Hi Guy,
Here are some rambling thoughts.
In deciding to get back into medium format, it's been a long decision-making process as opposed to the usual jump into a different system. It demonstrates to me how much I like rangefinders and the M9 for the type of shooting i do.
So why go back to medium format? I need some more resolution on a few projects I'm working on and I miss the added dimensionality I was getting with MF. I really like the look of medium format ... it's tough to give that look up once you've gotten used to it.
This time around, I'm also much more careful about the whole medium format 'value' proposition. Last time I bought into a system or brand it seemed like half of my investment vanished in a matter of months. While I liked my P45+ back, my whole experience with the cobbled together camera and used car feel of the medium format sales process left a bad taste in my mouth.
I had a test run of the Phase, Hasselbald and Leica offerings. Phase and Hasselblad have certainly stepped up their game with their latest systems. (My gut tells me that Phase will most likely put a nice revised camera on the table in their next iteration.) The P40+ sensor, especially, really renders nicely.
To see what Hasselblad had to offer, I also spent a week with both the H4D-40 and H4D-50. Both are very nice and I found that I took to True Focus like a duck to water. The H4D-50 I used was smoking good with colors and sharpness that jumped off of the screen. As a result, I thought very seriously about moving in that direction ... if I was doing more studio shooting, it might have been the pick. (To be honest, having to use Phocus versus C1 or Lightroom gave me reservation also.)
In the end, I'll be going with the S2 for several reasons. The first reason is that from the anecdotal research I've done, the S-system appears to be a system that Leica will be continuing for a while with minimal overall design and mount variation. An even more robust S3 is probably only a year or two away. Leica hit a home run in subtle upgrades they made from M8 to M9. I'm betting that an eventual upgrade from S2 to S3 will offer the same. If I'm jumping back in, I want to be able to jump into something that I'll feel confident in upgrading several years down the road.
The second reason is usability/portability. Like you, I like to utilize medium format in places where it usually isn't used ... for events, on location, etc. I'm rarely in a studio and I'm stubborn in that I like keeping things simple with a single system. While I really liked the H4D-50, it was a pain in the *** to carry around everywhere with me. While the Phase camera is getting better, it still isn't there for me yet either. The S2, on the other hand, was very comfortable to use an everyday camera (it's not a dslr and has a few downsides, but it felt good to use).
The third reason was the glass. Lloyd Chamber's reviews demonstrated to me just how good the lenses for the S2 are. The lenses, camera and software are a work in progress. But I'm really liking how it's all coming together as the system matures ... the future looks bright. And that leads to my own personal fourth reason, resale. Leica gear and lenses continue to hold their value (especially now that there is a wider user base of Leica users because of the success of the M8 and M9). The initial investment is incredibly pricey, but, in the end it'll probably end up being a safer investment for me than any of the other offerings. I'll probably buy into a demo S2-P which will knock the cost down a little but offer me a quick turn-around should I have any issues with the camera.
Also, as I really like manual focus, I find the whole adapter option to be a great opportunity to slowly work myself into the system. It's not perfect, but I don't need a big set of lenses to start and none of the other options are perfect either at this point in time. So, it's time to go with the option I feel most comfortable making ... and that's the S2.
Kurt
