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Just to add info for the next person googling this topic…
I have a Phase One DF paired with a Phase One P65+, and now the S2. The handling between these two cameras is very different. The S2 is like a large dSLR and its viewfinder easily surpasses the Phase One DF in terms of brightness, perhaps size and clarity. To put this into perspective, one of my favorite lenses is the Mamiya 645M 200mm F2.8 APO. This is a totally manual lens and requires stop-down metering. On the Phase One DF my manual focus keeper-rate is around 10-20% at wide apertures. On my first outing with the S2 (using the Leica S / Mamiya adapter), after 174 pictures, 155 images where in focus to an acceptable degree. That's 89%! Half of those pictures were with the Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO.
The Phase One DF system is best suited on tripod (in my opinion) and using MLU. My handheld shooting results are not good and the lack of results led to the S2 purchase. With the Leica S2, I as popping off handheld shots easily. Zooming in on the rear LCD to check focus & sharpness is very doable; the LCD is much better than the rear LCD on the Phase One P+ series. The S2 auto-focus is slow, but it's more accurate than the Phase One DF. A big difference in the shooting experience is that the Phase One P65+ base ISO is 50 and the S2 is ISO 160. So, there is a big, big difference in shutter speeds. I could boost the P65+ ISO to 100 or 200, but all of its 60 megapixel goodness is at ISO 50.
So, while the S2 wins in the handling department, the P65+ outputs better files. The files (at ISO 50) are cleaner, the color graduations are much better and hold much better in post processing, and the dynamic range is slightly better. Lightroom 4 blurs that dynamic range comparison a little bit, but I still think the ISO 50 shots from the P65+ have more headroom in the highlights. And Phase One's Sensor+ performance is quite impressive. Shooting a P65+ back at ISO 800 or 1600 sort of defeats the purposes of all that quality, but the ISO 800 performance is — good! ISO 1600 is usable and looks fine in print.
My gut feeling is – if ergonomics are very important and you want to use the camera like a dSLR, get the S2. On the other hand, if file quality is “the” most important aspect and you're willing to battle with the camera, then get the Phase back. I really like Phase One backs and find their files to be simply amazing, but their system is handicapped by the Phase One DF. I've used other Phase backs with the Mamiya 645AFD II, the difference between the 645AFD II and the DF in terms of the viewfinder and autofocus is slim and none.
Hi David –
It's been a frustrating day… I've been using flashes on Canon gear for 10 years and feel competent with flashes. After 100 clicks and no joy with TTL and the S2 I was thoroughly stumped.
Perhaps I missed it, but I've read the S2 manual 2X, the SF-58 (found no mention of the S2 anywhere) and went to the Leica owners area to see if there was a SF-58 supplement. Finally, I googled S2 & SF-58 and found a reply in another forum where you said TTL-HSS is TTL on the S2.
Finding your post saying TTL won't work was a relief because I thought something was broken or my settings were wrong. So for my reward, (if you know why) can you help me understand why the TTL mode doesn't operate and we need TTL-HSS instead? In Canon land, operating in high speed sync mode reduces the output power.
Thank you.
Hi Gérard –
Is purple CA before editing in CS6 or after editing in CS6? Also, do you use Lightroom as your raw editor? Lightroom v4.1 rc2 has the same Adobe Camera Raw module (version 7.1) built-in.
Thus far I have not been very impressed with Adobe's CA removal. The CA removal in Capture One is more effective are in most cases removes all purple color fringing. Unfortunately the C1 lens corrections are grayed-out on the Leica S2 DNG.
+1 FOR ISO:
On the Phase One backs with Sensor+ the ISO steps as such: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 200+, 400+, 800+, 1600+ and 3200+. It's quite simple and easy to know when you are or are not in Sensor+ mode.
If Leica could implement the same with the reduced read speeds & channels, that would be amazing – and maybe they could add pixel binning as well. Theoretically the combination of two might allow for a 3-4 stop improvement (2 stops due to read out changes + another 2 stops for binning). A S2 with a top ISO 10,000 would really put the S2 at the forefront of the digital medium format for handheld shooting.
+1 FOR 100% QUICK ZOOM
Maybe when the image review comes up, one of the corners acts as a hot button for a quick zoom? This seems like a very easy to feature to implement.
+1 ISO IN THE VIEWFINDER
This is a no-brainer and especially important when auto ISO is enabled; I want to know when the ISO has jumped up a stop.
MY INFO SCREEN
The S2 menu options are quite long. I would like to create a consolidated screen with 4 to 6 of my somewhat common uses. I already have the soft buttons set up for – ISO, EC, Metering Mode and Focus Mode. They “My Info” menu would be 100% customizable in the same way. My selections would be:
– FEC Adjustment
– Drive Mode
– Format
– MLU
– Time / date (handy for when changing time zones; critical for GPS syncing)
– Card write optionsEverybody's list would be different, those are just examples of what I would select.
CAMERA OVERVIEW SCREEN
When the menu is turned on, we get the four quadrants. I would like to see that slightly reworked and add in some the info we have on the Leica M9, such as:
– Bar graph showing how much battery charge left
– How many shutter actuations on the current battery (handy for tracking battery life)
– Bar graph showing the memory card statusINPUT FOCAL LENGTH
When manual lenses (like the Mamiya 645M's), it would be nice to be able to enter the focal length and max aperture. Maybe we could create a list presets and when we attach a manual lens, we select one of our presets.
META DATA
This has probably been mentioned, but I missed it. The ability to enter photographer name, copyright, rights, website.
JPEG SIZES
When writing DNG + JPEG, I'd like to select maybe 18 MP or 9 MP JPEG. I'd really like to have some small that I could get onto an iPad easily.
CAMERA SHUTTER COUNT & LENS SHUTTER COUNT
I don't understand why this data is hidden. For leaf shutter lenses this info is very important. This info could be listed in the firmware info screen.
GPS BUILT INTO THE VERTICAL GRIP
This doesn't really fit in this list, but I would love to see GPS added into the vertical grip.
Thank you for the link, that was a very helpful thread. Wish they could change the system (Aperture, Shutter & ISO) to shift in 1/3 increments. It certainly isn't the end of world, but I was surprised not to see 1/2 v 1/3 option like the M9.
Was there write-up summarizing the meeting? I would like know the next lenses are expected and what firmware features we may see.
