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New Arrival - H3DII-50

G

googaliser

Member
The beast arrived this morning...
What seems like a pretty steep learning curve confronts me. I'm used to being able to take decent shots straight out of the box - but not with this one ! The user interface has an anacronistic charm about it. Although far off the current state of the art - all the key things are there. Button layout is very good and intuitive.
Wonderful shutter noise! Similar weight dimensions with the 120macro to a D3 with 300mm 2.8 !! Its big - but strangely ergonomic.
No buyers remorse - but am hoping that the initial investment in time and re-calibration - is offset by that additional 'H' factor that can hopefully be brought to otherwise well composed subject matter.
Phocus is - er... interesting !! Step one is to get it to integrate into my Lightroom workflow.

Rgds
 
googlizer...

try the user button as the auto focus...and set it to manual focus..that worked out for me...its a better transition if you use a canon..or slr.

if you change the focusing screen to the one with the lines on it...you will probably start clipping heads...or toes...

the Data bank..does not work with our 50

i have good luck with lexar 16gb cards...it will be busy towards the end..

the 50 is battery hog...1 batter per 16gb card..i use it till about 15 left on the card..

have fun on your new toy bro..



this is great news...i am not the only moron here with a 50 no more..


lemon
 
i use focus to get the shots i want...save it to a another folder in DNG format..
then i do my usual ..process..
but one thing LR dont have is the moray removal..


hope this all helps
Lemon
 
Back to Back with D3x

OK... I've never done this before - but a quick back to back kind of just happened... set-up the D3x - and the H3D50 - same subject and similar parameters. This wasn't meant to be a scientifically rigorous effort - just a guage.
Its subtle - resolution aside - but the H image definitely has a considerably more life-like quality to it. The colour rendition is more accurate, and there is a greater tonal range - particularly in the in highlights. Its a much more 'honest' rendition, and has a 3D quality - which the D3x lacks in single shot images. The D3x raw is relatively more saturated - which personally I like - but it isn't as accurate. (H 100mm versus Nikon 85mm - stopped down marginally to approx f2.2 versus f1.7 respectively.
More scientific analysis to follow.
SanDisk 16GB extreme IV doesn't work out of the box (firmware version 332).
Thanks Lemonlib - yes - a spare battery order will be placed tomorrow. Reasonably comfortable with the interface. The metering patterns don't currently work well for me in Program - not a patch on Nikon matrix - so all been manual so far. Will give your suggestion a go.
Rgds
 
Congratulations!

The H series needs a lot of time and effort to bring the best results possible.
Remarkable that you found out so quickly that one of the largest improvements is a more 3D like quality.
That was exactly what I experienced many years ago going from Leica to Hasselblad in the days of film.
This quality is still present with MF digital.

Paul
 
paul ...why do we clip when we use that line focus screen...i guess we still need to get a overlay or something...wish the gave a piece of plastic or something like when you buy a leafe back...yes i got a hold of those overlay but its not cut right for the 50
 
The 3D element is palpable - but its the tonal subtlety & colour accuracy that is addictive. The more I compare the images - the more apparent it is. Can't wait to do some portrait shots. Clearly an unforgiving camera though - my technique needs to play catch-up before I dare go handheld.
Seen first evidence of moire - which is actually very bizarre - because the book I shot - didn't appear to have any texture on its binding. It was only on VERY (mm) close inspection that I could see the weave. The sensor outpaces my eyesight by an order of magnitude - quite disconcerting to say the least - and could easily be unflattering for subjects older than about 20... The wife aint going to like this camera......... she wore makeup the first time I shot her in 1080p video - need to work on my soft-focus post-editing....

Not sure I did what was necessary in Phocus to remove the moire though in fairness. In fact, phocus is what troubles me the most. I moved to adobe start to finish to simplify workflow - now I have this thing in the way.
 
my sentiments too...

over engineered..software..! phocus...not really putting workflow in its mind..and LR can not recognise fff. files...

necessary evil..i think...although..people at the store are saying that phocus has a better color engine...i just wish..hassy would let adobe in some of their secrets..and make our lifes less misrable..

with my 1ds mk3..i can kick out 10 full photoshoped shots and lr..in about 2-3 hours..now..uploading to phocus and converting..my workflow was increased 2 hours more..

Lemon
 
First light

I'm hooked.... impromptu picture at breakfast attached. Eye-popping colours and smooth gradients - destroyed by JPEG 60k attachment limit obviously - but as a 300MB TIFF on a lacie 730 - almost blew my eyes out - straight out of the camera. Minute dust and hairs perfectly resolved at 200 crop - I could get away with not dusting or cleaning still life subjects on the D3 - but no more.

Lemonlib - thanks for the tip re. Lexar - seems that UDMA is the secret which my 16GB extreme IV wasn't. Bang on re. assigning the autofocus to the user button. Particularly helpful with macro (I know there is a way to reduce hunting - but with such a clear viewfinder - its a joy to use manual focus reliably again)

Still trying to recalibrate to the new DOF rules
 

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Dof

Sorry - Depth Of Field... The 100 2.2 wide open seems shallower than the Nikon 85 1.4 (they should be roughly equivalent) which was my staple portrait lens. Seems less forgiving - not sure if its a medium format trait or whether the resolution reduces the perceived DOF

Rgds
 
o boy....i remember back in my elx and 500 cm days...before i would snap a shot..for portraits... i would have my subject stick his or her finger on her lip ..to check the the focus (split focus screen back then)...the 100 2.2 is a lot shallower cause you have a bigger sensor..i don't know if that make sense . you have more pixel per area...

i use to use the 85 1.2 for the 1ds mark 3...but 100 is a sharpest lens in the line up..although.. i like the 150mm for portraits better..


Lemon
 
I second that...

Good assessment of Phocus; not ready for prime time. We're all simply spoiled by the speed and elegance of Adobe products. At least Phocus programmers have a reference / user-experience to aspire to. Or one can only hope.

lemonlib said:
my sentiments too...

over engineered..software..! phocus...not really putting workflow in its mind..and LR can not recognise fff. files...

necessary evil..i think...although..people at the store are saying that phocus has a better color engine...i just wish..hassy would let adobe in some of their secrets..and make our lifes less misrable..

with my 1ds mk3..i can kick out 10 full photoshoped shots and lr..in about 2-3 hours..now..uploading to phocus and converting..my workflow was increased 2 hours more..

Lemon
Click to expand...
 
Question about phocus -- I really love using Lightroom and PS in my workflow. Generally I use LR to sort my images and pick my best shots. Then I save off that subset and work on those in PS. I use LR again to create a web gallery of the edited shots.

When I moved to Nikon RAW, LR could show the files but was crap at interpreting the color. So I added a first step in Nikon Capture NX2 to batch process all the RAW files into TIFFs. Then I take the Tiffs into LR and proceed to work on them as I always did before.

I'm wondering if something similar is possible with the Hassys. It sounds like Phocus isn't the system you want to use for workflow. Is if possible to just use it to process the original RAWS into TIFFs or something else that LR and PS can work with more easily? Or does LR and PS handle Hassy RAWs just fine?
 
Phocus

I hated Phocus when I first used it. The user interface seemed light years behind lightroom. After two solid weeks of use on a desert island (and users on this forum suggesting it was worth the effort) - I am now sold on it - I am not usually so fickle. In fact, I haven't really used lightroom now that I am back at HQ - I just go straight from Phocus to PS/Bridge.
At the end of the day - any user interface can be learnt and its short comings largely overcome. The quality and accuracy of phocus rendering far outweigh the UI issues in my opinion. I am a convert - and whilst workflow efficiency is key - there are workarounds and it is still secondary in my mind to image quality.
Don't write-off Phocus until you have tried it. If you use a PC - make sure you use the 64bit version, have plenty of RAM and fast components. No issues. It was barely useable on a top of the range laptop with 4megs and vista 32.
 
googliser...at least it cost you free..I had to go to the seminar that paul cleason and the rest of the Hasselblad crew...I learned a lot...there are a few things phocus can do that LR can not...i kinda ...KINDA...starting to like phocus..not in love with it...

so my new work flow is.

1) get pics in Phocus.....
2) pictures to pic..green , yellow, red....
3) choose all green...do the most of batch processing...if they are same location or lighting.)
4) export as 16 bitt tiff...
5) Nik sharperner 3.0 (yes it does make the photos still sharper without loosing skin tone , or dithering the pics)
6) do my edits in photoshop...skin, clean up in general.
7) save in tiff 16
8) review my shots at lightroom..(since all my shots is stored in it..)
9) print in my light room...


2 cents
Lemon
 
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