There are many reasons for how we pick our cameras: sensor resolution, max ISO, image quality, max. shutter speed, handling, weight, and so on. The list is probably just as long as the number of different models available today. Some reasoning is rational, some pure emotion. I have shot with pretty much any manufacturer over the years, and to what it comes down for me, is how the camera feels, when I use it. I believe that no camera is able to replace creativity and an artist’s vision, no matter how spec’d out it is. You can create amazing images with your iPhone, or any other camera for that matter, so for me, it has always been about the experience: the camera needs to become a natural extension of my creative vision.
Shooting with the Pentax 645Z Medium Format Camera
That said, there are many cameras that can do that, but none of them offers the resolution and pixel sharpness I get from my 645Z. I shot with Hasselblad, I shot with PhaseOne, and the handling on the 645Z is very close to a DSLR, which cannot be said for any model made by the other medium format guys. Autofocus is quick, and works well. 3fps is nothing to call home about when compared to a DSLR, but then again, this is not your average DSLR. For a medium format camera, 3FPS is very impressive, and it allows me to have a workflow similar to what I would have with a full frame DSLR.
The 645Z is not perfect. There are a bunch of things I wish they would have done differently, but there is hope. RICOH has been very responsive to feedback, and I believe that they are genuinely interested in turning the medium format market upside-down. The 645z is an almost perfect start, and with the exciting things happening around the 645 system now and in the future, for me, this is the system I can trust and enjoy working with. Your opinion and workflow may be different, and that’s OK. The 645Z is not for everyone, and it doesn’t pretend to be. But if you know its strength, this is definitely the most powerful medium format tool out there today. And yes, tethering is right around the corner
Some of you are probably curious to find out whether the 28-45mm ED AW SR is able to replace the 25mm f/4.0 at 28mm. 3mm focal length reduction isn’t really a lot, especially if you consider that you gain a total of 20mm zoom range, making this a much more versatile wide to ultra-wide lens for the Pentax 645 system. Image quality wise (non scientific just by looking at the crops), the 28-45mm offers greater center sharpness (and resolution) at 28mm, whereas the 25mm seems to have a slight advantage as you go look further towards the edges of the frame. YMMV.
This is taken with the 25mm at f/9, 125th/sec.
This is taken with the 28-45 at f/9, 125th/sec.
Both images were shot from the same position on a tripod (SR disabled on the 28-45mm). To really get an idea what you will gain (or lose) when shooting with the 25mm or 28-45mm I decided to overlay both images. They are not a perfect fit (because of different distortions), but I am sure you get the idea.
Shake Reduction aside, both are heavy lenses, but I feel that at a similar price point, the 28-45mm ED AW SR is a more versatile choice, which also happens to offer better center sharpness. All images shot on a 645z.
I am excited to share a first look at the brand new RICOH PENTAX DA 645 28-45mm f/4.5 ED AW SR Lens with you.
HD PENTAX DA 645 28-45mm F4.5 ED AW SR Lens Review
I only had the chance to spend a little time with the lens so far, but I can tell you that it is
massive!
super sharp
fast (as in focusing speed)
has nice bokeh (for a wide angle lens that is)
optically stabilized (SR)
has nano coating (reduces glare)
has less distortion than the 25mm f/4
accepts standard filters (82mm)
well built
weather sealed
works really well with the 645Z
has a great workable zoom-range for a wide-angle lens
I actually prefer this over the 25mm f/4, because it is a much more versatile lens at a similar price point
has virtually silent autofocus (in case you want to shoot video with it, this would matter)
has a nice feel to it, and balances well
In case you wonder: this is not a walkaround lens by any means. While it handles really well, it requires some serious commitment when you shoot with it. If you shoot on a tripod, this won’t matter, but handheld is quite intense (as is with any heavy lens). As I said, I was only able to use the lens for a short period of time, and right before its official announcement, but I already took it out and shot some active lifestyle images with it.
I will have more images with detailed BTS from my next shoot, and a full review soon, but this is a strong contender for becoming my favorite lenses for the RICOH PENTAX 645 system.
It’s no secret, I love my Broncolor Move 1200L packs.
I love them so much, that I take them with me almost everwhere I go. They became part of my shotkit, and Broncolor does a good job providing a backpack/trolley when you get on eof their kits. It looks pretty good next to my other bag I often use, and I can attest that the backpack is working (although you may not necessarily want to haul this around on a hike, as the pack with two heads is heavy).
Gotta love the broncolor move 1200L
What I noticed though is that when you use the backpack as a trolley to bring the move packs and heads on set, they are quite bulky and not sturdy enough at all for a tough on-location life. What I mean is that they take up space in your car or truck in a less than most efficient way, while only providing little protection against rough handling. This issue becomes worse when you are forced, as I was recently, to check this backpack and hope it’ll all survice the lovely and careful handling by TSA and airport employees. One of my kits had an umbrella and softbox inside, and both were bent somewhat after the flight. The backpacks are also rather bulky to store. They don’t really fit into my shelves, and they take up quite some space on the ground. I am sure you movepack owners out there have experienced this as well. For me, there was only one solution: get rid of the backpacks (repurpose them), and create my own custom carry cases.
So when I started out with my design, I wanted to make sure that these cases can be locked, that they are air- and watertight, that they have solid and durable wheels, that they come in bright colors (much easier to spot on the conveyor belt), that they look unsuspicious from the outside, and that they can carry at least two move 1200L packs at any given time. While I initially wanted these cases to be carry-on’s, I soon abandoned this idea, because available cases were simply not able to caryy two packs and a few accessories reliably. I also wanted to focus on portability and versatility on the shoots that are more local to me, so I ended up settling for the smallest size possible (which is no longer a carry-on). Next up was to decide on how many packs I want to be able to fit into these cases, and whether I wanted to include the heads as well. I decided against putting the heads into the same case. Here’s why: I figured that I could design a case that would house 8 heads, or simply use an off-the-shelf case to keep lamp heads together. Getting heads into the same case with the packs would just have made it much heavier, and also much bigger. So this is what I ended up with:
move pack custom case
This is the smallest case I could find that was able to accomodate two Broncolor move 1200L packs, as well as some accessories. After thinking about it for a while, I also decided against adding room for spare batteries. I only twice ran out of battery power on a location shoot, and whenever I shoot near an outlet, I can always use the broncolor power adapter to charge the batteries while I am using the packs. It is that the 1200L packs are just so powerful, and I get so many flashes out of them, that it is unlikleyu that I will run out of power, even with only one battery per pack. The cutout of the foam looks like this:
move pack custom case
As you can see, the case allows to securely and safely carrry two broncolor move 1200L packs, as well as up to four RFS2.1 trasmitters. Although not designed for it, the cut outs will also fit some pocket wizards if that’s your poison. I prefer RFS 2.1, because it allows me to control the modeling linghts, as well as the output on each channel for several packs. This comes in handy if one or more of your lights are in remote or difficult to access locations, or simply if you work on your own, or with a lazy assistant As you can see, the packs fit nicely into the custom case:
move 1200L case
What I wanted to make sure when I designed the case is that the move packs would’nt move around when you toss the case, or even have to ship it somewhere. As you can see below, the packs slightly extend through the top of the base foam, which provides just enough pressure on them with the lid closed.
move pack custom case
That said, I love that new case. It provides a safe and secure way for shipping and carrying two move packs to almost anywhere. Next up? A case for four packs, my lampheads, and one to hold a para88 & para133 at the same time. Want one of these for yourself? Message me, and I can hook you up!
Oh, do I miss the good old film days, when all we had to worry about was white balance. Regardless of where we used a particular film, if the light source matched the emulsion composition on the film, we got nice colors. STOP. REWIND. I TAKE THAT BACK!
I do not miss those days. In fact, thinking about it, while digital color calibration is more complex, it is also much more refined, and it allows you to adapt to a changing environment on the spot, without having to change your roll of film, or using a filter. So no, I do not miss those days, but there are some thoughts I want to share with you about color calibration, and why it is important today.
Why Color Calibrate?
See, not all sensors, and most importantly all the processing of sensor data, is equal. Additionally, lenses often introduce a color shift. With some lenses, this high contrast, punchy look is preferred, but what if you switch lenses? What if you shoot with several cameras, maybe a main body and one or two backups? If these are the same bodies, color shift will likely be minimal, but what if your backups use different sensors, because they are different models? Even if they use different firmware versions, the rendering of colors can be different.
Imagine you shoot an event or assignment, and you change lenses in between. All of the sudden, some of your images may look different. Yes, you shoot in raw, and yes, you will be able to correct that color shift in post-processing. Doing so, however, can be very time intensive. Your solution to this problem is to color calibrate your cameras and lenses to a known baseline. Once all your images are color calibrated, any post-processing you will apply then will get you the same and consistent results. So how do we do that?
It is actually rather simple, if you use Lightroom and CameraRaw, if you use some other programs, such as CaptureOne for example, this process is less intuitive. For the purpose of this post, I will focus on Lightroom and CameraRaw, as this is straightforward for these tools. To get started you need a MSCCPP color calibration target. One of such targets is the colorchecker passport. I actually prefer the passport to other targets, because it also has a greycard, as well as additional calibration patches that make your post-processing workflow much faster and more consistent.
Shooting the Target
For the purpose of this quick tutorial I recommend you shooting in a controlled environment, meaning that when you take pictures of your target with different cameras and lenses, you should use the same time of day and location, or even better simply use a flash mounted to your camera (there is no need to make this overly complicated). What you then do is take a shot of the calibration target. Make sure you properly expose the image, as colors look different, if your image is under, or over exposed. To do this, use a light meter. If you do not have one at hand, you can use the greycard on the colorchecker passport with the lightmeter built into your camera.
I strongly advise you to set a custom white balance before you start shooting. You only have to do this once if your lighting conditions don’t change (hence why using a flash is coming in handy). Simply consult your camera’s manual to find out how to do that. The colorchecker passport has a grey target, so this is easily done with the tools you already have. If you do not set your whitebalance, you will have to do this later in post and then EXPORT each file, to make sure that the new white balance has been set. This is just an easy way to streamline your workflow and keep your results consistent.
Once exposure is dialed in, shoot away. Take one image of the colorchecker passport, filling at least half of the frame. Do that for all of your lenses and camera bodies. If you have two bodies and 5 lenses, you will end up with 10 images (each lens on both bodies). Make sure you shoot in RAW (not s-raw), and if you can, shoot in DNG, as this will save you one additional step in this process. When done, you should end up with one image for each body and lens combination you have.
If your raw file format is NOT DNG, you need to convert those files first before you proceed, or use a tool provided by X-RITE, which will allow you to create a profile right out of lightroom. To keep this universal, I will focus on the DNG workflow. So assuming your file is not DNG, simply use the free adobe DNG RAW CONVERTER to convert your raw files into DNG files. If you have set the correct whitebalance before you took these images, you are ready to go. If not, you will need a program, such as lightroom for example, and use the white balance eye-dropper on the 18% grey patch to adjust your white balance. You need to do that with every single image, and then export these images as DNG with the correct white balance set (if you use lightroom, there is an export preset that automatically creates a profile, but in order to keep this simple, we will focus on the DNG approach).
So now you have a bunch of DNG files, one for each camera/lens combination. Simply open the X-RITE DNG profile creator (Adobe has a similar tool which I personally prefer), and load your first image. Follow the instruction and name your profile so that you are able to recall and assign this later on, where applicable. For example if you shoot a Pentax K3 with a 50mm f/1.8 lens, you may want to name your profile “K3-50mm-1.8-smc”, and so on. Once selected, the application will create and save your DNG color profile and make it available in both Lightroom and Camera Raw. Lightroom does a good job in automatically picking a profile once it has been created, but occasionally you may have to manually select the correct corners.
When you start to work with your raw files, all you have to do is select the correct color profile for your camera/lens combination, and all of your images will more closely and consistently represent true colors. The advantage is that you can swap out bodies and lenses during a shoot and still get comparable results for your post-processing baseline. This not only results in more natural looking skin colors, but more importantly in a more accurate representation of what you actually intended to capture.
One last note on this matter: If you add a filter to your lens, such as a CP for example, you will introduce a color shift. Some filters are worse than others, but keep that in mind. Often this shift is desired, but sometimes it may not be at all. A quick workaround is to just shoot your colorchecker passport again and create a new color profile for this setup. The same goes for a change in color temperature. This is in particular apparent when you shoot outdoors and into the sunset for example. While I have found that using a calibrated profile and applying correct whitebalance somewhat solves this issue, colors will shift, and look different in your final image. I can therefore recommend to shoot your colorchecker passport once again in those extreme conditions, and simply create a new profile. This 5-minute step will not significantly slow down your workflow, but you will notice the difference in your images.
Unfortunately, if you are using CaptureOne, you are out of luck, because CaptureOne does not support DNG color profiles. You can create an ICC profile, but there is no automatic matching of colors to baseline swatches available. You have to manually match colors to swatches by using their known RGB values as a reference. If you know of a better way, let me know, because I find this approach rather limiting and tedious.
As you can see, the packs fit nicely into the custom case:
