"Gate"
First - As many know I'm not a reviewer in any true sense of
the word; I'm more of a sharer. I like
to share my experiments and testing; experiments to see how far I can stretch
the rubber band before it snaps and testing to see how I can best use my equipment in actual use. Actual use for
me is standing on a cliff face of the Grand Canyon or in the desert of Death Valley Jackson
Hole WY
"Water Trough"
18-months ago when I first saw the new IQ back I knew I
wanted one. I could see
the possibilities of working with it on a technical camera. I saw the improvements as being a perfect fit
in not only addressing some long concerns I had but making the capture workflow
easier and smoother. All this after one
afternoon of taking a few images and watching Guy Mancuso work it as well. I remember using it on my Cambo WRS while Guy
used it on his Phase One DF body and both us were very pleased. I went
home shortly after that determined that I would learn more about the IQ back
and eventually have one.
"Water Trough"
Stepping back a little here I'll explain a little history on
my back. There was a rash of upgrades to
the IQ backs and I was able to get a great deal on a used P65+ from Dave Gallagher, Capture Integration. As much
as I liked the P65 the IQ was never far from my thoughts. Guy upgraded to the IQ160 using it with his
DF and shortly after buying a Cambo WRS traded the IQ160 for an IQ140. To make a long story short - the IQ160 I
currently own was Guy's. Once again Dave
Gallagher came through for me.
So was I correct in my assumptions the IQ would be a perfect
fit on a technical camera, specifically my WRS?
The very short answer is yes. The
longer answer follows.
"Water Hole #2"
I've found the time it takes to wake the IQ160 is much
faster. By waking I mean from the moment
I press the power button it's faster than my old P65+. I've also found the act of formatting the
same card I've used in the P65+ is faster.
I've also found the screen size is just as good as I thought it was
18-months ago; not to mention the vast improvement in the resolution. I can't speak to capture rate as I've only
really been using this on the WRS. Once
again, Dave Gallagher comes through with a test that can be found here.
"Water Hole #1"
So did the IQ160 make my capture workflow better? Again yes.
I took the system out a couple days ago to shoot and get better acquainted. It's one thing to shoot in your back yard and
different when away; again it's all about that safety net.
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"Water Hole #1"
I found setup was fast and easy. Set the tripod up and placed the camera on my
Arca Swiss Cube. I decided to use my
Kapture Group 2-shot cable release as it was hot out and I didn't want the back
to get overheated and reduce the image files by adding undue noise due to heat (I would have done this no matter
the back used). Using my Leica D5 I
measured the distance as I normally would however this time I tried to keep it
well under 20 feet. I also used my
Schneider 35mm lens which goes from 20 feet to infinity in less than 3/16 of an
inch.
"The Old Man"
The capture workflow turned out to level the camera, focus
the lens, set the f/stop (either f/11 or f/8) then set the shutter speed and
cock the shutter. After this was done I
turned the back on if it was off. Shoot
a LCC then the file and as soon as the image appeared I'd see the focus mask
telling me where it was in focus. Since
focus mask is only an approximation based on contrast of the subject I would
then double tap the screen to go 100% and using my finger move the image
around checking various areas. It's much
faster to do it than explain how to do it.
"Loading Pen"
This was my first time out without the safety net and found
that all my assumptions were correct. I
still need to try the live view function and that will happen later. Right now I can say, based on my (limited)
experience with the IQ160 it is a match made in heaven, okay Denmark
Stay turned as there's more to come.
Please remember your comments and suggestions are always
welcome.
Don
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