Hasselblad and Ultima Digital

[Maddog59]

The argument can go on forever, however I prefer to pay extra 10gs for quality. Peter

I totally agree with you! When you see the Hass image and compare them to any 35mm it is chalk and cheese! Although mine is still only film I can say that the Carl Zeiss lenses for the Hass are astounding and these guys can go on about cost but when you consider that most of the pro photoraphers out there have 2, 3 or even 4 complete dSLR systems on an assignment plus back up cameras and lenses whats the cost of one Hass system campared to that.
As for the flooding issue, I often use 35mm motion cameras in housings (when you consider that these can cost up too $500k per system) I have never lost a camera to flooding! And I only hire the cameras and lenses from a rental company. Guys, these are not consumer housings and are designed for the work they do and it is the same with the Hass housings. If you ever get to use one you will understand the difference! See attached Photo's of 35mm motion camera housing.

Peter

 

[highdesert]

OP ... buy an ad.

 

[bvanant]

I was only commenting on your statement that it is "just a little more". Clearly if you are getting great shots from your camera then you should be happy. Can you post some of your pics or link us to some, that would be great. I have seen a bunch of Walt Stearn's stuff and it is pretty amazing. If I were shooting models in a pool with controlled lighting then I could see using a lot bigger format than full frame 35 mm, but I haven't yet seen any typical UW pics that I could say "wow that must have been shot MF". Given that the DXO guys think that the 5DMII has "better" image quality than either of the Hasselblads (the 39 and the 50) I would like to see some wide angle or macro scenes that show the advantages of the Hassy especially for prints like 20x24 inches.
I wasn't trying to be offensive, so I am sorry if you felt offended but to most folks on this board 10K is more than a "little bit" of money.

Bill

 

[Rainer]

So 10Gs is "a little more" for you?

The argument can go on forever, however I prefer to pay extra 10gs for quality. Peter

 

[bvanant]

Guys, these are not consumer housings and are designed for the work they do and it is the same with the Hass housings. If you ever get to use one you will understand the difference!

Funny, they look a lot like Seacam housings and they are using Subtronic strobes (which you may or may not think of as consumer strobes). Since I have minimal interest in shooting models in pools, I would like to see some pics from an ocean dive where you can see the advantages of shooting this system.

For shooting on land, I think the Hassy system is quite nice and the lenses are fine, but if I were shooting in the studio, I would probably shoot an H1 or H2 plus a Phase One back. Lots more quality than the Hassy H3DII. Got to DXO and compare, the Hassy is slightly worse quality than a 5DMII while the Phase One is the best system DXO has tested. Of course, there is now real money involved.
Bill

 

[bluwave]

I had the opportunity to do extensive field testing on the Hassy h3d 50 mp camera and the prototype Ultima housing system. In a word..fantastic !!...I have been a film dihard until now (Pentax 67 medium format ultimate film underwater system) but the h3d has won me over to digital for serious work.Until now there has not been a digital underwater system that gave me the quality that my Pentax does..(that includes my d300 and d3 Nikon)
Image quality is remarkable ...its a Hasselblad !!...and the craftmanship of the housing is on a par with the camera.
Yes...its an expensive investment,but not as much as some on this thread have suggested.....in the end,...you get what you paid for !!

 

[Hasselbladunderwater]

I did not get insulted with anything said on this. No need for apology. There is no comparison between Phase1 with Mamiya, or Phase1 camera which is only a modified Mamiya 645. The back and camera are separate units in the Phase1 system, but in Hasselblad, the units are "blueprinted" and perfectly matched. Hasselblad has so called ultrafocus on their H3Dll cameras. On the new system H4D, which will ship shortly, they added the most sophisticated focusing system called Truefocus, with absolute position lock. See Hasselbladusa.com for more. To see more images from open waters, you are welcome to enter my ftp site, onlinefilefolder.com, user name peterlorber, password hasselblad. Regarding the extra cost, the housing will fit even the new generation Hasselblads so there is no need to buy new housing if any pro shooter decides to upgrade the camera. Most 35mm systems need new housings for each new camera announced.
There is no comparison between Hasselblad and any 35mm. You have to try it.

 

[bvanant]

Yes...its an expensive investment,but not as much as some on this thread have suggested.....in the end,...you get what you paid for !!

I got my Hassy prices from B&H and made an assumption that the housing has to be at least as expensive as a Seacam for a Nikon D3. Probably it is quite a bit more.
I have no argument that it is a phenomenal camera system, and if I were shooting stuff in a pool for money, I would probably think about it. I am downloading one of Peter's files right now, they are quite big and I will take a look.
Bill

 

[bvanant]

I have looked at the two pictures that are up on Peter's site. One is of a flounder and it is magnificent. Wonderful detail and great color. Really well done. One is from Walt Stearns and is of a school of fish near a pier. One comment on that pic is that the sunball (or piece of sunball) shows quite a bit of cyan fringing which I am a bit surprised at given the dynamic range of the Hasselblad sensor. On Peter's own site, there is a gorgeous Christmas Tree worm shot and a very nice trumpet fish. Very well done.

Still too pricey for me and probably too big to travel with easily (we already pay way too much in overweight fees) but you can get some very nice pics with it.

Bill

 

[Hasselbladunderwater]

Glad you like the photos....
Housing starts at $8,800.00 for macro setup(including macro port) and 31 mp start at$16,000.00 before any price breaks. And I carry all in a backpack. You check more pics on my video on my web site. And they are 2 more on FTP.