Paul,
Would you please explain why you are interested in a focal plane shutter for your Arca technical camera
I am also a huge Arca fan boy, but using a low ISO on my back, even in the brightest sunlight, the shutter speeds present on the Rodenstock and Schneider lenses I am using are sufficient.
Stanley
Hello Stanley.
I have longed for a better shutter system, than the copal setup. (which is funny as I always felt the hangup for me would be focus) I have 6 currently and all of them are totally inaccurate. So 1 for example may shoot 1/90 or 1/45th when I have selected 1/60th, and 180th, when I have selected 1/125. None of them will give me 1/250, instead I tend to get 1/180th and or 1/350th. On the slower speeds, say 1/4th and slower, it's not as critical to me.
And the copals by design only give full stops, no 1/3 or 1/5 stops.
What I have found with a CCD back, is that light is by far the most important aspect of the shot, at least shooting outdoors, and the difference with a IQ260 on a 15mm shift of say 1/125 and 1/180th at iso 100 can be create a large amount of noise and loss of details towards the shifted edge of the image. My main reason for needing such speeds is that wind often plays into my scenes and I prefer to stop as much of the details as possible, instead of allow the blur.
The CCD chip can produce amazing results, but I have seen many a stitched frame lost (at least the last 4mm to 5mm of image quality) due to noise and detail loss. You can push the highlights as much as a 1 stop on a 160/260, but pushing the shadows just doesn't seem to work as well. But just a small difference in light that hits that sensor especially on a shift can make a difference. This issue becomes moot with a CMOS back, and that is the direction of the industry but I personally don't want a 100MP CMOS back, I don't need that extra resolution or huge added cost.
The Arca solution albeit expensive, appealed to me for a few reasons:
1. The focal shutter will work with the Universalis, so in the future if I go there, I might be able to use Canon TS lenses on either a IQ back or Sony.
2. I liked the design factor of the shutter and the fact that it fired via wifi, thus eliminating any hands on rig, to reduce the issue of vibration. Even with a leaf shutter Copal setup, at times I can get lazy and not use good technique and get some vibration.
3. With a tethered setup, S3 to IQ, and the shutter I was thinking that it would allow me to "get" away from the camera to position the S2 or S3 out of the light to allow better viewing. Give me a bit more flexibility.
4. Although I am not a huge fan of the wifi/capture pilot setup, again I liked the potential of being able to setup, away from the camera and fire the shutter, then view the preview on an iPad.
5. The Arca Central shutter still maxes out at 1/250 as I recall, and I wanted a faster shutter.
I guess overall, I am just not big fan of the Copal shutter setup. The cables tend to get in the way of adjustment of the aperture and shutter at least on the wides I have and the shutters themselves are not very accurate. (at least mine aren't)
When Arca finally made the announcement last year, I was not pleased at the pricing, still am not. And the need to replace 1 focal ring on each lens.
What I guess I was trying to point out in my first post is the technology never stops moving and changing. Phase One to their credit has made major advances in both Camera design with the XF and lenses, with the new 35mm LS and 40-80LS. I have seen many results from the 35LS and it does appear to rival the results from the 32 Rodenstock, with a lot less trouble (LCC, CF, loss of 2x exposure due to CF, fragile lens issues). Arca had a ton of teething issues with the e module, and then the cloud version, and I am still not sure if the final product is really viable albeit it was a great idea. I have not followed it closely in 8 months or so. If much more time passes, other solutions will come to the market and the opportunity will pass.
With the XF and a 35LS lens, and a nodal setup, I could still get a lot of the shots I like. But the ability to stitch a scene at any angle (tech camera) and line it up in ptgui or CC is a great feature also.
A lot still needs to be shown about the Arca Focal shutter, as to both reliability and vibration issues. The shutter itself also needs to be of a high quality design. And the wifi connection that will be an interesting test. Again hopefully more will come out during the show this week.
Paul