Thierry,
This really isn't directed at you, or Sinar, or any one company in particular, but for all medium format (actually all professional digital capture).
Dear James,
To say that I was not waiting for your reply would be lying!
Allow me to take it addressed to me (Sinar), otherwise I won't be able to answer precisely.
1. Higher iso. A real clean 800. Not blochy, or noisy in the shadows but an 800 that at least equals the 1ds3. The instances where this is important means the difference from either not getting the shot or pulling out a dslr.
I agree with this, and we are well aware. If you have checked a ISO 800 file of the current eMotion 75 (see my samples posted months ago), then you could see that this in our capacity, to provide clean ISO 800 files.
2. Stable software and a open source file. The software, must be completely 100% stable. One crash, one lost file and the mood in the room changes 100%. When tethering the software must be adjustable. No crunchy or hard previews but the ability to present on screen a very close representation of what the final image will look like. If the first frame on the screen produces a "wow" then the battle is half over. If the response is "is that moire, or is the image going to look like that?" then time, energy and mood is lost in conversation, rather than shooting.
Agreed, of course. I can only suggest to try eXposure, rather than having in your mind that it is certainly not stable. So far it has proven pretty stable. Now, to go as far as saying that a software has never a crash or never hangs: I would never believe this, from none of the manufacturers.
With the Phase backs I and others have tethered to Lightroom even as far as running a processing script in photoshop on files so the client can see exactly where the image is going. The ability to achieve this close to final look in the tethering software has obvious benifits.
Yes, possible with Sinar.
For high volume work the ability to rename, sort and move files quickly is a must. Flipping from one software to the next, just cause complexity and increases the chance to get it wrong, rather than insure that it is right.
Yes, also possible with Sinar.
A file that works direct in almost any 3rd party processor has obvious benifits. I believe digital is a much more intimate process than film, just given the fact that I can take one "roll" and process it over and over in many different labs to achieve a different look. The workflow advantages of an open source file that works in anything just can't be overstated when you are working with thousands of images and a tight deadline.
That's why we have introduced a DNG workflow.
3. In camera processing. Obviously Sinar has addressed this and for quick previews, web galleries etc. if the jpeg is good, the colors close to correct then this can save many hours in workflow. With the Canons I use the small jpegs and do some batch corrections in 3rd party software like lightroom. This makes for very fast previews and processing and keeps the raw files untouched. Working on a 24" I-mac and lightroom I can reprocess out a thousand jpegs for web galleries in just a few minutes.
Yes, agreed, and we have listened.
4. LCD. It seems Sinar has addressed this also, though the proof is in the looking. I've owned Phase, Aptus, Canons (all of them) Leica and Nikon and if you shoot a non tethered image on any camera and compare it to the Nikon LCD, the client will look at the nikon image and say, "yea, use the big camera". Obviously Nikon has raised the bar on what a 3" lcd can do.
I believe that our 3" display comes close to the D3 one, if not equal: it has the same size, same resolution, capability to be adjusted, ...
As Billy said, the lcd to run in parallel with the computer when tethered is a must. For locations where the monitor is 30 feet away it's almost impossible to run over every 10 frames to see if the changes and framing are correct. Even for studio, it takes the attention away from the process for the photographer to have to move over to the monitor to check a lighting change.
I will have to check this one: hold on for a while. I believe that it should not be a big issue if not implemented yet.
5. Cameras. I like the thought of the AFI and HY6 (especially now that it's black and not appliance blue). I would like the thought of the camera a lot better if it worked on any digital back. Not that one back is better than the rest, (these forums are full of those comparisions), but to invest in an expensive system, I would to think that at least the camera is a 10 year buy and will not be viable only if the digital back is vialbe. As we all know things change fast in the digital world.
Well, that has been discussed many times: fact is that it is not accepting Phase One or Hasselblad backs.
