I did it—I made the bounce to medium format. This was fairly a while coming, as I had been speaking about it for a few yr. The distinction is large, and what a enjoyable digicam it’s. Extra concerning the Section One on this assessment.
I performed round with loads of totally different medium format digital cameras: Hasselblad, Fujifilm, Pentax, and naturally, Section One. There are lots of factors to debate about every one among them, and an in depth assessment of the Hasselblad 907c & CVF100 again will be present in my latest articles. That stated, I’m a Section One proprietor and shooter for a variety of causes. It isn’t the lightest or the quickest digicam in the marketplace, neither is it probably the most superior. However it’s the finest digicam for the work I do, and right here is my assessment of the Section One XF Physique with the IQ350 again.
Introduction
I keep in mind the moments main as much as shopping for this digicam. I might lastly afford the digicam of my desires. This was the primary digicam I used to be actually excited to personal and shoot. I even shed a tear once I purchased it since I had been dreaming about it for therefore lengthy. Each time I shot with a medium format digicam, the intrusive ideas of proudly owning one would by no means go away.
The primary impressions had been one thing alongside the traces of: oh, it is a heavy digicam. Certainly, it’s not a light-weight system. Actually, it comes with its personal Peli case for transportation. An excellent Peli case, if I say so myself. I seen that the digicam shouldn’t be quick by any means. There’s a noticeable delay between urgent the shutter and the precise shutter going off. That makes good sense: mirror up, shutter curtains open, leaf shutter closes, aperture closes, leaf shutter opens, closes, shutter curtains shut, mirror goes down. There are numerous shifting elements on this digicam, so don’t anticipate to be taking pictures any sort of quick motion with it. However extra on that later.
Construct High quality
The digicam could be very effectively constructed. Or ought to I say, each the physique and the digital again are effectively constructed, as you may simply swap out the sensor by altering the again, similar to within the good outdated days of movie. The physique and again are each made out of steel, with Danish minimalism being the design language. Each button feels very costly while you work with it. The touchscreens are nice too, very aware of your contact—typically too responsive. In the case of the burden, it’s undoubtedly corresponding to the older Canon 1DX our bodies, after which some on prime. All in all, it gained’t be a light-weight digicam in your fingers. Add a quick Schneider Kreuznach blue ring lens, and you’ll be holding over 3 kilos in your fingers. It’s value it although; it’s value each gram, pound, and penny.
The digicam is sort of ergonomic to carry, though fairly heavy. Thankfully, you do have two shutter buttons: one on the grip and one other one just under the lens, permitting for grip adjustments. Likewise, each button you see on the XF physique is customizable to fit your particular person wants as an expert photographer.
Options
As with each digicam, my perspective is restricted to that of a largely studio photographer. I do shoot location work much more than final yr, however I not often enterprise into different genres. And boy, is that this digicam made with studio photographers in thoughts. It has the whole lot one can want for, leaving much more desired as effectively, however we’ll cross that bridge once we get to it.
The Sensor
First up, let’s speak concerning the digital again. It’s merely unimaginable to match this digicam to full body cameras, because the sensor is bigger, therefore higher for the style I shoot. Intimately, the IQ350 again encompasses a 50 MP CMOS sensor that captures the very same quantity of pixels as my full body Canon 5Ds. But, on a medium format sensor, the photographs end up sharper and have extra readability. Being medium format, this digicam has a a lot higher dynamic vary, permitting for higher shadow and spotlight element. The colour accuracy can also be implausible. In case you are eager about numbers, it gives 14 stops of dynamic vary, an ISO vary of 100-6,400, and a 1.3 sensor crop issue. Certainly, it’s not a real medium format digicam, because the sensor is barely smaller than within the IQ4 again or the IQ3 100. You gained’t discover the well-known 16-bit shade depth on the IQ350 both. Furthermore, the sensor is outwardly the identical as within the Hasselblad H6D-50c, X1D, X1DII, Pentax 645z, and GFX-50S. Then once more, every digicam producer has their very own distinctive manner of decoding the colours from the sensor. Having shot with the X1D, Pentax 645Z, and the GFX-50S, the Section One is a transparent winner.
Autofocus
The digicam doesn’t characteristic lightning-fast autofocus. Then once more, while you make the step to medium format, you’re type of anticipated to know the right way to focus your digicam the old style manner. Whereas it has respectable autofocus, I typically use depth of area ideas to get sharp photos of actually quick topics resembling dancers. The Section One XF physique has a single autofocus level within the center. That’s all you get. It comes with a built-in help mild for that middle level, as oftentimes, the focusing system struggles with out it. Mine is completely on, and it activates even in brilliant circumstances the place different cameras would haven’t any downside. That is one thing Section One might work on, frankly talking. If you enter stay view, you don’t get autofocus in any respect.
Miscellaneous Options That Matter
As I’ve a barely totally different set of necessities for what I need from a studio digicam, I wish to deal with them in order that customers who’re in the identical line of labor have info to confer with.
Air Distant
At the start, the XF physique has a built-in Profoto Air distant, making the three air remotes in my studio acquire mud. It’s one much less merchandise to convey on set, and I want extra digicam producers would do that. I can have the total vary of capabilities of an air distant, together with TTL, from the touchscreen on prime of my digicam. Whereas I’m now lighting with Briese lights, these run off Profoto turbines nonetheless.
The physique additionally has a built-in flash length meter, which tells you ways a lot mild you’re dropping ought to your flash length be longer than your shutter velocity.
A Good Tether Port
One other characteristic that’s extremely helpful to me is a well-shielded tether port. The cable sits firmly deep contained in the digicam, with no threat of damaging the port ought to or not it’s yanked out of the physique accidentally.
Leaf Shutter
That is easy. A leaf shutter permits you to shoot previous your sync velocity with out the necessity for high-speed sync. It is a shutter that type of resembles an aperture, therefore permitting the sensor to seize the complete picture directly, not in increments like in conventional cameras.
Lenses and Rental Availability
I’ve seen that rental homes are slowly transitioning away from Hasselblad cameras to Section One cameras. As such, you’ll not have an issue discovering a lens to your Section One, when you might have to go looking a little bit tougher to seek out one in case you are a Hasselblad shooter. That is just because Section One is probably the most rented medium format system. As soon as I used to be doing a shoot and wanted a barely wider lens. It was not an issue to name up the rental home, ship my assistant to select it up, and have the lens on the physique in an hour. The choice of lenses can also be unbelievable for Section One, with each want and need coated.
PC Sync Ports
There aren’t one, however two of them on the digicam. For all these occasions I exploit another studio pack, I like to make use of a PC sync port for the reliability it gives. It’s merely extra dependable to sync flash with a cable than with a distant set off, as misfires occur it doesn’t matter what. If the shot is vital, this issues so much.
Peli Case
This will likely look like a small factor, nevertheless it actually isn’t. The Peli Case the digicam will be purchased with is a should if you happen to intend to take it out of the studio. I journey with mine on a weekly foundation and maintain monitor of all of the locations it’s been to. The case gives nice safety towards stairs within the Paris metro and me bashing it towards partitions. The one downside is that it doesn’t roll all that effectively.
Closing Ideas
For the time being of scripting this assessment, I simply discovered concerning the new Canon releases, specifically the R1 and R5 Mark II. Will I be shopping for them? No, probably not. Medium format is right here to remain. I’m extremely lucky to make the bounce to medium format this early in my profession, and it’s making a distinction within the work I’m reserving. The clientele have appreciated the higher “look” of the photographs.
If you happen to’d like to purchase a Section One, I recommend wanting into used cameras. They’re significantly cheaper than shopping for new ones. And in case you are uncertain, simply hire it for a day, or guide a job the place the consumer has the rental funds for such a digicam.
