Klyment.com - Journal

The Rollei 6008AF with the Phase One P20 16bit medium format digital back and Schneider 80mm F/2.8 AF Xenotar is for sale again. It was my primary camera for fashion and catalogue work for about a year and images shot with this system still account for a major part of my portfolio. I sold this camera to another Edmonton photographer and 3D artist who owned the camera for a short while and used it on a single shoot before his living situation changed and has asked me to help him sell it. The kit includes:

• Rollei 6008AF w/ internal electronic interface to connect to Phase One digital medium format backs
• Phase One P20 medium format digital back
• Schneider AF Xenotar 80mm F/2.8 w/ PQS 1/1000s leaf shutter (flash sync at 1/1000s with some of the most exotic out of focus rendition I have ever seen)
  
• Rollei bayonet-mount hood for the 80mm
• Rollei 19mm (I think) extension tube. Used mostly for product/jewellery photography.
  
• Original waist level finder with a great pop up magnifier
• Rollei 6000series 360degree rotatable 45degree prism finder
• Brightscreen Accurfocus magnifier for prism finder
• Fully-mated Arca-swiss style tripod plate
  
• Two body batteries, one of which needs to be repacked with new cells (under $80 for the NiCd or NiMH cells and about ten minutes of work)
• Two back batteries
• Original chargers
• Third party PowerEx/Maha battery charger that can charge both body and back battery and cycle nickel chemistry batteries
• Original Phase One Pelican case for digital back which includes sensor care kit and lens cast calibration card

Don't get this camera if you:

• have corrected vision is relatively poor or you notice halos in high contrast areas at night; this is an autofocus camera but I still recommend manually focusing it;
• are looking for an ultra light system; body, back, and lens is about 5lbs total and you'll have to carry more batteries than you're likely used to;
• "chimp" in studio; the transflective LCD looks amazing in direct sunlight but looks worse than a 2006-era low end colour cell phone display under indoor lighting conditions . . . but tethering works great with this system and the digital back can be bus powered over 6pin Firewire;
  
• need a high ISO camera; the camera's ISO 800 works well but it's nothing compared to what you can get from some sub-$1000 offerings that are currently available.

You should get this camera if you:

• love shooting 1:1 aspect ratio and realize how cumbersome it is to rotate a medium format camera to shoot in portrait orientation;
  
• do a lot of black and white conversions;
• shoot outdoors with strobes; the high speed flash sync is reliable and will give you four or more times as much ambient light control as a small format camera . . . and for a system price that rivals professional small format digital cameras;
• are looking for a Rollei 6008AF system or a backup for your Leaf AFi or Sinar Hy6 and use pre-AFD lenses or want to use a new Phase One digital back on a Rollei 6000 series camera; the digital back, to my understanding, may be shipped to Phase One and the interface can be transferred onto any new digital medium format back;
• want instant street cred; while I hate to admit it, no matter how shitty your photography may be, you'll be the most badass photographer your art director has ever seen if you have one of these . . . even when you're not shooting it;
  
• have CAD$6950. At this price you're paying only about $1000 for the digital back.

More output samples and full resolution files available upon request.

The lens is a bit dusty but the glass is in flawless condition. Autofocus, while noisy, is quick and accurate. That said, with only a single AF point I preferred to manually focus the camera whenever I shoot it.

The camera features a very reliable metering system with auto bracketing and exposure compensation capability. While a lot of my peers may scoff at my use of aperture priority auto exposure the majority of my non-strobe work is effectively exposed with automatic exposure.

The camera was originally sold as a $22,000 kit with the digital back. I purchased the system used some time ago and I have never shot this system with a film back. The P20 has around 9000 frames counted and I have no reason to believe that the camera or lens have any more frames than the back does.

The Brightscreen Accurfocus works well for product type shots when using the included close up adapter with the 80mm lens. While using the waist level finder and magnifier works well for more normal working distances, when close focusing, the Accurfocus' magnification offers more confidence in manual focusing. The included auto extension tube maintains autofocus capability.

And of course the prism finder can be used in the "normal" behind the camera position.

An existing light photo of Vicki shot in 2007. Hair, makeup, and styling by Nikolas. Going through some of my older shoots many of my favourite images were shot with this system. If I wasn't so married to shooting my Leica M7 and Toyo VX125 and film scanning I'd be buying back this system myself.

Katherine and Tyler for the cover of a formal wear catalogue for 2008. The Rollei 1/1000s shutter and the back's nominal ISO of 50 made it possible to shoot this frame at F/2.8 and to allow the use of a location strobe system at under 40Ws so we managed to shoot all day on a single strobe pack battery.

A rejected photo from a commercial bridal shoot with Kasia and Julie. The Phase One digital back black and white conversions are nothing short of "film like"; I have never achieved such tonally-gratifying conversions from anything short of a 16bit medium format digital back. The Leica M9 and the Nikon D3 at nominal ISO have produced some of the best small format digital black and white conversions but they can't compare.

A shot of Leanna from the first shoot I did when I received this camera. The naturally square frame makes you think differently as a photographer. Furthermore, after creating a square frame you often end up with a picture that can easily be cropped to a number of different aspect ratios.

Another shot of Vicki from the same day we shot the other photo of her in this entry. The high flash sync speed allowed us to shoot day like night off a single battery powered strobe system without having to stop down the lens iris excessively.