Single best Single Worst feautures in your camera

[Jack]

That is excellent to hear Jack !!! ... my camera was a AFD-II with a Leaf Aptus 75s, and I was using the correct module on the Metz 54 and the ISO defaulted to 100 on the flash. Any ISO was okay as long as it was 100. I went around-and-around with Metz and Mamiya tech support ... and finally gave up.

Hi Marc,

That's interesting... Could have been an issue with the Aptus back or the module. I have seen reference to two different modules for the AFD, one is the 3952 and I think the other was a 3951. Anyway, I have the 3952 module on my 54 MZ3 and all I do is set the flash to TTL, it reads the ISO off the Phase back directly and inputs it to the flash. If I am at 100, the flash shows 100, if I switch my back to 200, the flash reflects that change immediately and displays 200. The auto zoom feature works too, zooming to the mounted focal, aperture set on the camera is immediately reflected on the flash LCD and of course when the flash is turned on, the shutter speed sets automatically on the camera.

HOWEVER, there is one small nit I've found with the Metz: as you know, you can set the focal length display to match different formats. But if you set it for 645, for whatever reason the auto zoom feature stops working. Manual zoom works fine, but the head won't set the focal automatically as you change lenses. However, with the flash configured for the 35mm format, auto zoom works fine but displays the 35 format equivalent focal for the lens you have mounted. (For example, if I have my normal 80 mounted, the flash display shows 50mm, mount my 210, the head zooms to 135mm.)

Aside from that, it works like it's supposed to, and more importantly, I get excellent exposures AND excellent WB using the daylight setting on my back.

Cheers,

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Sounds like I need the Metz 54. Been using the Nikon SB 800 on A mode and works pretty good but I need to set everything.

 

[David Klepacki]

When I got my 110/2 I was thinking the same thing...how could they make a fast lens like that and have maximum speed of 1/500... but you know I've never had a need for faster than that. At first it seems crazy I know, but at ISO 50 its almost never that bright outside (at least here in foggy San Francisco) to need it. Actually I have the opposite problem much more often - wish I could shoot at ISO 800 or ISO 1600 with my back. Of course when the made the lens you could get film at ISO 25 or lower. Didn't they make Kodachrome 6? Anyhow the times when I use 1/1000 with my PQS lenses is mostly with flash....

Outdoor work for me almost always requires faster than 1/500, at least for some part of the day. Also, I need the leaf shutter lenses only for the situations where the higher sync flash is required. Otherwise, I prefer to use the focal plane shutter and work with the ambient light, whether bright or dim (so, I also agree with your need for better high ISO).

In general, cameras with focal plane shutters are much less of a hassle in terms of maintenance (and maintenance costs). With leaf shutter lenses, which are poorly weather sealed like most MF glass, you need to send ALL of your lenses in constantly (yearly) for an "oil change" in order to maintain accurate shutter speeds and to prevent the dreaded "lock up" that can happen on the job if you are not diligent in doing this. So, lets say six lenses annual service cost of about $100 each will run you $600 yearly, and more if you have more lenses.

On the other hand, with a focal plane shutter camera, you only need to send your camera body in for such maintenance, and you can keep your lenses working longer with alternate backup bodies. Also, the maintenance periods on the camera body can be stretched much longer than with the leaf shutter lenses, since the bodies tend to be better weather sealed.

So, the ideal camera for me would have a decent focal plane shutter, and also be able to use leaf shutter lenses.....and hopefully weather-sealed.

 

[kipling]

best thing about my h2 is probably the mirror up buton in front of the grip. very usefull and easy to access.
the worst theing about the h2: lens error. its happened about 4 times and i have no idea why. once on a brand new 110mm which i had to return. pita.

 

[mark1958]

The ease of mirror lockup is clearly a big plus

best thing about my h2 is probably the mirror up buton in front of the grip. very usefull and easy to access.
the worst theing about the h2: lens error. its happened about 4 times and i have no idea why. once on a brand new 110mm which i had to return. pita.

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Yes, the hy6 has that feature right next to the thumb as well. It is very nice to have. I like how on the Hy6 it will stay locked up until you press it again as well. Excellent for doing multiple shots, tethered shooting and the like.

 

[EH21]

Outdoor work for me almost always requires faster than 1/500, at least for some part of the day. Also, I need the leaf shutter lenses only for the situations where the higher sync flash is required. Otherwise, I prefer to use the focal plane shutter and work with the ambient light, whether bright or dim (so, I also agree with your need for better high ISO).

In general, cameras with focal plane shutters are much less of a hassle in terms of maintenance (and maintenance costs). With leaf shutter lenses, which are poorly weather sealed like most MF glass, you need to send ALL of your lenses in constantly (yearly) for an "oil change" in order to maintain accurate shutter speeds and to prevent the dreaded "lock up" that can happen on the job if you are not diligent in doing this. So, lets say six lenses annual service cost of about $100 each will run you $600 yearly, and more if you have more lenses.

On the other hand, with a focal plane shutter camera, you only need to send your camera body in for such maintenance, and you can keep your lenses working longer with alternate backup bodies. Also, the maintenance periods on the camera body can be stretched much longer than with the leaf shutter lenses, since the bodies tend to be better weather sealed.

So, the ideal camera for me would have a decent focal plane shutter, and also be able to use leaf shutter lenses.....and hopefully weather-sealed.

Yeah that would be best of both worlds, I guess. But I still see this as a big advantage and to repeat myself the best thing about the Rollei is the lenses. Leaf shutters make hand holding at slower speeds a reality. Unless you could disable the focal plane shutter it would make no sense to have both.

Take a look though at a simple shot I took hand held just the other day of the clouds by my studio at sunset. Shot with the Rollei 6008 AF with the 40mm f/3.5 lens at f/5.6 and 1/60 didn't use mirror up, just shot it. First the full frame - see the tiny spec left of center frame? That's an airplane. Now check the crop. Hard to believe I could get this sharp with a focal plane shutter.

Well I don't know David about the dreaded lock up on the Rollei leaf shutters. 12,000 frames and no lockups and no "oil changes". But California weather isn't severe. Actually when you look at some of these Rollei lenses most of the ones floating around on the used market are 10-15 years old or more. In fact some of mine are almost 20 years old, certainly the 60mm curtagon is and its the only one of my lenses that needed to have its shutter calibrated.

 

[woodyspedden]

The ease of mirror lockup is clearly a big plus

Really interesting that you guys rate this as your best feature and Peter A rates it as the worst and i reprogram M UP to the User button on the rear panel of the H3. Really shows why the designers have such a hard time trying to figure out where (statistically) the user population will land.

Woody

Having said all that I still feel the H3 has the best ergonomics of all the MfDB cameras albeit without a rotating back which would be great.

 

[bensonga]

Hasselblad 503CW + CFV....The CFV back got the Hasselblad out of the closet and taking pictures again..the worst is the internal battery.

Steve

503CWD-II here.....what's this about the internal battery? Just got my camera about 2 weeks ago, so I'm still learning about it. Unfortunately, the camera and 40mm IF lens had to go back to Hasselblad USA for an adjustment of some sort (40mm lens wouldn't trip the shutter/back on the 503CWD, but the lens worked fine on my 501CM). Back to the battery.....I actually like the use of the Sony camcorder batteries....easy to come by and i already had a few of them on hand.

For me, best thing about the 503CWD-II is square format digital and worst is.....I don't know yet.

Gary Benson
Eagle River, Alaska

By the way.....Steve Hendrix at PPR has done a terrific job of contacting Hasselblad and helping me sort out the problem with the 40mm lens and 503CWD. Really glad I bought the camera from Steve & PPR!

 

[Mitchell]

"Woody

Having said all that I still feel the H3 has the best ergonomics of all the MfDB cameras albeit without a rotating back which would be great."


All of this stuff is so individual, but for me the ergo of the Hy6 is clearly superior to the H3. The grip of the H3 makes a waist level finder break my wrist, not to mention that there is no meter with WLF.

The Hy6 rotating back is great, totally simple easy to use and solid.

A pleasant surprise about the Hy6 was, after complaining bitterly about the color scheme on the forum, in person I actually found it to be quite good looking.

Yes, I'm in Hy6 withdrawal. It's like using a Rolls for a few days and then going back to a BMW 3 series (my M8.) Can't complain, but I'd like to have both. !:^)

Best,

Mitchell

 

[woodyspedden]

Mitchell

I won't disagree with you because I have never used the HY6. I should have said, in the spirit of full disclosure, that the H3 has the best ergonomics of all the MFDB systems that I can afford. I never considered Sinar or Rollei because of the price differences compared to Hassy or Mamiya. Also, to be fair, I already had a pretty significant arsenal of V lenses from my CFV days so changing horses at this point in the race would have been a very significant expense.

From everything I have heard about the Sinar system (guess it also pretty much applies to Rollei and Leaf as well) the products are very good indeed. Actually if you cut through it, all these MFDB systems are very good! All comes down to shooting priorities and personal tastes.

 

[Woody Campbell]

Let's see . . . worst feature.

H3D-39, with gps unit, a modified Kirk L bracket and an HC 28 most of the time.

Big and heavy. Really big and heavy. A total handful. Visually it's about the size of my first car, a VW beetle. I've done over 100k exposures through Canon 1D whatevers, but the H3D is much more of a handful. It doesn't hang on a neckstrap gracefully. The H3D isn't a lot heavier than the typical Canon setup, but its enough heavier to make a significant difference.

Now . . . put on the V adapter and the lovely 40mm - bigger and heavier yet, and way front heavy. Try the HC zoom or macro - hernia city - don't even consider handholding.

By way of comparison my "other camera", most of the time, is an M8 with the 28mm 'chron.

Best feature: huge, deep files with glorious, flexible color and the capacity, seemingly, to handle endless post-processing abuse with grace.

 

[David Klepacki]

Yeah that would be best of both worlds, I guess. But I still see this as a big advantage and to repeat myself the best thing about the Rollei is the lenses. Leaf shutters make hand holding at slower speeds a reality. Unless you could disable the focal plane shutter it would make no sense to have both....

Oh man, this tells me that you have never used a Contax 645. Hand held use at slower speeds has more to do with the mirror damping than the shutter vibration. There is no MF camera that can be hand held at lower shutter speeds than the Contax 645. Hand held 1/60 is absolutely no problem for the Contax, and typically it can go to about 1/15 without blur. Until you actually shoot with one, you will not really appreciate what a good focal plane shutter camera can do.

Of course, it makes no sense to USE both shutters at the same time. It sounds like you have not used a Hasselblad 203 or 205 camera, which has a focal plane shutter. When a leaf shutter lens is mounted to these cameras, you can choose to use the leaf shutter only (e.g., for 1/500 flash sync), or the focal plane shutter only (e.g., for higher speeds up to 1/2000). This is what I believe the Hy6 should offer as well.

I believe this "two shutter system" is also the strategic direction for Phase and Mamiya. Their bodies are already based on focal plane shutters, and they have announced that they will be introducing leaf shutter lenses for these cameras as well....apparently very soon.

And, if Hasselblad has been listening to Marc Williams, you will eventually see a focal plane shutter added to their H series cameras.

 

[woodyspedden]

David

While I don't pretend to carry Marc's clout with Hassy I am loudly proclaiming the same need. It is silly to have to use a 203FE with yet another MF Back in order to get focal plane. An H body with focal plane I believe will create many additional sales for Hassy. They have to be careful because when Mamiya/Phase come out with their leaf lenses (apparently at Photokina according to Doug Peterson from Caputure Integration on another thread here) the momentum will continue to swing towards them and away from Hassy IMHO>

Woody

 

[BJNY]

And, if Hasselblad has been listening to Marc Williams, you will eventually see a focal plane shutter added to their H series cameras.

Marc,
If you really have clout with Hasselblad, I hope you've been asking for a fast 60-70mm prime lens as well.
Billy

 

[David K]

I believe this "two shutter system" is also the strategic direction for Phase and Mamiya. Their bodies are already based on focal plane shutters, and they have announced that they will be introducing leaf shutter lenses for these cameras as well....apparently very soon.

It will be interesting to see the price and variety of these new lenses when they come to market. Hate to say this out loud but the problem with new lenses is that you have to buy them new and that can get pricey pretty quickly. I'm guessing that 2-4 lenses will be far more expensive than my alternate Contax 645 kit, with adapter plate and a full set of lenses. Something to consider for those who dismiss the Hy6 kit based on price.

 

[Jack]

Oh man, this tells me that you have never used a Contax 645. Hand held use at slower speeds has more to do with the mirror damping than the shutter vibration. There is no MF camera that can be hand held at lower shutter speeds than the Contax 645. Hand held 1/60 is absolutely no problem for the Contax, and typically it can go to about 1/15 without blur. Until you actually shoot with one, you will not really appreciate what a good focal plane shutter camera can do.

David,

I suspect you have not used a Mamiya AFD2 or 3 body recently... I owned and shot Contax 645 several years back (film and Kodak DCS back) and IMO Mamiya has done an even better job on shutter/mirror damping on their 645 than even Contax. (Mind you, in comparison the RZ has a big mirror and it definitely slaps around some.) It is clear that Mamiya has gone to great lengths to dampen the shutter and mirror in the AFD body's, and frankly they are very usable hand-held to low shutter speeds too.

FWIW,

 

[tetsrfun]

"503CWD-II here.....what's this about the internal battery?"
http://www.hasselbladinfo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2908&highlight=date+time

I think the problem has been corrected with the CFV II....I seems that most failed within the warranty period...Mine failed 2 months out of warranty.

Steve

 

[fotografz]

Marc,
If you really have clout with Hasselblad, I hope you've been asking for a fast 60-70mm prime lens as well.
Billy

Billy, the only clout I have is with my check book.

Personally I wouldn't be interested in a 60 to 70mm prime lens and would vote no with my check book.

I'd write a check tomorrow for a focal plane H body with a modern shutter that sync's at 1/200th and goes to a 1/6000th top shutter speed.

Not an unreasonable request IMHO.

 

[BJNY]

Billy, the only clout I have is with my check book.

Personally I wouldn't be interested in a 60 to 70mm prime lens and would vote no with my check book.

I'd write a check tomorrow for a focal plane H body with a modern shutter that sync's at 1/200th and goes to a 1/6000th top shutter speed.

Not an unreasonable request IMHO.

I know a few fashion photographers who keep the 50-110mm zoom taped on 70mm....a sweet spot for them perspective-wise for the 31MP sensor size.

I'd write a check for that focal plane H body as well.