The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

The STC and Rodie 40 have arrived but...

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Alpa's HPF rings is not that high resolved so I would guess that there is some small focus placement error that Arca RM3Di does slightly better. It would be interesting to test. On the other hand I think the Arca has entered overkill territory making the focus ring unnecessarily slow/cumbersome to work with. The Alpa/Cambo seems to have a nice tradeoff. I think it should be standard with HPF ring pre-mounted on all lenses though, I think being able to set exact focus distance in the blind is one of the key features of a pancake camera.

The Arca is very nice but I agree with you, first I'm not a math major and reading cheat sheets setting up offsets and all that stuff takes me away from being a shooter. Also Alpa/Cambo are the focusing style we done for years. Bob and Jack love playing with that stuff on the Arca. I find it boring and a PITA but it does work. I'm just not a fan of it. Rather shoot the Alpa, Cambo setups.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Agree on the HPF rings built into the lens itself. It's pretty sloppy as it is today without them.

In all this I waited for the IQ back since it gave me more confidence with focus mask and 100 percent zoom to really feel like I nailed the shot with a tech cam. You spend a load of money on this and your still guessing. LOL

In all that I miss the **** out of not having one.
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Agree on the HPF rings built into the lens itself. It's pretty sloppy as it is today without them.

In all this I waited for the IQ back since it gave me more confidence with focus mask and 100 percent zoom to really feel like I nailed the shot with a tech cam. You spend a load of money on this and your still guessing. LOL

In all that I miss the **** out of not having one.
You coulda had mine sooo cheap Guy - but not any more :)

It is a night and day difference after the SK35XL experience. Even without calibration a lot of files look OK, even some with 10mm rise. WTF?!
 

gazwas

Active member
On the other hand I think the Arca has entered overkill territory making the focus ring unnecessarily slow/cumbersome to work with.
To the outsider that may appear to be the case. While discussion about the Arca generally talk about its focusing accuracy there in more to it. Regardless of how utterly over the top accurate you can be with the Arca focusing (a good thing IMO) just ask yourself, why do we continually feel the need to quickly adjust focus with more traditional focusing methods? I would say paranoia that we have the shot in focus as we move between shots.

With the Arca's large focusing dial, unless you continually shift focus in your shots (I don't using hyper focal), you dial in the distance and it stays put. I set the focus once and rarely touch the focusing dial, safe in the knowledge that nothing has drifted between shots. I would go further and say, once calibrated, all that is required is a subject distance referenced to the lens scale and CLICK, focus on the first shot nailed. Non of the focus fudging, live view or 100% preview stuff needed. In my eyes this makes focusing the Arca much faster than any Alpa or Cambo with their low res focus rings and 100% image review.

I spent last week shooting building exteriors and have never felt the focusing ever got in the way of the flow of the photography. LCC however is a different story........ what a PITA!
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
Well said on the focus with the Arca Gareth. Once I have my hyper focal figured for each lens I rarely change focus. I am only using wides and if I ever got a 120mm or longer then things might change.

Paul Caldwell
 
Last edited:

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Interestingly enough of all of the challenges of technical camera shooting focus is pretty low down the list for me at least. HPF rings help with transcribing measured distance to the lens regardless of system.

My personal challenge is still tilt vs stack ... well, more accurately stacking isn't any challenge but the other is. I know that one day it'll all come together and be second nature, as it was with LF, but for now it's less than easy in the absence of perfect live view, big bright ground glass or lens nodal tilts that don't require contant reframing. I'm slowly working towards that Aha Eureka moment :rolleyes:

Regarding the shims, well I think that discussion has probably been done to death. Trust me, if you want infinity accurate as a benchmark then it works, although it does rely on all Alpa calibrated lenses to be to a constant. You can argue whether that is the case or not .. admittedly even Leica don't seem to manage it but everything I've ever witnessed from Alpa is that they do seem to live up to their precision and consistency claims. That said, you can adjust all of the systems one way or the other as folks have stated here. I don't drink the Alpa superiority KoolAid but I do like their gear. :thumbs:
 

danlindberg

Well-known member
Congratulations Tashley! You have a great camera there!!!

As to focus accuracy, my five Alpa lenses are all dead on the money for accuracy. I trust them blindly and love the working process of shooting.
 
Top