Hi, Doug,
If I assume the question is not rhetorical, I can provide an answer.
Once I'd decided to go with the Hy6, it came down to Rollei, Sinar and Leaf.
I didn't end up with the Rollei because of the weak support here in the US and the pricing set by the US distributors.
I decided not to go with the Leaf for specific reasons, which, of course may or may not matter to others. For me:
* the way the persistent centerfold issues were being handled at the time they were on my short list was a turn-off
* Noise above ISO 50 was high relative to Phase (as was Sinar, BTW)
* The back was highly vented (bad for me since I am always outdoors (in Seattle)
* Fans = moving parts = trouble in dusty or dirty environments.
* Daylight visibility of the screen was quite poor. This is a bigger problem for the Leaf since the screen is also the interface. I can't just memorize a couple of button presses and move on
* Windows CE based interface was too slow for me responding to my input
* Touch screen is not friendly to mitt or glove operation (Leaf and Sinar are). I do a lot of winter photography.
* After a $3000 experience with Phase and mount swaps, and hearing of similar gnashing-of-teeth over Leaf customers wanting to economically upgrade their non-Hy6 AFI to the Hy6, the importance of adapter plates has been made abundantly clear to me. Only Hasselblad and Sinar embrace this.
Please don't misinterpret this as me picking on Leaf--in answer to your question, these are the things that influenced my decision. In totality, there is plenty to like about the back, the large & generous screen, the color scheme, Yair's support, etc., and wouldn't be much trouble at all to come up with a list just as long for the issues I have to work around with using the Sinar. I don't know of any solution that doesn't come with its share of compromises.
But instead, of focusing on the negative, I'd prefer to look at the positive side: I found that Sinar is trying hard to responding to their customer's needs--some recent examples include the revolving back adapters, 45-degree finders modified to allow revolving, continued evolution of their plate system, upgraded electronics and displays in their backs, and so on. Further back, Sinar opened a support forum to field questions directly from the general public on an unreleased product. I can imagine they had "better" things to do with their time, but this type of responsiveness to my needs got my attention (YMMV).
But, honestly, is it really *that* hard to imagine that things might add up differently for different people?
Best regards,
Brad
For the life of me I can't understand why someone would choose the Sinar Hy6 over the Leaf AFi7. Especially after hearing all the Sinar software horror stories AND having a great experience with my Leaf 75S.