Why I am no longer using the Phaseone camera system

For most people it is a rather frightening decision to move to another camera platform and for a good reason.

You invest quite an amount of money and time, adjust your workflows etc. sometimes over several years.

Especially for a someone like myself who only picks up the camera 4 or 5 times per year it is quite an effort to attune to this world and changing everything is very unatractive.

However their might come a time where you find it is time to make the change nontheless.

When I started with photography and very early I invested heavily in the Phaseone platform since I was stunned by the image quality rivaled by no other camera. In fact I never saw a digital camera coming so close to an analogue look which I simply love.

The system is very modular and I even used the IQ backend with a Horseman camera architectural frame which generated gorgeous results.

But while the IQ is a great camera it also holds a number of really annoying challenges.

• The prices of everything
  Even the smallest accessory costs a fortune.
  A simple metal frame to attach the backend to the horseman camera costs 450 Euros.
  Standard lenses are worth several thousands.
  A new FX body is about 8000! Euros even though it is far from being on par with modern cameras.
  An up to date backend is around 30000! Euros.
  Even a smaller used one is much above 10000 Euros … Madness !
• Bugs
  To name a few: For years I could not rate my images consistently due to bugs in the star feature. Often I lost ratings after a while with hours of work wasted.
  Very often Adjustments where lost due to issues with the sidecar files.
  For years and still they are unable to provide a decent explorer like image managing. You can easily blow up your entire archive when the drive letter on windows changes which it does all the time. You need to relocate all folders then which takes ages to enumerate.
  The DF cameras suffered from many physical deficiencies like mirror locks etc.
• The support is simply awful
  The C1 Software and also the camera are still quite buggy.
  On the other hand you cannot rely on the support which pushes you off with generic answers but never solving your problems.
• Bad ISO ranges
  The older IQ backends cannot cope with even slight ISO raises. You simply cannot work without artifical light when the ambient light is not really powerful. That makes you inflexible quite often.
• The autofocus is an epic failure
  Ok I prefer the Hyperfocal even during an editorial so I do not use the Autofocus often. But if you use it, take care not to miss the focus because it misses more often than not.

Now last year I was doing a small editorial with my muse Sofia who had come over from Kiyv for a week. We are strongly attuned to each other but repeating camera mirror jams simply kick you out of your mutual experience and ruin the session. After while we were so unnerved that we decided to spend our time elsewise. Its a baleful thing when such a simple requisite is not working properly.

Imagine that this is not what you expect from such an expensive camera that claims to be the best on the market. I was finally so annoyed that I looked into alternatives but also got a pricing for a new IQ backend.

So guess what happens when Phaseone offers you a new camera for at least 30k plus 8k for a new body not counting new lenses etc. ?

You test the Fuji GSX50S and find its not only much cheaper but technically superior. When you look at the best possible images closely you would still favor the Phaseone but to be honest … for a hobbiest like myself its hard to tell the difference and so you buy a Fuji … granted that using a medium format is a luxury anyway and not really necessary.

I really think that Phaseone should think about their pricing strategy and a more robust experience. Other vendors have mostly closed the gap and such prices are simply out of tune.

Sorry Phaseone … Image Quality is superior but not everything …