Taking advantage of the IQ3 100 electronic shutter with regular ALPA cameras

[gerald.d]

Hi all -

Following a query from a forum member who is considering purchasing a couple of my old manual Mamiya lenses, I thought it would be worth clearing up a confusion that seems to be rather commonly held (and even by people at ALPA it seems!).

When the FPS was introduced, it opened up a whole world of new lenses that we could use with our digital backs.

Now that we have the electronic shutter on the IQ3 100, those who have the "regular" ALPA cameras can take full advantage of the adapters made for the FPS in order to use many of those same lenses with just one additional adapter.

Note - that this applies for fully manual lenses only, i.e. those with manual aperture and focus control.


I'll save you the logic behind this and just provide the solution.

With reference to the first page of this FPS system diagram PDF as found on the ALPA website -

https://www.alpa.ch/_files/ALPA_FPS_Schemen_20130923.pdf

You can replace the FPS in that diagram with the following combination -

Any ALPA 12 series "regular" camera and the "intermediate" adapter that is detailed on the following link -

https://www.alpa.ch/en/article/intermediate-17-mm

Now you can shoot with any of those fully manual lenses using the electronic shutter on the IQ3 100.

There are many old Mamiya 645 lenses that have no modern equivalents (such as the 200 and 300mm f/2.8 APO's, the 24mm fisheye, the 50mm shift, the 80mm f/1.9, etc etc), so it's well worth thinking about the possibilities here!

Kind regards,


Gerald.

 

[jotloob]

That sounds like the death for the ALPA FPS , if you have a back with electronic shutter .
The new HASSELBLAD 100c digital back does not seem to one .

 

[gerald.d]

That sounds like the death for the ALPA FPS , if you have a back with electronic shutter .
The new HASSELBLAD 100c digital back does not seem to one .

I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that. Even if you have the IQ3 100, there are plenty of situations where this solution won’t suffice. Off the top of my head -

If you have fast moving elements in the frame.
If you want to use flash.
If you want to use lenses with electronic aperture or focus control.
If you want to use leaf shutters in lenses.

For the first two, you have to use a mechanical shutter (either focal plane, in which case you need the FPS, or leaf, in which case you need either the FPS or Silex).

For the second two, you need either the FPS or Silex to control the lens.

Kind regards,


Gerald.

 

[jotloob]

Gerald , I agree . Thank you . :thumbup: