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CapCAM - any other owners here?
- Thread starter gerald.d
- Start date
kdphotography
Well-known member
Medium format digital is already rarified air to most. The Cap Cam is yet another step. I like to live vicariously through you, Gerald---and enjoy seeing your shared images. 
Hello Mr Smith -
I'm not sure what current pricing would be. I purchased mine back in 2015.
I'm sure that if you contact them they could provide a quote, but if it doesn't have any advantages for you and you would view it as a hindrance, I'm not entirely sure why you would be interested in what they charge.
It's the only camera system on the planet that enables focus stacking of a tilted and swung focal plane, with lens tilts and swings automatically adjusting as necessary through the stack.
99.99% of my photography is in the 1:1 to 1:1.3 magnification range on FF MFDB (although I am hoping to extend this well into the "true" macro range using the new Rodenstock 105mm in the coming months, hence I wanted to reach out to other owners to see if they were addressing a similar requirement already).
Depth of field of a single image is typically of the order of a few hundred microns. Every single image I take is titled and swung. I can take a single photo of a watch dial placed at an angle to the focal plane, and get the entire dial in focus in one shot. Again - I stress that I am operating in the 1.1 to 1:1.3 magnification range here.
I'd be intrigued to hear from anyone operating at this kind of level who is doing it all manually, and how long it takes them to focus a single image, let alone execute a 20-30 image stack.
I was toying with the idea of moving to the ALPA focus stacking kit based around the FPS and the Rodenstock 105 simply to get hold of a solution that uses that lens, but quite frankly there is just no way I would be prepared to move away from the functionality of the CapCAM. I don't want to have to focus stack every single image I take, and I don't want to have to shoot up to 10x the number of images in order to get the same result if I can't focus stack with a swung and tilted focal plane.
Life's too short.
As you allude to in your signature - at the end of the day, they're just tools for a job.
Kind regards,
Gerald.
I don’t get close to 1:1 and I think the biggest stack I have ever done is 30 but usually around 3 to 12 images. After years of view camera use I find I’m quite good at getting my plane of focus where I want it. As good as a capcam? Probably not.
I seem to have nailed the focussing steps with stacking as the magnification means the incremental moving of the focus wheel on the Actus is fine enough to get even steps with practice.
But the biggest issue I have is the size and portability. When I shoot shiny things I’m always looking to hide the camera somewhere in the object and not have it obviously visible in flat reflective areas and get my light sources as close to the camera as possible.
I also travel to watch manufactures to shoot pieces that are under embargo or too valuable to travel, I can pack my Cambo and lighting kit in a roller case, small stand bag and backpack and jump on a plane to Geneva.
I couldn’t do that with a capcam. And I think my gitzo traveller would crumble under the strain.
I think if you constantly shot around 1:1 in one location and your set and lighting didn’t change much it would probably speed up your workflow.
As for the cost that was curiosity, if it was dirt cheap it could sit in a box until the time it’s needed but somehow being European made/precision engineered/electronic control niche its probably in the ‘if you have to ask’ bracket.
While we are here, looking at the Lange movement what sensor is that? Reason I ask is the constant battle with sensor blooming where you get a lighter halo and slight lack of definition along highlight edges with contrast (such as bridge plates etc or on indices etc) I usually have to go along these edges in retouch which isn’t a difficult job but annoying all the same. I’m not sure if it’s the cover glass on the Sony sensoror just inherent in all sensors? Is it something you notice in your files? I’m wondering if the Sony sensor in MFD size has a different cover glass and this artifact is lessened?
I seem to have nailed the focussing steps with stacking as the magnification means the incremental moving of the focus wheel on the Actus is fine enough to get even steps with practice.
But the biggest issue I have is the size and portability. When I shoot shiny things I’m always looking to hide the camera somewhere in the object and not have it obviously visible in flat reflective areas and get my light sources as close to the camera as possible.
I also travel to watch manufactures to shoot pieces that are under embargo or too valuable to travel, I can pack my Cambo and lighting kit in a roller case, small stand bag and backpack and jump on a plane to Geneva.
I couldn’t do that with a capcam. And I think my gitzo traveller would crumble under the strain.
I think if you constantly shot around 1:1 in one location and your set and lighting didn’t change much it would probably speed up your workflow.
As for the cost that was curiosity, if it was dirt cheap it could sit in a box until the time it’s needed but somehow being European made/precision engineered/electronic control niche its probably in the ‘if you have to ask’ bracket.
While we are here, looking at the Lange movement what sensor is that? Reason I ask is the constant battle with sensor blooming where you get a lighter halo and slight lack of definition along highlight edges with contrast (such as bridge plates etc or on indices etc) I usually have to go along these edges in retouch which isn’t a difficult job but annoying all the same. I’m not sure if it’s the cover glass on the Sony sensoror just inherent in all sensors? Is it something you notice in your files? I’m wondering if the Sony sensor in MFD size has a different cover glass and this artifact is lessened?