Medium Format V's DSLR

In the Golden Greats project, all the images were shot on my Phase One P65+ with Schneider lenses.

All that is apart from one.

When we held the private view somebody asked if they were all shot with Phase One?

I said one was not, and asked that person if he could spot it?

I was all too aware which was shot on a DSLR when the prints were being done....and I will come on to that a little later.

But could other photographers there spot it?

Every single one did, and it became quite a talking point, and I found myself, rightly or wrongly, justifying or even defending myself for shooting that one portrait on a DSLR.

Why did Lucinda and I shoot this on the Canon 5d MkII?

Well the idea was to shoot the portrait at F1.2, and this was the very first shot in the series, we wanted to shoot the image on the Phase but time just didn't allow it to happen.

Lucinda was in the Canon camp while I was in the Phase One camp......

We were, and still are, very pleased with the portrait of David Hemery who won gold in the 400 meters hurdles in Mexico 1968, check this YouTube video of his win out and see the margin by which he wins, setting a world record in the process.

I knew there would be a difference between DSLR and Phase One, but I must admit I was taken aback by the gap.

Let me make one thing clear this is not an attack on the 5dmkII.

And I'm not really being totally fair, two different sized files etc

But this is a real world comparison as to how two similar files look when printed BIG

It remains my DSLR of choice(5d MkIII pending, until my credit card gets over the pounding meted out by the purchase of the brilliant Canon C300)

A truly amazing and versatile camera, though don't expect it to hold up compared to a Phase One, particularly if you intend to make a print more than a meter wide.

I know it is not every day that one does this, but when you do what a difference.......

21 megapixels v 60 megapixels, are I believe only part of the story, the rest of the disparity coming from 16 bit capture and those Schneider LS lenses.

I formally used the Hasselblad 'H' System with various different Phase One backs and I made the switch to the Phase One system, a big part of the decision was the lenses, I feel the Schneider LS lenses outperform the Hasselblad lenses on every level, they are smaller and lighter too.

Digital fusion ran a series of tests which make pretty interesting viewing.

How would the Nikon D800 have fared? I would like to do a test at some point but suspect that even with more pixels than the 5D MkII that it would not be close.

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A true Gem of a photograph from Focus on Imaging

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I'm very happy with this!