the P30 has been shipping for over a year and has the same specs as the new! amazing! almost fullframe! cheap! hass H31...and in my book the speed is the same, sorry but i am sure it feels the same, i am also sure i could not time the difference without fancy equipment...so the speed is the same....
i won't say what i paid for my P30 a couple of months ago, but it was a lot less then the price quoted for the H31...
the P30+ will be shipping in a few weeks and is faster then the P30 and has one extra stop...add to that (what could be considered marketing speak) better color, better DR and cleaner shadows and the P30+ is clearly one year ahead of the H31.....just like the shipping date suggests....
not sure where the confusion can be....
i have compared the hass backs to the phase backs and they are good, but not quite as good, especially after the files come out of C1...flexcolor is a very very solid software, but not quite C1....which btw will be upgraded as well and should be out not long after the P+ series ships and with my experience with phase products, i will get better color and better DR and cleaner shadows...and blazing speed with C1v4......at "almost full frame" as well
a story on the side: i had to watch a situation at a store a couple of weeks ago....
a photographer came into the store as i was there as well, she ha dbeen shooting hass V for 30 years....was looking into digital....of course she first asks for the hass solution, gets handed a H body with Hback (probably H3, not sure)...is obviously very very confused, the dealer patiently explains some basics, she looks at all the hass logos, posters,...takes a flier....listens to the price, of course the body is so much, hass quality,bla,bla, bla,...leaves...
i am sure if she does buy a system, she will buy the H with a H back...will she be happy? i am sure, it is a great product....could she buy a cheaper product better suited for her? probably....i am sure she does not have the time or really the interest to dive into one of these forums and get her head twisted...she will buy the brand that has helped her in the last 30 years and she probably does not have any reason to change now....
i guess i am way too much of a geek and pixelpeeper and have invested waaaaaaay too much time to not spend my money on the best (or what i regard as the best) solution for me....i am pretty sure most of the people in this forum are in the same situation as me...which is why it sometimes gets heated and irrational....
but just like giving your client too many options often isn't a good thing....if she would have walked out with leaf, phase, sinar, hass, but only on hass, the others on only H1/2, others on contax, mamiya, but only up to 1/125, but wait, the Hy6 is on the horizon, so maybe emotion (i thought that was sinar, yes it is, but there is also sinar) and that is not even mentioning the software...do you print on epson, canon or HP? the new ones calibrate themselves.....she would have left with her head spinning....
anyway i hope i made a point, got a little carried away.... as always.....
my new years resolution, spend less time reading the LL forum, especially the posts that really don't even concern me, but i know will get my blood boiling....
PS: i just read through my post and hope nobody reads this as some kind of sexist statement...this just happened to be a woman...go to any counter, there are just as many men in the same situation.....
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Paul:
It's certainly a good illustration of the difficulty in determining an appropriate path with MFDB's these days. That is one of the challenges in selling multiple systems (with more on the way) - show too much, and confuse the issue, show too little, and unnecessarily limit the appropriate solutions.
I believe if someone has been shooting with Hasselblad for years (V-series Hasselblad) as the lady in your story has, then their options are putting a DB on their V-system, or looking at a new DB/Camera combo. And just because it says Hasselblad on an H3D, does not mean that they should naturally go in that direction. Compared to where Hasselblad has been traditionally, it's only a name.
Paul - you're a credit to the forum here, because you bring it with enthusiasm and passion.
But I do have to note that your statement about the P30+ shooting faster than the H3D-31 is not correct. (1.2 spf vs 1.25) That's virtually a dead-heat. But it's right on the data sheets, so it's a statistical comparison, not subjective. It does have an extra stop - so until Hasselblad expands that, edge there to the P30+. Although the P30+ is not shipping today. As of today, the H3D-31 matches the P30. When the P30+ ships, we'll see where Hasselblad is at that time with respect to ISO. Regarding color, dynamic range, cleaner shadows, well, those are more subjective and susceptible to opinion. My opinion holds that the color, DR and shadows on an H3D-31 do not take a back seat to the P30. But that is just my opinion. No one, including me has yet compared a P30 to an H3D-31. That will be happening starting right now, and then we'll see.
I don't agree about year behind or behind at all. Ultimately, though, the market will decide. And that's the way it should be.
On a side note, I did confirm today that the H3D-31 will ship with the standard kit, including body, viewfinder and 80mm lens. This is in the USA, the rumors of body only may be from another part of the globe, and I'm sure the price will reflect that.
Steve Hendrix
