Drooling over equipment...

[tasadam]

So assuming I win lotto and can afford to do something like this, how does one start a shortlist?
What should I be looking at besides these? What's good and what's not?

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journ ... ake-camera

http://www.roundshot.ch/xml_1/internet/ ... 5/f934.cfm

http://www.hasselbladusa.com/products/h ... 200ms.aspx
Also at http://www.photographybay.com/2011/05/3 ... jhYgcv62xu

Serious bucks, I know. But assuming over $1000 for a framed print, that's only 40 sales (plus expenses - printing costs, framing etc)...
Worth thinking about. It's got me thinking, that's for sure.
A 180 cm wide print at 300dpi. MMmmmmm....

[aim54x]

That Cambo looks nice...not so keen on the scanback nor the Hassle

[tasadam]

Another to the list...
http://www.mamiyaleaf.com/products_aptus2645df.asp

[tasadam]

Oh bother.
Just discovered the Nikon D800 at 36Mp. I see there's a 16.2Mp D4 as well.
What a dilemma.
Thinking about going to spend big bucks to up the ante with quality, then I find affordable 36 Mp availability (soon).
I found this article
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/01/17/MamiyaLeaf
In it, someone says this about medium format -

I work with an H4D every day <snip junk> I can tell you this, at anything over 50 ISO it has worse noise than any 35mm "full-frame" digital I've seen. It has only slightly better dynamic range (and again, that's only at 50 ISO). Yes with the 120mm f/4 lens it will have a shallower depth of field than an 85mm lens on a full-frame at f/4, but you can get f/1.2 lenses for full-frame. Most MF lenses are f/2.8 or slower, there's a couple f/2.2 lenses... so there goes the DOF advantage. I use medium format every day and there are reasons for it: multi-shot uninterpolated images, no AA filter, and high megapixels. That's about it.

With the D800 and 7360 pixels, that's 920mm at 200dpi. That's a big improvement on what I can get now...
And if I panorama and stitch multiple images (PS CS5 is great for that), it's a lot easier to achieve really high resolution landscapes - the objective of this quest.

What advantage do people here think a medium format option would have, and do you think the cost of new gear, lenses and the whole kit would be worth it?

I see some MF options require a laptop or tablet PC to get the most out of shooting. Not really an option for me to carry a laptop into the field as well.

[tasadam]

I have still been investigating this.
I think I have researched the pinnacle of usable medium format gear, and have come to this conclusion -

http://www.phaseone.com/en/Camera-Systems.aspx

A Phase One IQ180 back, Phase One body, and a selection of lenses.
Is that the pinnacle of digital photography equipment today, or is there something I've not yet discovered?

Already had one trip to Melbourne & had a good look at the Mamiya Leaf system, but subsequent research shows me a max 30 second exposure, I don't think that's good enough.

The IQ180 does 2 (or more) minutes before noise begins to become an issue, and for my purpose I think 2 minutes will be plenty.
Besides, I will have a D800e in the kit as well, to cover any gaps eg. longer night shots. BTW, SWMBO favourable.
A big investment for something I do not yet have avenue of return on, but it will open a lot of potential with the direction I have documented in my business plan.

[Mr Darcy]

but subsequent research shows me a max 30 second exposure,

I haven't looked at these cameras (too worried about the Gear Freak reflex kicking in), but is this a real limit? Or do you just switch over to "B" shutter and hold the button down for as long as it takes? I know my D200 stopped at 30 sec, but that didn't stop me making 20 minute exposures on it.

If you are just worried about Long exposure noise, & it doesn't have Long exposure built in, you could just take a second exposure with the lens cap on & merge them in post. I'm sure one of the odd merge modes will be just right for the purpose.

[sirhc55]

For many years I drooled over the latest equipment. But today, at my age, I just drool

[surenj]

As Borat said, 'very nice...how much?'

Good luck with your search for the holygrail. from memory, Indiana was in a few sticky situations but got through in the end; so did that other guy

For many years I drooled over the latest equipment. But today, at my age, I just drool

[tasadam]

Answer for Borat = depending on lens selections, somewhere between $50k - $70k.

[PiroStitch]

That's a crazy price, hence the market is brilliant for 2nd hand MF cameras and digital backs

[surenj]

somewhere between $50k - $70k.

Borat sayz "High five!"

as long as you business makes it back for you...

[Murray Foote]

If you're after resolution, the highest resolution camera ever would have been one from the nineteenth century. This was in the States, probably in the 1880s, before enlargers were invented so that all prints were contact prints. It took a converted railway carriage. The first half of the railway carriage was the camera, a process camera which is a huge bellows camera you can probably stand inside. If the room is blackened and totally dark, you don't need the bellows (just the focusing rails). The second half was the darkroom....

You could probably do the same digitally. You would just need a digital camera or back that you could systematically move from one place to the other on the back of the process camera. You'd need some kind of frame to align that. There have been such things made for 5x4 or maybe 10x8 but not for process cameras. You'd probably want to use a semi rather than a railway carriage and you could mount the camera into a container to make it more flexible. Finding a process camera might be a problem. There would have been one going cheap in Canberra about 20 years ago but they might be hard to come by now. So you might have to make that. And a registration system for the back. Printing might be an issue. You might have to go analogue. I do remember reading that there used to be a way to chemically coat the side of a building and then make a huge print by projection. Might be possible for something between hundreds of thousands and a few million dollars....

[tasadam]

So the hot contender has been the Phase One 80MP back. Now Mamiya Leaf have just gone and announced the upcoming release of the Leaf Credo 80MP back, with essentially the same specs as the Phase One. Not too surprising, all the same company and that... But the Phase One is a lot more expensive.
One thing the Credo specs do is show the flaws (on paper) of the Aptus. Most significantly is max exposure time, now 2 minutes compared to 30 seconds on the Aptus. ISO 35 is nice too (just like Phase One).
http://www.mamiyaleaf.com/files/news/ML ... pages2.pdf

[PiroStitch]

I prefer the Phase One digital backs as they don't have any open vents to let the elements in. The progressive development of the digital backs is great. Can't wait to see what else comes out.

[tasadam]

I got to play with Phase One when in Melbourne last time. Nice gear, but the kit I'd ideally like is over $72k, and since I first started looking, the D800 was released. So I did what any normal (cough) guy would do, I'm buying a D800E for my wife (as per recent post in other topic). I can now take my time evaluating her camera and weighing up whether switching to MF is going to be worth it.
From what I can tell it's the way to go if price doesn't get in the way of quality, and perhaps I should really be looking at a technical camera such as the Cambo with some Rodenstock lenses or some such... Lots of reading to do, a heck of a lot to spend to find put it's a bad decision...