between the Aptus22 and 5DII. I still have prints laying around I would show friends to see if they could pick which cam and invariably they would just guess wrong since nothing really separated them except the frame proportions.
John
I shoot Comet packs. I would just do multi pops with the studio blacked out, camera set to a multi second shutter speed to equate 2 secs per pop. I also have a Comet pack that can auto fire in sequence for multi pops which is faster than doing it by hand so shutter speed can be shorter. Why keep the shutter shorter even in seconds? Noise does creep in a tiny bit the closer you get to the 30 sec max on the Leaf even at 25-50 ISO.
As for moire, in all the people shoots I did, I would see moire quite a bit in fabrics the subject wore. So I spent time doing many different removal techniques depending on what I wanted to preserve. But for the most part the files worked out well in print.
In all honesty, I think you would be pleased with the Leaf on a technical cam, it will create beautiful and clean files, but ISO 25 inherently forces longer exposures with waning light, and 30 secs max comes into play often then. At higher ISOs, noise amplifies quite a bit with long exposures. A 100 ISO file at 30 sec is passible in print but don't expect doing much adjustments at all if needed without seeing some chunky noise. I have gotten away with a lot even in full page and spread magazine shoots.
I shot the back a lot and knew what I could and could not do, but I still pushed it at times with results that passed but some purists would balk at. It all comes down to the print and not 100% screen view.
I moved on and sold it simply because I needed a camera that was much more flexible to my needs, a 5DII provided such flexibility.
In prints up to 17x22 (largest I print in house), anyone would be hard pressed to see a difference in print between the Aptus22 and 5DII. I still have prints laying around I would show friends to see if they could pick which cam and invariably they would just guess wrong since nothing really separated them except the frame proportions.
John
P
ppap
Guest
Sorry where are the images? I cannot see anything
dougpeterson
Workshop Member
If you're looking for Aptus-II 5 raw files I'd suggest you contact your local dealer who can get you raw files, answer any questions you have, and get you a hands on evaluation (the best "test files" you can get are the ones you shoot yourself in your normal style of your normal subjects).
Yair (with Leaf) also frequents here and can send you files.