Can anyone give some info about the Phase One 645DF?

[bgoffner]

Hello,

I'm Brandon...

I can be described as a moderate professional photographer. I just recently put my dream of becoming a photographer as a fulltime priorty after taking a lay off....

Now that's out of the way...

My experience is in wedding/engagement/portrait photography... I have recently located to Miami and have fell in love with the artistry in Fashion/Lifestyle photography. So I have been obsessing over every aspect, detail, tutorial, etc... I have been noticing most photographers have been using the Phase One 645DF. I have attempted to research the camera but only have came up with vague descriptions. I am a Nikon user.. D3X, 700 & D7000... but i was just intrigued by this particular camera...

so if anyone has shot with one...
can review the performance...
say what style of shooting the camera is ideal for...
why fashion photographers prefer it...

or any additional info u can assist me with or links

thx in advance fellow photographers..

[Colin Southern]

Hi Brandon,

If you haven't discovered this already, here's the link to the camera on their website ...

http://www.phaseone.com/en/Camera-Sy...ra-Bodies.aspx

Personally, I think Phase One make wonderful cameras ... and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole! That probably sounds somewhat contradictory, but in my opinion, folks possibly get "sucked" into thinking that owning one will somehow help them make better images -- and I just don't think that's the case. Sure, we've seen great sample images from them, but would those images have looked any different if shot by a Canon 1Ds3 or Nikon D3x under the same lighting with the same preparation? I don't think so.

So on one hand you'd need to make a CONSIDERABLE investment in the camera - lenses - back ... only to aquire technology that gives us better specifications in areas that usually don't translate into any real-world advantage (and some specs that are worse than available on out current cameras); eg folks use a 60MP PhaseOne back instead of an 18 to 21MP camera - and end up throwing away 98% of the data instead of the usual 95% of the data when they down-sample the image to display at a typical resolution on a typical monitor - or they capture 14 stops of dynamic range instead of the 12 thats typical of 35mm sensors - and then display that on a monitor that can only reproduce around 6 stops of DR (ok, ok, it's not quite that cut and dried, but I maintain that the "benefit" is non-existant most of the time).

In my mind it's a bit like a Formula 1 car - it's capable of insane performance on a race track, but a lot of expense and zero performance gain if used as a day-to-day car on real-world streets. A collegue of mine has a PhaseOne and 1 Canon 1Ds3 ... he doesn't use the PhaseOne much.

[hoffstriker]

Hey Brandon,

My only question regarding this is how many billboards are you displayed on currently and how many do you plan on in the future. That appears to be the only place the Phase One will have benefit. From my experience (mostly reading way too much on the internet) the only ones that use the Phase One to it's full capacity are those that are constantly having images on billboards. Granted, the medium format is used quite extensively in the fashion/acting worlds, that appears to be mostly due to ego. I'm good cause I use a $40,000 (US) camera. I agree with Colin, and from the reviews that are out currently, it appears the D800 has more resolution than any other camera anyways. Probably a better choice if you're going that direction.

Good Luck,

[bgoffner]

I actually have 3 billboards in the San Diego area... but thx both of u guys for your help.. u both kinda agreed what was i thinking. I just was looking for a little confirmation

[Colin Southern]

@ Chris: Hi Chris, I really can't see it being of any advantage for a billboard shot; yes - sure - the resolution MAY be increased slightly over what a 35mm DSLR could achieve, but the viewing distances for billboards are huge, and as such the human eye just cant resolve it.

I think there's a bit of psychology that kicks in when we see a nice image from "Camera Model X" -- something in our brains tells us that "these are the types of image that this camera produces - therefore - if I buy this camera then these are the types of images I'll be able to produce" whereas of course in reality although the camera can make very nice images - it's also capable of producing very bad images ... and what makes the difference is - AS ALWAYS - a whole bunch of factors ... NONE OF WHICH INVOLVE THE ACTUAL CAMERA!