tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post8164668977555849772..comments2024-03-27T00:32:29.877-07:00Comments on Photos and Stuff: The Luminous Landscapeamolitorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-76646355155103565062016-01-11T08:04:37.520-08:002016-01-11T08:04:37.520-08:00You are right about the aerial photography market ...You are right about the aerial photography market and both Hasselblad and Phase One have aerial cameras (without viewfinder and with connectors for an industrial bus system). The XF is not adapted to an aircraft pod. Hasselblad and Phase one also have IR sensitive backs, aerial photography is not google only. Think crops and I've said enough.<br /><br />There is also the reproduction market, museums all over the planet are digitizing their collections and want massive megapixels amounts. Hasselblad has a special multishot back for that market.<br /><br />As to the LuLa crowd "knowing how to get 100 megapixels by taking a dozen shots with the D810 and dropping them in some photo merge thing", that is not really true for the crowd which buys MF cameras, they don't want that. The marketing argument is not about photography, but about belonging to a crowd who owns "different", exclusive cameras and goes together to workshops in remote places (e.g. Antartica...). There are plenty of hobbies which work that way: car racing, boating or even golf for example. There are also plenty of people in America who are ready to spend $25,000 a year on their hobby, which is about what we are talking about here (a $30,000-$50,000 camera every 3 years, plus lenses, workshop fees, etc...). Lula simply serves that market. It is only a part of the global MF market, and very US-centric, but it is worth it commercially.<br /><br />The XF camera was developed and is built by Mamiya, BTW. Not that it makes much difference now that Phase One / Silverfleet has bought Mamiya (and Leaf).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-19821510363390104672016-01-11T07:41:30.510-08:002016-01-11T07:41:30.510-08:00Yes, the Polar Pioneer is what Michael Reichmann u...Yes, the Polar Pioneer is what Michael Reichmann uses for his workshops in Antartica.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-83968357379389672172016-01-10T14:50:28.451-08:002016-01-10T14:50:28.451-08:00Well, to be sure, I don't really think there&#...Well, to be sure, I don't really think there's a conspiracy as such. I think there might be some undisclosed business relationships, of the sort privately held concerns are likely to have.<br /><br />None of the players are under any obligations, legal or moral, to tell bozos like me anything. <br /><br />But, there's something not entirely obvious going on, starting from "Phase One has built an extremely expensive camera that makes absolutely no sense", and I find non-obvious goings-on interesting.<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-91995550006255075592016-01-10T14:42:58.921-08:002016-01-10T14:42:58.921-08:00I think you are looking too hard for a conspiracy....I think you are looking too hard for a conspiracy.<br /><br />My thoughts with no special insight are...<br /><br />First off, why would Phase One choose LuLa to be the sole (?) recipient of $50,000-$70,000 worth of equipment for review? Well, they KNOW Kevin Raber, they know Kevin knows his way around a MFDB and the Phase/Mamiya 645 DF+ and I'll bet you LuLa would not have been gifted with a review copy without him there. Relationships mean something. <br /><br />As for LuLa being in the bag for Phase and ALPA, I don't see it. Phase and ALPA make some beautiful equipment but none of the employees or Michael Reichmann own any of that stuff. MR states he has owned 3 Phase backs in the past but his current choice in MF is a Pentax that costs little more than a Nikon D4 (or D5). My point is that your criticism on these grounds is probably without basis. In fact, I think sending the Phase XF and 100 mp back to be evaluated by a happy Pentax MF owner with lots of Phase One experience is probably subjecting the Phase to scrutiny and comparison that it won't get elsewhere.<br /><br />When I think of what one "needs" to make photographs the list is always very modest. When I think of what some of the great photographers of our time have actually used to make photographs the list goes from modest and simple to quite the opposite. Having once owned an 8x10 view camera, I can tell you, no one "needs" an 8x10 unless one "needs" to do contact prints. The expense of photographing with an 8x10 is not insignificant. Same goes form Medium format digital. Funny how subjective that word "need" can be. Can it be OK that an artist or even an amateur (or a retired dentist) chooses to use equipment that is not just more than the bare minimum required but even might be considered overkill?<br /><br />Personally, I think LuLa is trying to be more than just a gearhead site and that's good even if the efforts have been mixed so far.<br />FMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11194273196379426019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-25273675825910457262016-01-10T14:15:05.284-08:002016-01-10T14:15:05.284-08:00Persevere. It's more fun.Persevere. It's more fun.Kirk, Photographer/Writerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10817860941525302936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-37097286837455859892016-01-10T14:09:21.801-08:002016-01-10T14:09:21.801-08:00With respect, it's my blog, and I am intereste...With respect, it's my blog, and I am interested in various and sundry things, not all of which are likely to be interesting to you.<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-45833838607557447952016-01-10T14:05:35.386-08:002016-01-10T14:05:35.386-08:00I had a quick look at the Phase One website and it...I had a quick look at the Phase One website and it appears the XF 100MP system has been around the traps for a while looking at their publicity metadata. I can walk into my local camera store here in NZ and try one out now if I want to waste an afternoon. I can't believe I've just wasted 10 minutes looking the up.<br />Isn't there something a bit kinky about this whole post? An obsession with sniping at photographers and websites you've disagreed with? Get back to doing your own work all of you :)<br />PS I liked the Vancouver photographs by the way.Davidhttp://davidsutton.co.nz/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-76237355555776472402016-01-10T09:50:19.371-08:002016-01-10T09:50:19.371-08:00Well, my quick google searches didn't come up ...Well, my quick google searches didn't come up with Peter's post. Thanks for the pointer, but I think my points remain on-target: Phase One is holding access to systems closely, and keeping them to strictly to Known Friendlies.<br /><br />This may be simply because they haven't got that many working prototypes, or because they see no reason to deal with the mainstream, or any number of other reasons between.<br /><br />You say "beginning with", can you point to any more? We've got one sample at LuLa, one that visited Eastway (possibly the same sample, actually).<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-46714319375736238582016-01-10T09:42:44.720-08:002016-01-10T09:42:44.720-08:00Peter Eastway wrote:" was entrusted with a pr...Peter Eastway wrote:" was entrusted with a pre-production IQ3 100MP digital back on my recent voyage to Antarctica, along with some tricked-up Capture One software and the requisite 100-megapixel sensor profiles. Externally, the back looks much like all the other IQ3s, except for the discrete '100MP' displayed in shiny letters, but the other passengers on the Polar Pioneer..."<br /><br />Hmmm...Antarctica...the Polar Pioneer...sounds kind of familiar,no?Derrelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03384379518290501209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-91870488783128510732016-01-10T01:38:34.733-08:002016-01-10T01:38:34.733-08:00A quick Google search does the basic homework and ...A quick Google search does the basic homework and comes up with other photographers who have their hands on this camera, beginning with Peter Eastway:<br />http://www.betterphotography.com/index.php/peter-eastways-blogs-sp-19033/equipment-etc/1018-phase-one-s-100-megapixel-camera-systemDavidhttp://davidsutton.co.nz/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-66333194393935598112016-01-09T14:30:57.381-08:002016-01-09T14:30:57.381-08:00Nice analysis! I've still got LuLa in my RSS r...Nice analysis! I've still got LuLa in my RSS reader but they've been uninteresting for a long time and I won't pay for access in the future.Gustaf Eriksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01771769400101430487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-75777966990855535012016-01-09T09:35:14.892-08:002016-01-09T09:35:14.892-08:00Apropos of nothing much, I remember when, back aro...Apropos of nothing much, I remember when, back around 2004, people on the Digital Wedding Forum were boasting about the beautiful 30x40 prints they were making from their four-megapixel Canon original 1Ds and Nikon D2Hs.Dave Jenkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16815756076188881975noreply@blogger.com