Actual P30 output image (left) next to equivalent output by my 12mp Nikon (right)
So it was back to the studio to reshoot Alberto who deserved to get at least one good photo for putting up with my pretty fail-tastic outdoor shoot a week or so previously out in the freezing cold. My new friend Angelica who works at the local toy store (big name photo store in town, sshhh don't tell) brought over the PhaseOne P30 system for me to check out. I am totally in the market for a digital back for my Mamiya AFD and have been dying to test out a digital back for it since forever. The whole reason I bought my AFD, in fact, was to buy a digital back for it and make some glorious, oversized photos with that tasty Mamiya 3D-ness that I love whenever I shoot with that camera.
Why shoot MF? Did you see the size of the photo on the left? MF digital sensors are finally huge, and huge enough to enjoy the great dof we all loved when shooting MF in our film days. Images just look so professional when they're shot on an oversized sensor. I'm too lazy to look up the actual specs but I think we're talking 33x48mm. This is way bigger than a full frame slr and let's not even talk about those aps-c/h sensors. I love the detail and sense of space when I shoot MF, even at small apertures. Even cooler was working on a fully 16 bit image with 12 stop exposure latitude at a native 16x20" print size at 300dpi! WOW! I didn't think my little macbook pro could handle it, but it sucked it up and spat out a massive 850mb layered PSD when it was all said and done (i'm good at keeping my layers to a minimum, but still had over a dozen for each final image, so...). What more can be said about shooting MF digital other than "yes please may I have another?"
We set up the camera to shoot in tethered mode, and while it takes us forever to figure out the Capture One software and whether or not it's saving to the CF card simultaneously while tethered by firewire, and why does the white balance feature become grayed out when it's plugged into the camera, and how do I go back to the main menu on this damn digital back?!, we finally iron out enough kinks that we can start shooting.
And oh how glorious it was.
Couple of things- so while I'm more concerned about getting interesting and compelling images than I am about the toys (I think far too many photogs are in it for the gear instead of the image, but that's for another post), this was a great opportunity to play with a new toy and also learn some sweet tech skills on my own time. Now Angelica and I can both fudge our way onto a shoot as a tech if we absolutely needed to. The Capture One software is pretty intuitive once you play with it. It's not too unlike Lightroom or Aperture in most regards, even though it's a bit dated. The other negative for me about the back was that if you're like me and rely on the lcd on the back of the camera to help you figure out if you've got a decent exposure, you can kiss that goodbye with the p30 back. Sure, I use a flash meter to get me where I think I need to be, but I'm so spoiled by these 920,000 pixel lcds on the current gen slrs, I really miss it when I don't have that to preview my images. I mean, come on, this back w/camera costs almost $30k. Why does the lcd suck so badly? So I was a little miffed when I was trying to get my lighting right and ended up proofing with the Mark II. Finally the lighting was good, the tethering was online, and Alberto had arrived and it was time to get to work.
The shot setup was actually very simple. After trying and failing at what I thought was going to be a straight forward background setting with some big v flats as my white seamless (instead of using an actual seamless) set in a row in a very straight, boring manner, I decided to go a little unconventional and set up a mini corner ala Irving Penn. But instead of a closed corner allowing only one light to illuminate Alberto, I used to inverted V flats, leaving a gap between the two with another V flat facing backwards a few feet behind the first two. I then used a 7B w/reflector at fairly high power to bounce light onto the V flat and create some back lighting on Alberto. Situated in front of him and above, tilted down slightly I put a beauty dish on another head set to a fairly low power (maybe a stop or two below the back light) to give a nice flat finish to the scene while creating interesting definition and shadows in the face. The result is a very glowy effect with some significant fall off in the corners which I have to say I'm very impressed by. This could be done on a seamless I suppose, but the airiness and gradation would be hard to match. Overall I think the effect is pretty neat.
So for two hours Angelica and I took turns playing photographer and tech until finally we decided we had what we had come for: another great photo for our portfolios, a chance to play with some sweet gear, and an opportunity to do right by my model and get him something he can use for his book. All in all, quite successful. Big props to Angelica, who gave some great ideas during the shoot and for being enthusiastic the entire time. I hope we will work together again soon and play with some other great toys.
Here are two finals to enjoy. There were many strong images to choose from and in fact I have at least 4 more I would like to complete. Maybe I'll post them another day.
Why shoot MF? Did you see the size of the photo on the left? MF digital sensors are finally huge, and huge enough to enjoy the great dof we all loved when shooting MF in our film days. Images just look so professional when they're shot on an oversized sensor. I'm too lazy to look up the actual specs but I think we're talking 33x48mm. This is way bigger than a full frame slr and let's not even talk about those aps-c/h sensors. I love the detail and sense of space when I shoot MF, even at small apertures. Even cooler was working on a fully 16 bit image with 12 stop exposure latitude at a native 16x20" print size at 300dpi! WOW! I didn't think my little macbook pro could handle it, but it sucked it up and spat out a massive 850mb layered PSD when it was all said and done (i'm good at keeping my layers to a minimum, but still had over a dozen for each final image, so...). What more can be said about shooting MF digital other than "yes please may I have another?"
We set up the camera to shoot in tethered mode, and while it takes us forever to figure out the Capture One software and whether or not it's saving to the CF card simultaneously while tethered by firewire, and why does the white balance feature become grayed out when it's plugged into the camera, and how do I go back to the main menu on this damn digital back?!, we finally iron out enough kinks that we can start shooting.
And oh how glorious it was.
Couple of things- so while I'm more concerned about getting interesting and compelling images than I am about the toys (I think far too many photogs are in it for the gear instead of the image, but that's for another post), this was a great opportunity to play with a new toy and also learn some sweet tech skills on my own time. Now Angelica and I can both fudge our way onto a shoot as a tech if we absolutely needed to. The Capture One software is pretty intuitive once you play with it. It's not too unlike Lightroom or Aperture in most regards, even though it's a bit dated. The other negative for me about the back was that if you're like me and rely on the lcd on the back of the camera to help you figure out if you've got a decent exposure, you can kiss that goodbye with the p30 back. Sure, I use a flash meter to get me where I think I need to be, but I'm so spoiled by these 920,000 pixel lcds on the current gen slrs, I really miss it when I don't have that to preview my images. I mean, come on, this back w/camera costs almost $30k. Why does the lcd suck so badly? So I was a little miffed when I was trying to get my lighting right and ended up proofing with the Mark II. Finally the lighting was good, the tethering was online, and Alberto had arrived and it was time to get to work.
The shot setup was actually very simple. After trying and failing at what I thought was going to be a straight forward background setting with some big v flats as my white seamless (instead of using an actual seamless) set in a row in a very straight, boring manner, I decided to go a little unconventional and set up a mini corner ala Irving Penn. But instead of a closed corner allowing only one light to illuminate Alberto, I used to inverted V flats, leaving a gap between the two with another V flat facing backwards a few feet behind the first two. I then used a 7B w/reflector at fairly high power to bounce light onto the V flat and create some back lighting on Alberto. Situated in front of him and above, tilted down slightly I put a beauty dish on another head set to a fairly low power (maybe a stop or two below the back light) to give a nice flat finish to the scene while creating interesting definition and shadows in the face. The result is a very glowy effect with some significant fall off in the corners which I have to say I'm very impressed by. This could be done on a seamless I suppose, but the airiness and gradation would be hard to match. Overall I think the effect is pretty neat.
So for two hours Angelica and I took turns playing photographer and tech until finally we decided we had what we had come for: another great photo for our portfolios, a chance to play with some sweet gear, and an opportunity to do right by my model and get him something he can use for his book. All in all, quite successful. Big props to Angelica, who gave some great ideas during the shoot and for being enthusiastic the entire time. I hope we will work together again soon and play with some other great toys.
Here are two finals to enjoy. There were many strong images to choose from and in fact I have at least 4 more I would like to complete. Maybe I'll post them another day.
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