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A medium format and tech camera newbie gets started (P40+ and Rm3D)

Terry

New member
Many of you on this forum are pros or have large format experience in your past....I don't and thought this might be useful to others that don't. In addition, I've been going all through the different sites reading up on the new Rm3d and there isn't a ton of info available and thought maybe this thread could start a discussion and help others considering this system.

This all started quite innocently. I asked Guy and Jack if they could possibly get a back and tech camera for me to demo at the upcoming Yosemite workshop.

At the same time I was pointed in the direction of a virtually brand new P40+ kit on ebay. At first I brushed it off but the next morning curiosity got the better of me and I checked to see where the auction was. With only a few minutes left, I was pretty surprised there were still no bids (it was being sold by a very reputable dealer). So, after a bit of consultation I placed a bid at the very last minute - actually in the last 30 seconds. The bid confirm and the "congratulations you won" arrived in my inbox simultaneously. Yikes! What had I done! :eek::ROTFL:

So now it was time to start down the path of deciding on a tech camera solution. Bob graciously sent his Cambo to try out while I was in AZ under Guy's tutelage and supervision. In addition, Rod Klukas at Photomark in Phoenix had the Arca Swiss Rm3d in the store for us to demo (in the store). I was a goner with the Arca in a few minutes. It took Guy and I a whole two shots to understand the focus system and the whole thing just felt right to me. We spent about two hours with Rod learning various facets of the camera and spent some time with a laser measuring and focusing (at pretty close range) and were both impressed with how accurate we could be (with more than just a wide angle lens). We also did a few shots with shifts for stitching.

So, I ended up buying the Rm3d that afternoon (with Schneider 35mm Apo-Digitar XL). I know this is a pretty major system for a newbie but like tripods I didn't want to try a bunch and end up where I just should have started in the first place. Also, if I hated it I knew some others interested in the system :p

Deciding Factor:
Focusing is fantastic

Other positives:
Great viewfinder/mask system

Today the Arca arrived and Jack got to do the grand unboxing with me. Sorry there are no youtube videos posted of this event! But alas shortly after that I needed to do some work (to actually afford this stuff). I finally got out for about an hour late this afternoon.

These are just some of my TEST shots (so if you hate people posting test shots you can stop now). I was not using the viewfinder and looking to get great framing. I was simply getting the workflow ingrained. These are essentially straight from the camera and resized.

figure out exposure/focus/cock shutter/wake back/fire

Again this was not an exercise in framing.



crop



Used a laser to measure the distance to the pole and was going to try and snap people as they walked by that area. My shutter speed was a bit slow but the laser in combination with the focus distance chart (supplied with each lens) gave me a sharp pole





I know not the ideal shot direction time of day combo



crop


I knew he was going to leave the beach so I dialed in the my new estimated distance and was very quickly able to get him in pretty decent focus.




If you've read this far.... if you thought the cube instructions were pretty funny considering the product price....be prepared the Rm3d instructions are very similarly presented.
 
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Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Very nice Terry! Looks like you are having a lot of fun.
I know what you mean about arca manuals.
"Please find enclosed your camera. Have a nice day" :ROTFL:
-bob
 

PeterA

Well-known member
Congratulations Terry - looking forward to your camera porn shots - :bugeyes:

I would love to see how you use a laser to get focus accurate and how you convert a laser distance reading to the Schneider lens scale

the RM3D looks very sexy.

Oh and does the P40+ require a wake-up cable? If not the P40+ and 65+ become far more interesting to me for tech shooting.

enjoy!
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Congratulations Terry.

I just got an Alpa Max myself - instructions? What instructions? :ROTFL: Luckily I used to shoot with a 4x5 view camera for a while and also a Fotoman 45PS and this stuff is like riding a bicycle - you never fully forget. Just remember the sequence, particularly if you use the ground glass and will be composing/filtering off that. At least also with digital there's no dark slide to forget either!

Have fun.
 

thomas

New member
would love to see how you use a laser to get focus accurate and how you convert a laser distance reading to the Schneider lens scale
on the Rm3D there is no scale as they are normally provided in helical focus mount. The Rm3D has its own scaling (with super fine increments). Too, the scaling is linear (not logarithmic) - so once you've figured out the deviation for your particular sensor you can use that offset all the time (i.e. on the Rm3D you don't have to shim the back or to adjust the infinity setting on the lens). I am finding this a briliant design.

Terry - have fun!
 

Joan

New member
Wow, Terry, you have gone over the edge! :D When I got your email and came here to read the thread, I had to go to Google first just to see what the heck a Rm3d was, lol! Amazing looking camera, congratulations!! Hope you have a lot of fun with it!
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Cool Terry!
I find this a very interesting camera. Keep us posted how you like it and how you get along.
 

Terry

New member
Peter,
In addition to what Thomas answered, each lens comes with a little card that converts your distance to the focus point to a number. For instance, (I'm just making these numbers up) if your subject is 22 feet away then the number on the card says 8, you turn the focus dial to 8 and you are dead on. At 50 feet you might be at number 2 (closer to infinity). In addition on the viewfinder there are also scales so can figure out what will be in focus on the near end and far end. On a wide angle lens like the 35mm the spread of numeric focus values isn't huge and you will essentially know them pretty quickly without the card.

Also, once you get good at judging distances (knowing when something is 15 feet or 25 feet in front of you) the need for a laser essentially disappears. For instance the only time I used a laser on the shots posted above was to get an exact distance to the light pole. I'm playing a little game with myself to at least guess a distance before lasering the spot to get better at guessing.

The P40+ and P65+ do not require a wake up cable on zero latency. That is the good news. The bad new is it drains the battery faster and leaving the sensor on all the time can lead to more noise in the file. I shot that way with Guy on Friday. Yesterday, Jack lent me two different cables which both included a way to wake the sensor so I switched to normal latency and was waking up the back. One of the reasons I liked the P40+ was that it didn't need to be woken up. However, I didn't find shooting with waking it up to be problematic. I actually liked the cheaper of Jack's cable better for waking the back because could see exactly when to release the shutter (the back has a countdown). I will carry both a simple synch cord and one with a wakeup in my bag and can decide which way I want to shoot.
 
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Terry

New member
on the Rm3D there is no scale as they are normally provided in helical focus mount. The Rm3D has its own scaling (with super fine increments). Too, the scaling is linear (not logarithmic) - so once you've figured out the deviation for your particular sensor you can use that offset all the time (i.e. on the Rm3D you don't have to shim the back or to adjust the infinity setting on the lens). I am finding this a briliant design.

Terry - have fun!
I wanted to just get out and play yesterday afternoon so I haven't gone through this calibration step yet. I think the best/easiest way to do it would be tethered.

For those that want to better understand what you here are the instructions I was given, pick an item far enough away to be almost at infinity (I was told like power lines about a half mile away). Go outside and take a picture of something with fine detail say 1/2 mile away like a power line. Take it a '0', '1', and '2' on the numbers. Take your card out and look at it on the computer at 200% at least. If '1' or '2' is sharper, then shoot again at .5 above or below
whichever number was the sharpest. Now check again as before and decide
which is sharper then repeat and refine by .2 on either side of the sharpest.
Check on computer again and refine by .1 on either side. When the focus is sharpest note the difference from '0' and that is your factor.

From that point forward you always know how much to add to the indicated number on the focus ring.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Looking great Terry. I'm just a little jealous here. In reality I was very concerned that a tech cam would be too much for her in some ways. Lets face it Terry has been too many of our workshops and she has grown in leaps and bounds with regard to her shooting abilities and frankly has gotten damn good. This I thought without shooting MF first with the Phase body would be tough but after a hour working with this cam and it's actually ability to nail focus instead of a wishful guess i fell head over heels with it. The focusing is a brillant design from Arca. They deserve a lot of credit on this one. Never seen anything like it and built like a tank. Yea my GAS has been raised several points myself.

Now i do know the folks at Photomark here in Phoenix and Rod is a good guy for sure. What I did not know was my own dealer Capture Integration also sells Arca cams and can hook us up with these amazing tech cams as well. I'm a big Arca fan and Also a big Alpa fan which Paul at Optechs sells Alpa. So do look at these dealers for some of this stuff. These are folks that are not only great memebers on this forum but great dealers as well and I always like to help them as they help us out on a daily basis with great information for us to learn.

This is one sweet system but it is also not a low budget one either so again pick these systems wisely.
 

Terry

New member
Hey Terry, which laser are you using?
I sprang for the Leica Disto D5. I found a place on line (CPO Leica) that had factory refurbs for significantly cheaper (only difference being one year vs three year warranty).

The cool feature on this laser is the viewfinder. You have a lcd screen that is essentially a live view image of what you are measuring so even if you can't see the red dot you can still get an accurate idea of what you are measuring.

http://www.leica-geosystems.us/en/Leica-DISTO-D5_74709.htm

Link to factory refurb...
http://www.cpoleica-geosystems.com/...553,default,pd.html?start=4&cgid=leica-distos
 

Tim Ernst

New member
OK, thanks Terry. I've got an Alpa arriving in the next day or two so will get to go through the same fun that you just started.
 

thomas

New member
I sprang for the Leica Disto D5. I found a place on line (CPO Leica) that had factory refurbs for significantly cheaper (only difference being one year vs three year warranty).

The cool feature on this laser is the viewfinder. You have a lcd screen that is essentially a live view image of what you are measuring so even if you can't see the red dot you can still get an accurate idea of what you are measuring.
yeah, the D5 is great. I think I have to get one of those, too. I do have a small Leica Disto A3 and it actually works really good. But it doesn't work in bright sunlight at wider distances... and, of course, in very bright light you won't see the red laser spot with the A3.
 

Terry

New member
What I did not know was my own dealer Capture Integration also sells Arca cams and can hook us up with these amazing tech cams as well.....These are folks that are not only great memebers on this forum but great dealers as well and I always like to help them as they help us out on a daily basis with great information for us to learn.

This is one sweet system but it is also not a low budget one either so again pick these systems wisely.
Yeah....it certainly was a DUH!!! moment not realizing CI also dealt with the camera. Dave, Doug, etc have been really helpful to me at previous workshops and with other products like my cube.
 

thomas

New member
I wanted to just get out and play yesterday afternoon so I haven't gone through this calibration step yet. I think the best/easiest way to do it would be tethered.
definitely yes!

pick an item far enough away to be almost at infinity (I was told like power lines about a half mile away).
I am finding this impractical as you you don't see where the actual focus spot is. A row of houses or so shot from an appropriate angle is better as you can always see if you get "back"- or "front"-focus. The whole process simply goes faster like this.

On the Rm3D - as far as my understanding goes - you can also set up the camera to a subject that is, say, 5 meters away (exactly 5 meters). Now set the lens to the respective value and take a capture. See if focus hits the right spot. If not, figure out how to compensate... If the compensation is, say, 5 steps more (or less) you can use those plus/minus 5 steps for all distances and all lenses (as long as they are accurately adjusted ex factory).
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Yes Thomas you can actually nail focus under infinity which really got me very excited about the system.
 

thomas

New member
Yes Thomas you can actually nail focus under infinity which really got me very excited about the system.
this is really a great strength of this camera!

However it's not impossible to hit focus with other tech cameras...
At closer distances focussing on the ground glass works really accurate for me. The real challenge are farther distances close but not quite ininity.
I came up with this workaround ... the increments are still quite rough but it works really well... as long as my laser distometer works.
(in case that the snapshot is too soft... I taped additional indications on the lens and listed them on the side of the lens panel. In this case 4 indications for 12, 16, 27 and 50 meters distances on the 70HR lens).
 
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