Phase One P30+....

Hey gang.

One thing photographers hate is learning a new system. Well today I ended up shooting with the Phase One P30+ on a Mamiya platform. The P30+ is a new camera back I have added to my kit which will pack a little more punch for my clients, but still allowing me to use higher ISO's.

My clients know quite well that I like to use faster ISO's because I move around a lot and like to shoot with natural light. So when it came time to buying a new medium format back I was naturally intrigued with the phase one P30+ because it can accommodate quite well a higher ISO like 400.

Anyway at first I really didn't like the camera. I found it clunky, slow and the Phase One interface is not user friendly compared to the 1dsMK 3. But we have been testing it more and more on actual shoots and its getting better.

I will say though when you preview the photos on the back of the camera the images simply look like shit. Really. Also at first I didn't feel that the final Images when ran through Photoshop were event that great.

So I called the Phase Rep in Calgary and told him. Jeff was fantastic. He told me that I NEEDED TO BE USING Capture One software first and not Photoshop.

Once I did this the real magic came out and the final images were just unreal. For technical reasons ( I wasn't really listening cause Jeff called me back at 8am) one needs to use this software to make the most of the Phase One files. Either way it worked.

(cropped from the photo above)

The only problem though is that clients are so used to "looking at the back of your camera" to see what you have shot, and you have to say, whoa shooting is just step one, all the info you could ever want is there step two is the processing. Its like drawing here, then I paint later. So they really need to trust you.

I do have to say the information you get in a file with the Phase One back is simply unmatched with the best pro SLR. Especially in tricky situations. It's not even a comparison in my view.

Take a look at the photos I posted. Normally you would not have this kind gradient detail on the white cream white shirt against a white background. The other thing is the sick cropping factor. I mean just look at the cropped version in this blog.

Anyways I am starting to like this camera more and more and can really see the value... if you have an extra 20 thousand to spend and your clients need the bigger files and better quality...

But I will keep using both systems and choose the correct camera depending on the job requirements.

enjoy.

C