John Henshall’s Chip Shop Medium format digital is unshackled PHASE ONE P25 John Henshall looks at Phase One’s completely self-contained 22 megapixel medium format digital back and considers how well its images compare with large format film. ith a market share of over (1.9 x 1.4 inch) 22 megapixel sensor two thirds, Danish which virtually fills the imaging company Phase One are aperture of a 6 x 4.5 camera body. W the world leaders in This sizzling slice of silicon accounts medium format digital camera backs. for most of the cost of the P25 and is Almost six years ago I looked at the made by the world’s largest Phase One LightPhase 6 megapixel photographic company. back ( Chip Shop February 1999) and Yes, be it film of silver or sliver of described the images it produced as silicon in the back of your medium ‘exquisite’. Somewhat cheekily – format SLR, the recording of the image forever asking for more – I also is still down to Kodak. commented, ‘If Phase One … make When Eric Joakim brought the LightPhase completely portable, its P25 out to me in Oxfordshire, my first versatility will increase even more.’ impressions were of a digital back That was asking the impossible back which was a marvel of simplicity of then, when digital backs for medium design and perfection of construction. after the first few minutes. format digital cameras had to be The outer casing of the MFB-1 film Also on the rear of the P25 is a shackled to computers. back for my Contax 645 seems to be recessed IEEE1394/FireWire socket, The first untethered medium format polycarbonate but the P25, which is enabling the back to be used in digital backs in fact came from Kodak only a little larger, is strong machined- tethered mode if desired. On the right but the 16 megapixel CCDs used were from-the-solid alloy. hand side, a Lithium-Ion battery sits far from full-frame. The products were Eric Joakim proved the point by neatly into a recess. On the left is one discontinued when Kodak introduced standing on the back, with his full further button for removing the back its 13.5 megapixel full-frame 35mm- weight applied. That’s on a par with from the camera body and two sockets type DSLRs which have almost the standing on the bonnet of a Rolls Royce for use with mechanical bodies, such as same pixel count. to show how strong it is. Hasselblad V series. There’s also a In January 2004, just in time for The rear panel has a colour LCD large flap, behind which is the slot for PMA Las Vegas in February, Phase One screen – which serves all the menu the CF-card and a button for ejecting it. m o c really set the cat among the medium functions as well as review of images – How do you review a camera such . e r format pigeons by announcing its and just five buttons. One of these is as this? Pages full of menu screens? t n e c totally untethered, and thus completely the power on/off control, the other four Diagrams of what controls are where? - i p portable, P25 and P20 backs. silver-coloured rectangular buttons The decision was made as soon as e @ n Other manufacturers followed with address all the camera menu functions I’d viewed my first exposure using the h o j l similar announcements of intentions to in a way which I can only describe as P25 – of my ‘standard’ house. I’ve used l a h produce untethered medium format pure genius. this subject instead of test charts for s n some years, searching for a camera e digital backs but, to date, that’s what Yes, it needs genius to design a H n they remain – intentions for 2005. menu system which is immediately which would resolve the name on the h o J Phase One’s product, on the other intuitive to navigate. Compare this with house’s nameplate. y b hand, is here. Now. At the moment it’s any DSLR, with its multitude of I was so astounded by the incredible 4 0 0 the only one in the world. buttons, switches and control wheels. amount of detail in that first shot that I 2 © The P20 has a 36.9 x 36.9 (1.4 x 1.4 The P25 is probably the highest decided to put the P25 to the ultimate t h g i inch) square format 16 megapixel quality untethered digital camera ever test: a comparative shoot between the r y p sensor. The P25 has a 48.9 x 36.7mm – and yet I didn’t even need the manual P25, 5x4 and 10x8 film. o C CHIP SHOP at www.epi-centre.com December 2004 1 John Henshall’s Chip Shop m o c . e r t n e c - i p e @ n h o j l l a h s n e H n h o J y b 4 Phase One P25 0 0 D 2 80mm lens on Mamiya 645AF © t h g i r 1/60 ƒ16 ISO100 y p o C CHIP SHOP at www.epi-centre.com December 2004 2-3 John Henshall’s Chip Shop m o c . e r t n e c - i p e @ n h o j l l a h s n e H n h o 5 x 4 Film J y b 4 0 0 210mm lens on Sinar P2 2 © t h g i 1/60 @ ƒ28 +1/3 stop r y p o C CHIP SHOP at www.epi-centre.com December 2004 4-5 John Henshall’s Chip Shop m o c . e r t n e c - i p e @ n h o j l l a h s n e H n h o J y b 10 x 8 Film 4 0 0 2 © t 300mm lens on Sinar P2 h g i r y p 1/60 @ ƒ28 +2/3 stop o C 6-7 John Henshall’s Chip Shop First I enlisted the help of an of course. Look at the insets of the eminent photographer who uses 10x8: Bear House sign and gate sections. Jay Myrdal. You can see some of his The Pentel lettering on the gates is superb work at www.myrdal.com only half an inch high yet at sixty feet Jay is an enthusiastic user of the 6 away it can be read quite clearly. These megapixel Phase One LightPhase, so he sections are not taken from the drum was keen to bring inquisitiveness and scans, however. experience to our comparative shoot. They were obtained by cutting up I had not realised just how critical two of the transparencies and scanning the set-up of a 10x8 camera is. sections of them at 4000 pixels per Using a shutter speed of 1/60 second inch in my Nikon Super CoolScan 8000. – the slowest Jay felt was safe to use Had I been able to scan the whole 10x8 to avoid camera-shake – and push- in this way, the resulting file would processing by 2/3 stop gave us an have been 1.2 gigabytes – an aperture half a stop closed on ƒ22. This impossibly large file to have to handle. still did not give Jay quite enough That’s a phenomenal amount of depth-of-field for his liking. He would redundant – wasted – information in have preferred ƒ/64 or ƒ/96. Focus the 10x8 film. In fact the Crosfield therefore had to be tilted carefully drum scan of the 10x8 came in at 7376 between the railings, front of the house x 5871 pixels (737 ppi) giving a filesize and chimney and across from right to of 124MB. The scan of the 5x4 was left, to compensate for the oblique 7292 x 5808 pixels (1458 ppi) giving a shooting angle. filesize of 121.2MB. Setting up and adjusting 10x8 or 5x4 An A3 page with bleeds requires takes a considerable amount of skill. 5030 x 3580 pixels – a RGB filesize of Jay later remarked that I had said ‘I’m 51.5MB. All three far exceed this. done’ before he had even put the Sinar Jay Myrdal sums it up: “Once you camera together. can go to a good A3 you can go to a 48 The P25 is very easy to set up and sheet poster. The P25 would enlarge to operate. Mount the camera on the any size with no problem. I could use it tripod, select the lens, make a test for all my work, even on the Sinar for exposure, check on the LCD using the the movements when necessary.” histogram or flashing highlight burn- I say that the image quality from out warning, make the exposure and the P25 is not just excellent but quite check you’ve got it. The raw image file simply the best I have ever seen from is then processed using Phase One’s an instant capture digital camera. highly acclaimed Capture One Pro WIN A PHASE ONE P20 DIGITAL BACK software – which will also process raw files from your Canon, Fuji and Nikon This kind of state-of-the-art quality does not come DSLRs. That’s it. cheaply. As the Rolls Royce salesman is said to With large format, first you have to have remarked, “If you have to ask the price you probably can’t afford it anyway.” buy the film (over £5 per sheet) load You would never buy a product such as this the dark slides, set up the camera, without having a demonstration in your studio, expose a Polaroid, expose the film, followed by a day or two’s use at your own speed.