ggriswold

<p>It worked on the 645 AFD with my Phase One 21+, but could be the combination of all three that makes the lens flake out. I am still really happy with the setup and monetarily I am way ahead of other digital systems.</p>

 

<p>Forget to mention, he thought the lens should work with the 645AFD II, so that is why he wanted to look at it first. May be that the older camera body was more tolerant of a problem with the lens?</p>

<p>I agree it is weird. I would have thought they would ask me to send the body first, but he thought the lens is the culprit. The Mamiya system is opaque as to manufacture date, firmware, etc and what I got from the discussion is that it could be either. Makes you appreciate newer designs that support the user flashing the firmware.</p>

<p>Just received a 645AFD II and all my lenses that worked with my Mamiya 645 AFD worked fine except the 105-210 autofocus. When I attach the lens all is OK and after a few seconds the communication fails and the F stop display goes to dashes and the lens won't stop down. I called Mamiya service and they suggested that I send in the lens first for an evaluation and possible firmware update. I have sent the lens to them and will report back. <br>

According to them the serial numbers on the bodies and lenses do not reflect a manufacturing date like the Hasselblad system. Because of this it is impossible to tell what revision each has in terms of firmware. If the lens service does not work I guess I will send in the camera body. <br>

I was wondering if anyone had experienced a similar problem. Reading all my Google searches it seems that the camera versions, firmware and lens revisions got out of step somehow.... with different combinations of lenses and bodies not working with each other. I found a lot of posts about the D lenses not working with older bodies. None of my lenses are D types.<br>

Maybe we can aggregate some user reports of incompatibility here for others to refer to.</p>

<p>The 150 would fill in what the 105-210 can do so I would start there. You may want to hang onto it for a while because it is a really useful lens. I have found mine to be really sharp and would not want to go without it. The resale value of Mamiya lenses is not the best, so even though it is new you may not get the price you want for it. <br>

A Mint- (small paint scuffs) one is going for $775 on Ebay. They can go for less and up to $900. New on B&H they go for $2371. I would wait a few weeks before selling. Can you ever have too many lenses?</p>

<p>I have had only great experiences with FlashZebra. Excellent service and handy product selection. The ability to lock your pricey SB-800 or SB-900 on the shoe is worth a few more bucks.</p>

<p>here is the shot...</p>

<p>17-35mm D700 for this shot in Florida. Drove here so brought everything up to the Mamiya 645 AFD w/ Phase One.</p>

<p>I have had great results with Clayton F76 plus... and I mean great. No blocking and good shadows. Exposed ACROS 100 120 size at 60 ISO and developed 1:9 at 68 degrees for 8 minutes. Results are shown in the Ed Smith Project and The Erie Forge at www.georgegriswold.com Cheers, George</p>

<p>I have a SCA 390 adapter and cords (for Hasselblad) that I would like to trade for the Metz adapter for the Mamiya 645 AFD.. I would need the SCA 3952 and the SCA 3000C converter. <br>

I have switched from V Hasselbald system to the Mamiya 645 AFD to more efficiently use my Phase One back. I will be selling alot of V system stuff, most of which has been CLA'd by David Odess. Email if you are looking for something.</p>

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<p>Chris,<br>

I picked up a mint 40mm C lens a few years back and it works very well and is priced quite a bit less than newer CF versons.</p>

<p>I forgot to add one thought... You might think that the Phase One was a really expensive solution, but I already had alot of Hasselblad lenses and loved the system. On top of that if you buy one, two or three systems that don't work out how much money have you spent? It seems easier to spend a few hundred here and a few hundred there, but that can add up to more than one critical purchase that solves the problem. I will say that the D300 is a wonderful camera and would be suitable for many things-- it is worlds better than the D200. <br>

I bought my Phase One back from Capture Integration in Atlanta and they were great. Check with them for refurbished backs and used backs if you are ready to buy. With the slow economy some photographers may be selling off their first or second digital backs that would be more than adequate for your needs.</p>

 

<p>Until a few months ago I was using film with a 503CM and CF lenses (and a 40mm C) and was very happy with the results. I posted just yesterday alot of my shots and most are with ACROS 100 scanned with a Epson 4990. The Ed Smith and Tank Train portfolios were both done with film. I enjoyed the processing and scanning, but found I was spending a HUGE amount of time with the backend of the process-- scanning and retoching spots in Lightroom. <br /> At the end of last year I sprung for a P21+ Phase One back and have the best of both worlds. I would be patient-- the prices of these MF backs that are 18-28 Mega pixels are dropping fast. I would avoid the Kodak Pro Back (I wrote a long post about my back failure) since it is not supported by Kodak. The Pro Back makes great pictures so if you can get a great deal or own one that might work. At any rate the Hasselblad gear lives on with my digital back.</p>

<p>I have a D300 Nikon, but since I take mostly square images that never was a good fit. The MF fall nicely between fast and loose DSLR work methods and the almost meditaive large format. What matters most is when you head out to make pictures the camera that you have works with you and vanishes as you get into your creative space.</p>

The frame 1 and 2 overlap is the first thing to go after light seal problems with the Hasselblad backs. I would suggest buying one from David Odess that has been overhauled and then send yours in for a CLA. I would bet that many used backs available have this problem. I have bought 5 120 backs over the last few years and all but one had to be adjusted. You can learn to do this yourself, but I would not recommend it... there is a very steep learning curve. Send it in and spend time taking pictures.

If my shoot has a lot of sky or flat fields I take a high f stop reference picture at the beginning and end of the shoot just so I can see any dust. In Lightroom I dust spot the frame and sync the correction over all the frames. In some cases the correction has to be adjusted, but it makes quick work of most spots. With what I have done I am down to 1 or 2 spots in a shoot.... works for me.

I would stay with the Rollei and the great lenses. Try to rent or borrow a digital back if you are not sure. I think you will find the image rendition with the MF digital backs will amaze you.

Obviously Zephyr is not a rail car, I will attach that one here. This shot above taken last night had no dust spots... the MF are easier to get clean than a DSLR but way trickier to keep clean. Have to say this Phase One back is the most remarkable combination of image quality and ease of use. If you have spent years fooling with DSLR and not quite getting the range and results you have been after-- try renting one of these and then figure out how to get one. I have owned and used cameras from 4X5 down to a Minox and this with CF lenses blows me away. Small enough to get out and around to explore for shots and big enough to get amazing quality.<div></div>

Rail car door shot from this AM.. see attached.<div></div>

Meant to say, "have NOT seen any flare" as a result of the tape

I recently started using a P21+ with a few Hasselblad bodies with great results except some really pesky dust

problems. With the V system being older gear it stands to reason that it may be dustier than I ever suspected

when I was using film. Here are a few things that I did to reduce the dust issues when taking photographs. This

advice should only be taken if you know your camera's insides well. Some people may see these steps as

ill-advised, but they worked for me. Proceed at your own risk.

 

1) Inside cleaning. Blower bulb, canned air just seemed to move the dust around and not remove it. Take a 3-5

foot length of small tubing (clear vinyl works) and tape a small artist's brush next to one end and about 1/4" in

front of the end of the tubing. The brush is the only thing touching the shutter curtains and interior space of

the bodies. Attach the other end to a vacuum cleaner placed well away from your cleaning table-- Does not help to

have the vacuum spewing dust as you are trying to clean. I found a small Dyson hand vac that works great. The

small tubing lets you get into almost every interior space without the risk of screwing something up with

excessive vacuum suction. Move around the camera wisking dust loose with the brush as the vacuum removes it.

Pre-release the body and clean more. When I finished I put the body with caps in a new Zip-Lok bag.

 

2. Ongoing dust protection. With two huge flaps going with each exposure it would seem that ongoing dust control

is impossible, but there is something you can do if you feel adventurous. Since the machine is at the service of

man I placed two strips of 3M removable double stick tape. You have to burnish the tape onto the rear shutter

curtains with a small screwdriver/ blunt plastic tool. Now you have a 50% chance that loose dust will land and

stick to the tape and not on the imager. I have had 2 tape strips on my rear curtains for three weeks now and

they have stayed put. With older bodies the flat "flocked" shutter curtain coating can start to shed/ flake off

and this technique captures all of this flotsam under the tape. I put the tape on a few times and removed it to

get the really loose stuff off. . I have noticed any flare as a result of the tape, but if you are shooting high

contrast it could become an issue... I thought that risk was worth it. That matt finish material can be replaced

if you are so inclined... it is a replacement strip. Removing the old material is doable.

 

3. Leave the body and back together. I have started leaving them together when not in use. I figure the chances

of dropping or scratching my backs and introducing dust is greatest when taking them off, putting them on. I also

put 3/16" paper tape (also called camera tape in the movie biz) on the sides and bottom to enhance the seal.

Also, place a small piece on the safety latch on the back removal button. Belt and suspenders on this one.

 

I hope these tips help someone. Apologies to those who find these techniques horrifying.

Two things--

I would imagine the number of people trekking to a known photo spot would be relatively small. Presumably someone who wants to take landscape photographs would have the sensitivity not to break branches, trample small plants and litter. Pretty safe to assume that the numbers of people doing this "paint by numbers" shooting is relatively small-- at least I hope it is. If you went to a spot to replicate a famous photograph it may be instructive just how important and fleeting ambient conditions are.

 

If someone navigates to one of these spots without seeing their own photographs first--- you may want to consider a few creativity exercises or a good workshop.

I would get a super clean 500 series Hasselblad and the lenses that work for you and don't look back. By the time they stop making film easy to get/ process MF digital backs will be less than they are now. In the meantime you will get images that really hold up in many ways.

I have had this happen twice. The first time I was able to get the lens off after a few Oh S**t! moments. What I have observed when this happened with an old body is that if the body is worn the small slotted lens winding cam does not return fully in the cocked state (that slot ends up not perfectly horizontal) and hits the lens when you put it on and trips the shutter--- now you have a tripped lens on a non-fired body. To my knowledge this is a body issue. The second time my loving pet dalmatian thought I had some protein bars in my camera bag (I did not witness the incident, but the bag was on the floor several feet away from where I left it) and my 60mm C lens was hopelessly stuck on a 500 C/M-- that resulted in a trip to David Odess for resolution-- he really worked on getting them separated and then serviced both.

UPDATE: I ended up buying a P21+ and it is a real gem. I used to soup black and white film after every shoot and this has changed the way I work. As dedicated as a shooter who used to hit the darkroom after every outing this digital back has gotten me out there more than ever. With 12 stops of dynamic range I am not sacrificing quality and have become more productive. The way I figure it between the savings in film, chemicals and the water bill I will break even sometime around 2012.... nobody ever said this was a rational undertaking!

 

Happy shooting,

George