Phase One

A new era in Medium format photography

The Phase One IQ250 Medium Format digital back was announced today. This is the first time we see a modern CMOS sensor that is larger than 36x24mm (full-frame 35mm) in Medium Format.

CMOS technology has improved over the last 14 years, since the Leaf C-Most came out (36x24mm, 6MP) and the IQ250’s 44x33mm, 50MP brings high ISO capabilities, fast capture rate and excellent Live View functionality, previously available only in high-end DSLRs.

As expected, a number of naysayers and armchair warriors are jumping through hoops to find “holes in the plan” and to compare it to cameras 10 times cheaper; some in attempt to justify their own purchase decisions and some because they cannot see why some photographers like, want or need to shoot medium format…none of it is new and I’ve been around long enough to know that there’s a huge gap between on-line forum chatter and what happens in the real world…gladly in favour of the latter.

What they fail to realise, perhaps because they can only see and read numbers and charts on their computers’ screens (easier than stepping out and taking photos) is that this is a milestone for Medium Format and for Photography in general, regardless of format. Adopting and implementing this technology in “larger than 35mm” cameras is a sign of good things to come and it demonstrates the strength and the breadth of “Team Phase One” and its ability to innovate and to lead the market for the foreseeable future!

The Leaf Story

I wrote a small article for a friend’s blog about the history of this incredible company I’ve been working for for the last 12 years, here it is enjoy:

From Science to Art: The Story of Leaf

Been travelling A LOT lately and am currently in Auckland, New Zealand after a week in Australia and before heading for Hong-Kong…a very hectic schedule but I’m really enjoying it and I promise to write some more and of course post some photos as soon as I’m back home in a week’s time.

2010 is over, 2011 is well underway!!!

Been a while since I last had time to post any new stuff…

The last several months were a bit manic, work and travel wise, with 4-5 trips every month on average. Mostly were to boring places but there were a few highlights, lead by St. Petersburg in Russia and a recent holiday trip to Israel.

We got to spend a couple of days in Jerusalem and walked through the old city from the whaling wall to the Christian and Armenian quarters. Loved the colours, sounds and smells of food and spices !!! My trusty Nikon was a joy to use in those narrow allies though there were times where I wish I had some more horsepower to record all those textures and colours:-)

(Click to open in a new large window and then click again to enlarge)

Then we took a drive down to the dead sea. I always find this place to be magical with its stunning vistas and beautiful combinations of land and water colours, especially at sunrise and dusk.

Salt crystals (millions of them) on the “sandy” beaches:

Evening haze makes the mountains and the air disolve into the salty water

As always in the desert you are amazed at the number of stars that can be seen!!!

My first real work trip this year was to Mexico thanks to Leaf and the new Aptus-II 12, to a little magical town called San Miguel Del Allende where I was hosted by my friends Teya and Michael Reichmann in their wonderful Casa Lula

I was there only for 3 days but this gave us an opportunity to walk around the town’s cobbled streets, squares and markets and to try some of the local kitchen (thank you Michael and Teya!) and to of course talk about and shoot the new camera!!!