Almost ready to buy a 'blad, but which one?

[flashinsson]

Hi there,

just discovered this forum on my quest to answers on the state of Hasselblad digital.
I am a (mostly) fashion shooter (www.martinfriedrich.com), and for the last 5 years or so I have been renting medium format for most of my jobs, and that has always been Phase One, all their different backs from the P25 to the P65+ on H1s, H2s, H4xs, 500s and on Mamiyas.
But now the time has come for me to buy my own system. I am pretty familiar with the H cameras and lenses, but last time I shot H-Backs was back in the days of the H2D and Hasselblad just weren't up to it, Phocus wasn't out yet and everything was just a pain. So everybody and their mothers went with phase.
A lot has changed since those days I guess and I hear a lot of good things about the H4Ds on the internet. I am almost sold. I am especially considering the H4D-40, but also the 50 is an option, the H5D also looks quite promising.
So here are my questions for anyone who can and wants to help, every comment is appreciated:

1.Tethering:
When I shoot MF I usally shoot tethered and that always was a big concern with the old blads and the old software.
So maybe some of you can tell me about the tethered workflow with current hasselblads. Is it solid? Are there lots of crashes? What about the buffer, does it still fill up or can I continue shooting without delays until my raid is full? What happens if you unplug the cable, do remaining captures get written to the card? And can you just put the cable back in without having to restart everything? Is there an option to choose where the camera gets power from? In the field, shooting to a laptop, I don't want the camera to use the laptops battery over Firewire but it's own battery, so the laptop doesn't get too empty too quick.

2.ISO
When I need high ISO, I use the canons these days and I don't expect this to change. But an extra stop or two over the Phase backs would be appreciated. With the P40+ and P65+ 200 is the maximum for me, to my eyes 400 on those just looks horrible. So how does Hasselblad compare? You hear a lot of good things here as well, but in all honesty, would you use 400 or 800 an a real job?How do the 40 and 50 compare? The 50 is a different, not just larger, sensor, isn't it?

3. Batteries
how many do you need to get through a day, shooting around 1500 frames a day?
Does the H5D use the same batteries as the H4D?

4. Phocus/Lightroom
I really like Lightroom and use it for almost everything except tethering. With the phase backs you need to use C1 to tether, so I still couldn't get rid of it, but I hate it. Does the Lightroom tethering plugin for Hasselblad work well? Does it work as good as Phocus? Is the raw conversion in Lightroom as good as in Phocus or where are the differences? Does the ipad app for Phocus also work with Lightroom?

5. 40 or 50
What are the real differences? Is the 50 much slower? Are colors, moire, sharpness really different? Phase P40+ and P65+ are almost the same image wise, just different sizes of the same sensor I guess.


Enough for now 

Thanks for any help,
Martin

[Peter L]

Hello Martin, I enjoyed reading your post.
I would suggest to take a trip to South Florida  -

1. get a  brake from  winter
2. you can test ALL cameras in my store - studio.
3. if you buy, we have no VAT
4. it is tax deductible trip.....
5. and you will love the Hasselblad.

What else is there?  Peter

[flashinsson]

I would come down there, if it would not be a ten hour flight across the pond

[NickT]

Hi Martin
Lots of questions I see I'll  do my best to answer a few before my shoot starts..

1.Tethering:
When I shoot MF I usally shoot tethered and that always was a big concern with the old blads and the old software.
So maybe some of you can tell me about the tethered workflow with current hasselblads. Is it solid? Are there lots of crashes? What about the buffer, does it still fill up or can I continue shooting without delays until my raid is full?

My tethering set up -10 metre cable to unpowered hub 30cm cable to camera NEVER crashes.

I have slow flashes so I never fill the buffer perhaps some of the crazy fashion shooters can comment

What happens if you unplug the cable, do remaining captures get written to the card? And can you just put the cable back in without having to restart everything? Is there an option to choose where the camera gets power from? In the field, shooting to a laptop, I don't want the camera to use the laptops battery over Firewire but it's own battery, so the laptop doesn't get too empty too quick.

If you unplug while images are transferring you will lose them, my advice: don't do this

I can unplug and reconnect without having to restart.

The camera manages it's own power depending on how much is coming down the firewire you can't choose which power source it selects.

2.ISO
When I need high ISO, I use the canons these days and I don't expect this to change. But an extra stop or two over the Phase backs would be appreciated. With the P40+ and P65+ 200 is the maximum for me, to my eyes 400 on those just looks horrible. So how does Hasselblad compare? You hear a lot of good things here as well, but in all honesty, would you use 400 or 800 an a real job?How do the 40 and 50 compare? The 50 is a different, not just larger, sensor, isn't it?

The H4D40 is the best at high ISO of any full resolution medium format hands down. MUCH nicer than the P40+ I'd say you'll be happy at 400 but that's subjective, you'll have to test for yourself.
The 50 is different expect better ISO performance from the 40 is all I know..

3. Batteries
how many do you need to get through a day, shooting around 1500 frames a day?
Does the H5D use the same batteries as the H4D?

H5D has a newer more powerful battery. I always shoot tethered so I hardly ever change batteries (maybe once a week) forun tethered and that number of frames I don't know maybe 3 or four batteries?

4. Phocus/Lightroom
I really like Lightroom and use it for almost everything except tethering. With the phase backs you need to use C1 to tether, so I still couldn't get rid of it, but I hate it. Does the Lightroom tethering plugin for Hasselblad work well? Does it work as good as Phocus? Is the raw conversion in Lightroom as good as in Phocus or where are the differences? Does the ipad app for Phocus also work with Lightroom?

The tethering with Lightroom is slow in my experience not a patch on Phocus. The quality in Phocus is better too. No iPad App (which works really well) unless you are running Phocus.

That's about all I have time for, I've upgraded your membership because you seem like a nice chap!

Have a look at the lightroom thread Ben posted: http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/index.php/topic,2573.msg14758.html#msg14758

Cheers
Nick-T

[flashinsson]

Thank you Nick,

not being able to select which battery to use seems bad. I see myself buying loads of Hypermac batteries for my MBPro...
I got a Hasselblad rep coming in on friday to test drive the camera a bit.

cheers,
martin

[iaent]

You both have great photos in ur portfolio.
Nick, I loved those food photography, which lens did u use?

[NickT]

Thanks for the kind words. Pretty much all shot with the 100 2.2 I love that lens!