There are some very nice images, Robert, congratulations.
Could you tell us a bit more about the technical side for the some images (lenses used, f-stops, possibly tilt for DoF, problems to solveetc ...).
Best regards,
Thierry
Hi Thierry.
Firstly I'm just delighted that Alpa is participating, via you, on this forum. Thanks for diving in!
On to your question.. Well, I didn't take notes but I can tell you what I remember.
All images except 3,4 and 9 were taken with the 80mm APO Digitar. Images 3, 4 and 9 were taken with the 35mm APO Digitar with center filter. All images, except the flower by the river, were taken with full L/R shift and then stitched and cropped as needed. The Alpa made that really easy with it's zero detent. Then I just shifted all the way over to the left and right. Usually the sensor was placed in portrait orientation.
The camera body was the Alpa STC with the T/S adapter for the 80mm. I could not afford the Alpa ground glass kit with mask, so I use the ground glass attachment from my Hassy Flexbody with the Rmfx finder. This works well on the 80mm, but doesn't on the 35mm. The fresnel lens darkens very quickly from the center. I finally tried my Hoodman on the Flexbody ground glass and found I could move it around (with my hat covering the top to stop light leakage) and see the entire image to compose and frame. Seems to have worked OK, though not as elegant as the Alpa solution. Also, I have no mask for my back, so guestimating where the image would end was difficult. Perhaps I can get a mask for the P45+ that will fit on the Flexbody ground glass??
Basically before I left for the trip I did a lot of testing regarding the best fstop to use and what my hyperfocal distances were. Essentially f11.3 provides the best hyperfocal range for both lenses. Placing infinity at just inside f8 with the 35mm gives me an in-focus range of 8 feet to infinity. With the 80mm T/S it's a different story, but I do always shoot at f11.3 if I want maximum DOF.
The primary difficulty I encountered was when I wanted to use rise/fall rather than L/R shift. When you use rise/fall, the leveling bubbles no longer work for leveling the horizon. There is a leveling bubble for the horizon on the lens (stationary) side of the camera, but you have to walk around to the front to see it. Taking an image on the side of a river or cliff makes this impossible. And you can't turn the body around as that places the lens on the side that is rising and falling which moves the lens not the back. So an additional leveling bubble for this purpose on the moving side would really be helpful.
I did not use any focus layering. I guess I could have with the 35 (as my closest distance was about 9 feet), but I didn't as I'm not too familiar with it. I'll practice.
Finally, non-Alpa related, I found the P45+ to have an amazing (to me) dynamic range. Usually I carry a bunch of ND filters, graduated and hard, of various densities. I have found this essential landscape photography. I took none of these with me and truly did not find a scene where I felt the P45+ could not handle the DR to my satisfaction. Simply amazing after shooting chrome for all these years.
Pretty long winded
sleep006
, but that's about how it happened. Both camera and back were a joy to use. The kit was exceptionally light compared to my Hassy or 4x5 with the same focal lengths. Most photographers at the outing were very impressed with the kit's light weight. All and all it's an exceptional system for this type of photography.
Thanks for asking and I hope this is what you were looking for.
Best,
Bob
