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newbie buys p25

greenail

New member
Ok, so on a whim I bought a H101 P25. I think I got a good deal on it, 2400 with case, and original parts. Seems like they are selling for ~3200. I know very little about large format, but i'd like to buy a Graflex Graphic View and use the P25 on it. I do not have the Graflex yet.

My first question is: it does not appear there is anything special about the flexadapter, I can rent one to test it, but can someone confirm that a generic H to 4x5 converter will work? I'm not afraid of a little fabrication.

Question 2 is, how does the p25 work with older mechanical shutters?
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
I think the adapter will cost about 1/3 of your initial investment for the P25.

I thought about doing something similar (maybe about 3 minutes total) with a Graflex Speed Graphic. Old shutters may not be the biggest challenge.

Think expensive Holga (but still fun). :p

I think there are better alternatives, but it really depends on what you want to do.

ken
 

greenail

New member
So can someone confirm/deny if there is any sort of mechanical actuation in the H mount required for it to operate?

Also the manual says that manual shutter requires 2 fires in 4 seconds. The first fire tells the camera what the shutter time will be I guess. Can someone make any recommendations here?
 

greenail

New member
Ok, now I think I understand how to work with the shutter and the back, apparently you need a pc sync, or x sync capable shutter. You can manually actuate the shutter, so you could in fact make an old lens work.

Also I've tried to get out of my "graphic view I" purchase, as I can't seem to find anyone recommending that camera over a view II with a graflok back.

So, at this point i'm still wondering if the p25 needs to marry to the H mount in order to operate. Please don't all reply at once, that would be overwhelming to me.
 

weinlamm

Member
Also the manual says that manual shutter requires 2 fires in 4 seconds. The first fire tells the camera what the shutter time will be I guess. Can someone make any recommendations here?
I don't know anything about large format - but I think it must be the same as with a technical cam.

I believe, you have 5 seconds. First "shoot" to wake up with an wake-up-cable like this:

https://captureintegration.com/product/wake-up-cable-for-phase-one-one-shot-backs-2/

And then the second shoot is your real shoot ( but don't forget, you need a second "Multi Connector" in this version; I think it must be this: https://captureintegration.com/product/multi-connection-to-mini-jack-adaptor-cable/ - but perhaps it's an other one for your H-back )

Or you could take a Kapture Group One-shoot-realease-cable.
Phase One digital back adapter solutions
 

Louis Novak

New member
Phase One digital backs use what is called sleeping architecture to reduce noise in the image. What this means is that the sensor is not active or light sensitive until you are capturing an image. This reduces not only power consumption but also heat build up on the sensor. In order for the sensor to be activated it requires a wake up signal followed by the capture signal. In cameras like the Phase One 645 DF the wake up signal happens as you depress the shutter button followed by the capture signal when the button is fully depressed.

With mechanical lenses (large format) you will need to create a wake up signal. There are a couple ways to do this. You can do a two-fire capture with your lenses. On older backs you would change Latency to "long latency" (newer backs are kept on “Normal Latency”. This allows there to be a 5 second delay between captures to allow for the wake up signal. For this option, make sure you have the appropriate sync cable connected from the lens to the digital back. Fire the lens once and within that 4-5 second time frame fire the lens a second time. The first capture provides the digital back with the wake up signal and the second capture provides the capture signal.

On newer digital backs "short latency" and "long latency" are no longer options. You will have the option of either "normal latency" or "zero latency". Switching to "Zero Latency" will eliminate the need for a wake up signal since the sensor will always be awake. This is helpful but will drain your batteries faster as well as causing heat build up which can result in more noise.

The other option you have is using a one shot wake up cable. There are a couple options for this. Phase One made a wake up cable that had a button on it you would press before capturing an image. Pressing the button would send a wake up signal to the digital back allowing you to only need to fire the lens one time. The other cable is a Kapture Group One Shot cable. It provides a wake up signal to the digital back as you slowly depress the release cable and then the capture signal once fully depressed. When using a One-shot cable you can be in "Normal Latency" on newer digital backs.
 
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