tashley
Subscriber Member
Having assembled a decent kit bag (P45+, Phamiya, Cambo WDS with Schneider 35 XL, 28D, Hartblei 45, 80D and 150 F3.5) I packed it all up with cable release, LCC card, tripod etc. and a bagful of M8 stuff and headed off for Iceland.
I have a show early next year that I need to start thinking about but this trip was really intended to get more closely acquainted with the Phase stuff whilst maybe getting towards some ideas for the show.
As it was, I somewhat screwed up, mostly my own fault but largely useful learning experience material. As a result my acceptable shots are mostly from the M8 rather than the Phase gear but I am now fairly confident that I have the issues nailed. In summary:
1) Always take a few spare cable releases. One managed to self-unscrew on a glacier while I wasn't looking, the other snapped its snout off in my Phamiya shutter release when it's tail got caught in a tripod's legs when I snapped them together for carrying. Lazy me. But Reykjavik had ONE purchasable release to offer so after the lost one and the broken one I was out of luck and couldn't properly use the Cambo.
2) Know that unless your tripod is heavier than most people want to travel with, you can't shoot a 150mm lens at less than about 1/125th without shake. I lost a lot of shots, some I'd kill to have kept, by shooting at 1/40th thru 1/80th on the 150mm and even some on the 80mm and this with tripod, MUP and cable in not high wind. On the other hand, I got sharpish shots from a moving vehicle handheld on the 80mm lens at 1/200th.
3) Bizarre moment: red/orange High Viz clothing blows the P45+ sensor's red channel if developed in C1 but if exported to LR as TIFF or just opened in LR it is recoverable.
4) For very best quality, the 80mm, 150mm with faster shutter but most of all the Schneider 35XL can give amazing corner to corner sharpness. Under no circumstances can the 28D do this.
5) The Phamiya is no action cam. It has terrible and seemingly unpredictable shutter lag that seems randomly to come and go.
6) Never try to use a tech cam at minus 8 in a 50mph wind with a Kapture Group release thingie. It will serially misfire to p*ss you off and the back will give you helpful error messages to dismiss before your forzen fingers can try again.
7) Never try to use tilt on a Hartblei with parameters you have not already exhaustively tested elsewhere. You can't tether on a glacier and you can't judge Scheimpflug focus TTL. Obviously.
8) NEVER EVER EVER stay in a hotel which offers Nomadix as its internet access provider. Just don't. For the sake of your sanity.
Err, that's about it.
At times I wished I had traded in everything I own for a D3X, D700 and a bag of lenses but what I have learned is that this MF stuff takes a looong time to get to know well enough to rely on. I hope I am now up to speed for my next trip to the amazingly interesting Iceland!
The results are here: http://tashley1.zenfolio.com/p184200651/h58a8501#h106cc9c6
Best
Tim
View attachment 13396
I have a show early next year that I need to start thinking about but this trip was really intended to get more closely acquainted with the Phase stuff whilst maybe getting towards some ideas for the show.
As it was, I somewhat screwed up, mostly my own fault but largely useful learning experience material. As a result my acceptable shots are mostly from the M8 rather than the Phase gear but I am now fairly confident that I have the issues nailed. In summary:
1) Always take a few spare cable releases. One managed to self-unscrew on a glacier while I wasn't looking, the other snapped its snout off in my Phamiya shutter release when it's tail got caught in a tripod's legs when I snapped them together for carrying. Lazy me. But Reykjavik had ONE purchasable release to offer so after the lost one and the broken one I was out of luck and couldn't properly use the Cambo.
2) Know that unless your tripod is heavier than most people want to travel with, you can't shoot a 150mm lens at less than about 1/125th without shake. I lost a lot of shots, some I'd kill to have kept, by shooting at 1/40th thru 1/80th on the 150mm and even some on the 80mm and this with tripod, MUP and cable in not high wind. On the other hand, I got sharpish shots from a moving vehicle handheld on the 80mm lens at 1/200th.
3) Bizarre moment: red/orange High Viz clothing blows the P45+ sensor's red channel if developed in C1 but if exported to LR as TIFF or just opened in LR it is recoverable.
4) For very best quality, the 80mm, 150mm with faster shutter but most of all the Schneider 35XL can give amazing corner to corner sharpness. Under no circumstances can the 28D do this.
5) The Phamiya is no action cam. It has terrible and seemingly unpredictable shutter lag that seems randomly to come and go.
6) Never try to use a tech cam at minus 8 in a 50mph wind with a Kapture Group release thingie. It will serially misfire to p*ss you off and the back will give you helpful error messages to dismiss before your forzen fingers can try again.
7) Never try to use tilt on a Hartblei with parameters you have not already exhaustively tested elsewhere. You can't tether on a glacier and you can't judge Scheimpflug focus TTL. Obviously.
8) NEVER EVER EVER stay in a hotel which offers Nomadix as its internet access provider. Just don't. For the sake of your sanity.
Err, that's about it.
At times I wished I had traded in everything I own for a D3X, D700 and a bag of lenses but what I have learned is that this MF stuff takes a looong time to get to know well enough to rely on. I hope I am now up to speed for my next trip to the amazingly interesting Iceland!
The results are here: http://tashley1.zenfolio.com/p184200651/h58a8501#h106cc9c6
Best
Tim
View attachment 13396
Last edited:
The ones you got are indeed wonderful!
