Steve Hendrix
Well-known member
Thanks Steve. I don't doubt you do your very best in supporting your customers to make good choices.
My observations has been though that the information how sensor+lens play together and what-is-what (difference between recoverable casts and irrecoverable casts) is not very wide-spread, not among photographers and even not among designers. I hold up SK28 as one evidence of that -- the optical designers at Schneider cannot have tested that on 6um Dalsa although the leading products on the market were already using it, and I think the Cambo Actus is another evidence of the same, I find it unlikely that Cambo would have designed this camera in this way if they were aware of the wide angle limitations. This disconnect between sensor, lens and camera body designsers is a mystery to me.
It's easy for me to say as a layman on the side, but I do it anyway; I think that if I had been a dealer I would not market the Cambo Actus, because it can't hold what the design promises. For the same reason some dealers have pulled the SK28 from the shelf. Sure you can use it with longer lenses and not shift the wides and/or shoot B&W but it's a strange package. But as long as you inform your customers with the limitations so they can make an educated decision it's of course okay.
My skepiticism towards this camera is however based on this. Anyway, I think the best thing that could happen in tech cam land is that a tech-wide friendly CMOS digital back appears, which would make the Cambo Actus to a great concept combined with lightweight (and in comparison affordable) Schneider wides you get a small light view camera with flexible movements and very easy to use thanks to live view. Until then, I think it's a severely crippled concept.
Anders - we hope for the same things! Closer collaboration between the various manufacturing elements would be helpful - perhaps the P1/Alpa relationship contributes to that.
Regarding the Actus - this is a good example of how a subjective viewpoint can produce a limited perspective. Just this morning, I had a call from a good client (Nye) who asked about the Actus. As we discussed it, we touched on the restrictions that the sensor would place on the lenses (I said that just for you, Anders, so you'd know I attached the appropriate responsibility!)
I told him this product - at least at this time - is not an ideal scenic shooting solution for use with his Sony A7R. As we discussed where the lines were drawn on the use, he specified that he doesn't shoot wide landscapes anyway, he shoots with medium and longer lenses. So - his interest remains. It's a good lesson that products don't always fit into the expected box. And actually, his desired use of the camera could be exactly what Cambo had in mind when producing it - realizing the limitations, perhaps. And if sensor design takes a positive step forward with regard to the issue of crosstalk, Cambo has already a good design in place to take advantage of that.
Steve Hendrix
Capture Integration
Last edited: