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MF street shooter pack?

bradhusick

Active member
Okay, this should be an easy one for Guy and Jack, as well as others here.

Suppose you're an M8 shooter who loves street shooting, most often with 28, 35 and 50 lenses. You never shoot landscapes, macro, sports or wildlife. You want portability, light weight and the ability to quickly compose, focus and shoot...

BUT...

you're interested in the great files that MF provides. Here's the question:

For this shooter, what's the best MF combo of back, body, lenses and accessories? Have at it!

Thanks,
Brad
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Brad i am working on this right NOW . LOL

I came up with a neat idea that already exists but with a few modifications to save money and come up with a P&S MF back. I'm probably going to sell my Horseman sliding back with finder and get this Alpa 12 TC idea instead. Getting prices now

I just don't do a lot of stitching and shifting so this makes better sense for me because I like to shoot street
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
That Alpa thingy is the coolest. Damn.

I think we need some sort of symbol for the posts that contain stuff you're gonna want. A yellow skull and crossbones with a dollar sign behind it maybe.
 

Dale Allyn

New member
How about a little ship that is slowly sinking a bit more with each purchase, until only the tip of the bow is showing above the waterline. Or in the case of some folks, just a few bubbles rising?

:D

I think we need some sort of symbol for the posts that contain stuff you're gonna want. A yellow skull and crossbones with a dollar sign behind it maybe.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Hope you guy's have money this ain't the cheapest route but I got Lance working on it. CI is a Alpa dealer also.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Love it Tim. When Jack gets home I will have him download it and make it a emotion that we all can use
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Exactly Kurt. What it buy's you is some extremely great wide angles. The Horseman does also and with the Alpa you lose all those functions of the Horseman like shift for one and than of course stitching and if your really brave you can do a 9 shot stitch 3 bottom 3 middle and 3 top that would be over 1gb of data. Print about the size of NY city block for God sakes. LOL
 

KurtKamka

Subscriber Member
For all-in-focus street shooting it'd be interesting to see how much it might give you in terms of stops and or ISO ...
 

woodyspedden

New member
Hope you guy's have money this ain't the cheapest route but I got Lance working on it. CI is a Alpa dealer also.
Just curious Guy

What is wrong with the PhaseBody you (will) have and the 28 or 35 lenses. The shape of the body is kind of ideal for street work as it mimics a DSLR so it should be fine. And as auto focus is really nice for street work a plus compared to the Alpa. Just curious

Woody
 
N

Natasa Stojsic

Guest
I had a chance to shoot with ALPA TC, ALPA SWA12, ALPA XY....


However, I spend most of my time with:

ALPA TC + Schneider Apo-Digitar 5.6/24 mm XL
ALPA TC + Rodenstock Apo-Sironar digital HR 4.5/28 mm

Both Cameras are mounted on separate ALPA Frames, I am sorry I can't get used to calling it Camera because it looks like a frame for side bed table pictures:p

At first when I heard my friends talking about these ALPA Cameras... they had equal number of ALPA TC Cameras per lens. I realized later, it was very practical in the field.. but the day before that... I said, I can't possibly ask if I heard them saying they have ALPA TC per every lens they own:confused:, because of the cost etc.... and finally to my surprise it's true, they did have ALPA TC Camera per every lens they own.... I didn't have to ask;)

So, ALPA TC is very small convenient, affordable even though they told me it went up US$400 because exchange rate:(

I am sure it is build solid with 100% precision, but even in that regard we laughed hard because the viewfinder that came along with camera had a front ring that was off a little:p ALPA said it's not that important not to bother, but they will gladly exchange it!!!

Another experience that was important for me is switching between the two systems Mamiya -> ALPA -> Mamiya. I personally think it is important to remember that ALPA TC camera is just a frame, and when you mount your Digital Back on it you are not collecting any dust obviously, but when you're done and you switch to Mamiya/etc. yes you can put a cap on the lens but you have nothing to put on the back of the Frame/Camera (remember, your Mamiya mount is mounted on the frame in case you need/wish to switch back to ALPA again!!!

I found that really overlooked and something you may need to add to your order:thumbup:

Logically, it should come as the cover for the DB adapter of your choice Hasselblad/SINAR/Leaf/PHASE!!!


I thought about this because it's nothing to do with image quality and could easily be overlooked!!!

In general I had fun shooting with ALPA TC and I will definitely buy one much sooner than I think:p The only difficulty I must admit was guestimating the distance for optimum sharpness but I was advised with one of these LEICA Laser Meters there shouldn't be a problem:thumbup:

Bottom line, ALPA is interchangeable system and therefore I see it as my way to go...... because take a look at it this way, ALPA comes as small as Leica and as big as EBONY and all that with Superior lenses, also interchangeable superior MF lenses (Schneider/Carl Zeiss) and with superior image quality with the DB of your choice!!!

There is more info on my experience but long to wright everything in General at once;)

Again, would I ever need more than this, FINALLY not:thumbup:

I would like to encourage ALPA owners... to share your experience/Tips/guestimating/solution???
 
N

Natasa Stojsic

Guest
Exactly Kurt. What it buy's you is some extremely great wide angles. The Horseman does also and with the Alpa you lose all those functions of the Horseman like shift for one and than of course stitching and if your really brave you can do a 9 shot stitch 3 bottom 3 middle and 3 top that would be over 1gb of data. Print about the size of NY city block for God sakes. LOL

Guy, you are actually loosing nothing, if anything you are gaining more..... they have it in the family already:thumbup:
 

harmsr

Workshop Member
My choice for that with a MFDB is the Phase One/Mamiya body with the P30+ back and either the 45, 55, or 80 lenses.

The Mamiya body seems to be the lightest DSLR. The new AFDIII is improved in the mirror dampening to better the handholding. The Mamiya lenses are the smallest.

The P30+ is the microlensed and faster shooting back that goes to 1600 ISO.

On the P30+ these are the equivalent 35mm focal lengths per Lance's calculator spreadsheet. (45=35, 55=43, 80=63, and 150=118) Basically a 45, 80, 150 combo on the P30+ is my M8 kit with 28, 50, 90 combo.

The P30+/Mamiya system is a focal plane shutter that does fast shutter speeds but only 1/125 flash sync, and is about a perfect of a system for available light photography in MF that you can get.

The other advantage of the Phase/Mamiya P30+ system is that it is autofocus and completely integrated.

You will also find that the price on the P30+ system is less than the other P25+ system, even though it has higher megapixels due to the slightly smaller sensor with its 1.3x crop vs. 1.1x crop.

I recommended the Phase/Mamiya over the Hassy 31 MP system (Hassy has the same sensor) due to weight, size, and focal plane shutter for your use.

FYI - I own this Phase system in addition to my Hassy H3DII39 system. Each one has different uses and purpose. The P30+ is my lightweight, available light, fast shutter system.

Best,

Ray
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Guy, you are actually loosing nothing, if anything you are gaining more..... they have it in the family already:thumbup:
Your right i could simply buy the SW I think it is or one of there other Frames let's call it and use the lenses on any of them, so yes there is some advantage there to. Darn stuff is expensive . Okay my little secret thought is not buy that viewfinder at 1200 dollars . But the Hot shoe attachment for around 138 or 160 dollars than revert back to the M8 here and use the externals finders for that , much smaller and you could use a leica 21,24,28 finder or the finder for the Wate lens . Which is the Tri-elmar 16,18,21= WATE or a Zeiss finder my favorite . So you can save a whole bunch of money on just using these finders instead and there much smaller. Now Alpa does seem to sell a plate for the back end. I say seem because not sure if it will fit on your camera plate to protect the back of the lens when the back is on your main body like the Mamiya . The Alpha will accept Phase, Hassy and Contax mount backs . Not sure on Leaf or Sinar though
 

Rethmeier

New member
Sinar Hy6 and LeafAfi adapters are in production at Alpa.
Should be released in a couple of months.
Anyway,if you have a Sinar back with any adapter(Contax,Mamiya etc) Alpa has adapters
readily available.
There is a shooter in OZ that's selling his Alpa TC kit for $30K.
Alpa TC 12 including finger grip, Viewfinder and Mask.
Lens:Schneider Apo Digitar 5.6/35mm XL
Leaf Aptus 75 back with less then 900 actuations.

AU$32.500 ONO + postage and insurance
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25577
 

cmb_

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Guy - I have been eying the TC for months now. I just sent you an email message.
 
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