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Phase One XT: The First Modern Field Camera (and X-Shutter and new firmware)

drunkenspyder

Well-known member
Some tech cameras market their products using [Total Range] and some people will assume such a spec is [+/- Distance]. Therefore my feeling was that the clearest way for DT to communicate the spec was to always provide BOTH the [Total Range] and the [+/- Distance].

If you see a place on www.PhaseOneXT.com or www.DTCommercialPhoto.com that contains a reference to "24mm" that is not immediately followed by "+/- 12mm" please let me know so I can make sure we add it there. We (DT) had several people working on the launch materials, so I don't rule out that this was missed somewhere.
Doug:

You may have already found this, but check here.
The XT Camera System takes full advantage of the Rodenstock optics with 24mm of shift on both X and Y axes.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
Can you help me understand your need for the (mechanical) X-shutter to be used (rather than sensor based ES) at speeds slower than 1 second?
Since at least half of my exposures are 1s and above and on city streets or in architectural work, I don’t want to use the ES. Really hope that this can be changed in firmware. Also people walking across the frame, water, waves moving, clouds in skies, especially towards dusk. As soon as there is a polariser on the front, 1-5s exposures are normal.
great feedback. Can I ask if you’ve seen this issue in real shooting or only in theory? If you have some real-world example files to share I think they would create a very compelling case for me to make that the X-Shutter max mechanical time should be lifted to several seconds (after which, statistically, the chance of the roll on/off being a problem would seem to be negligible.
How about this? Shot last week, screenshot at 100% for each image in C1: IQ4/Factum/Rodie 40mm/f11/Lee Little Stopper for the 2 longer exposures (different light conditions)/No filter on the 1/15. With a mechanical shutter at 2s the water would be silky/smooth and not have horsehairs.
Thanks everyone for patiently explaining the reasons why one-second (or several second) max mechanical shutter speed would be limiting.

I'm glad to report that the maximum mechanical shutter speed (before switching to sensor-based ES) has been lifted to 60 seconds.

That change will be included in the final (non beta) firmware for the XT, which we expect imminently.

This is a direct result of the feedback provided here and elsewhere. So, thanks again!
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
Now, if they would just release the firmware, first mentioned on the 8th, to allow full 16 bit capture for frame averaging.

Paul C
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
Just a note that the DT LCD Shade for Phase One IQ is now on our eStore and starts shipping on Monday (Sep 30) and we have a limited number of units in our first batch, many of which are already spoken for. So if interested I'd jump on it now.

DT LCD Shade for Phase One IQ

It's not specific to the XT, but was initially discussed in this thread, and several people PM'd me about it, so it seems like the place to make the update.


 
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drunkenspyder

Well-known member
Thanks everyone for patiently explaining the reasons why one-second (or several second) max mechanical shutter speed would be limiting.

I'm glad to report that the maximum mechanical shutter speed (before switching to sensor-based ES) has been lifted to 60 seconds.

That change will be included in the final (non beta) firmware for the XT, which we expect imminently.

This is a direct result of the feedback provided here and elsewhere. So, thanks again!
This is uber cool. Thanks Doug.
 

med

Active member
I'm always interested in hearing such suggestions! In addition to sharing them with your dealer, I think it would be very productive for you to list such suggestions here both because others can agree (or not) to the suggestions which is informative, and because some such ideas might have a clever or even superior "workaround" that is possible today.
I have discussed one or two of these with my dealer, however they do not seem to have the same knowledge of the inner workings of Phase products as you do, Doug, or seem to have the same willingness to suggest or guide product development in the way that you seem to.

Anyway, the XF features I thought would be specifically handy to implement right onto the IQ4 so they would be available when using it on a tech cam (XT or other) would be:

- vibration graph and or vibration delay for self timer; I think the use case for this is obvious. I think it's a great feature on the XF, however with my use cases, I hardly ever use the XF on a tripod. As soon as the tripod gets packed, so does the tech cam.

- Profoto Air transceiver; not as much of a slum dunk use case as the vibration sensor, I admit, however I think given the maximum flash sync speed of the x-shutter and how it is being marketed by Phase One as one of the advantages of the XT system, it is obvious they think that SOME of the crowd they are marketing the XT crowd to intends to use it with flash.
 

Mexecutioner

Well-known member
I have discussed one or two of these with my dealer, however they do not seem to have the same knowledge of the inner workings of Phase products as you do, Doug, or seem to have the same willingness to suggest or guide product development in the way that you seem to.

Anyway, the XF features I thought would be specifically handy to implement right onto the IQ4 so they would be available when using it on a tech cam (XT or other) would be:

- vibration graph and or vibration delay for self timer; I think the use case for this is obvious. I think it's a great feature on the XF, however with my use cases, I hardly ever use the XF on a tripod. As soon as the tripod gets packed, so does the tech cam.

- Profoto Air transceiver; not as much of a slum dunk use case as the vibration sensor, I admit, however I think given the maximum flash sync speed of the x-shutter and how it is being marketed by Phase One as one of the advantages of the XT system, it is obvious they think that SOME of the crowd they are marketing the XT crowd to intends to use it with flash.
Those 2 things would be really neat, however I doubt they were able to fit the Profoto transceiver in the XT body already, but they might have. I still have the Profoto Air USB trigger for my laptop and it is the size of a thumb drive, so maybe it is in there.

Vibration using the horizon sensor should be possible, maybe it does not have as many axis as the XF but it should provide feedback that can be use for vibration detection methinks.
 

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Erik, since the context of the XT is primarily around the IQ4150, no, at least not yet. It has focus "peaking" while in live view at up to 400%, but focus "mask" during image review only shows on the image full-scene.

Dave
Thanks!

Well, peaking is all we need for accurate focusing. I did not understand that focus mask was for image review only.

Best regards
Erik
 

BFD

Active member
Thanks!

Well, peaking is all we need for accurate focusing. I did not understand that focus mask was for image review only.

Best regards
Erik
I don't how familiar you are with focus peaking, but it's not nearly a failsafe feature for accurate focusing. Especially with wider lenses and/or wide scenes where the subject is far from the camera. Many cinema guys would rather rely on their eyes than focus peaking. It has its uses. But I would rather have a larger live view for composing (tablet or possibly smart phone) and focusing than focus peaking. My .02 on focus peaking.
 

mristuccia

Well-known member
Vibration using the horizon sensor should be possible, maybe it does not have as many axis as the XF but it should provide feedback that can be use for vibration detection methinks.
Probably not a shicky solution but for my back, which has no vibration monitoring at all, I came up with the idea of sticking my smartphone onto it and using a sismograph/vibration app to have a bare idea about the current vibration magnitude.
All our smartphones nowadays should be able to do this.
Poor man solution. :)
 

dj may

Well-known member
Agreed. I would not trust/rely on focus peaking unless there is no other option. Magnified view, which is the digital alternative to a loupe on a view camera, is much more reliable.

It should be called “nearly focus peeking.”

I don't how familiar you are with focus peaking, but it's not nearly a failsafe feature for accurate focusing. Especially with wider lenses and/or wide scenes where the subject is far from the camera. Many cinema guys would rather rely on their eyes than focus peaking. It has its uses. But I would rather have a larger live view for composing (tablet or possibly smart phone) and focusing than focus peaking. My .02 on focus peaking.
 

Andrew Paquette

New member
However, it is absolutely the case that the main use-case that the XT is designed for is tripod-based shooting. That doesn't meant you can't do other things with it (I personally rather enjoyed shooting the XT hand held the few times I've done it so far), but it does mean they are lower in priority. This is most certainly not a general-purpose do-everything camera. It is not a Swiss Army knife.
This is exactly how I'm looking at it. I have an XF and an IQ3-100 right now but want something to deal with architectural and landscape shots. To do that, I'm considering the XT and an IQ4-150 Trichromatic. To get it, I'd trade in the IQ3-100. This will give me the functionality of the XT and I'd still have the XF system for everything else. Having read some of the posts here, I will also take a look at a Cambo and Alpa that can accept the IQ3-100 DB.
 

Mexecutioner

Well-known member
This is exactly how I'm looking at it. I have an XF and an IQ3-100 right now but want something to deal with architectural and landscape shots. To do that, I'm considering the XT and an IQ4-150 Trichromatic. To get it, I'd trade in the IQ3-100. This will give me the functionality of the XT and I'd still have the XF system for everything else. Having read some of the posts here, I will also take a look at a Cambo and Alpa that can accept the IQ3-100 DB.
The Tricrhomatic IQ4 is only 100MP, the IQ4150 uses a different sensor. The price difference is small between the two so getting the 150MP one is a no-brainer
 
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