I took the H1 for a test drive today and I must say I was thoroughly impressed. >From the moment I first held it, the feeling of the camera let the operator >know this was not a toy. Looking through the view finder I found it to be a vast improvement from that offered by pentax. The view was light and bright, even under low light it was easy to find an edge to work with.
A change from the tradition backs of the blads, no darkslide is needed when changing backs, very convenient when working in the dark. The digital back offers a 22 megapixel 48.9mm x 36.7mm sensor and various backs have various sizes available. The Kodak back is 22 megapixel 36mm x 36mm. This is a welcome change from the APS size as it allows much better cropping. The first big hit comes with CF cards, each image is 96Meg but it does allow saving in PS's DMG format. Also the ability to hook up firewire directly to a computer/laptop is something I believe all "pro" models should have. If you have anything less than a 2 gig card, you need to start spending. This is a real plus for the APS size images as it affords much cheaper and smaller CF cards. Another plus in the Pentax camp was the use of AA batteries, the H1 uses 3 CR-123 lithium batteries or an extension which carries 8 AAA batteries. There is not a large range of lenses available and I spent my time with the 80mm f2.8 as this is something I am familiar with in low light. There is nowhere near the range of AF lenses available for Pentax. What impressed me instantly was the Auto Focus speed. This was a vast improvement on Pentax, although it did struggle with object coming directly at the camera. The AF in low light was impressive also. In situations where the *istD spent its time hunting, the H1 nailed it and had the image on disk. A great gain was the ISO rating which is available up to 6400. I have use the *istD at 3200 and the image is horribly noisy. The Blad was not totally clean at 6400 but gave a good result, and at 3200 was comparable with the 800 of the Pentax. On using a strobe with the H1 flash was available at all speeds A pointless addition to the H1 is a pop-up flash with a guide number of 12. Although I could see where this may be useful in triggering other flashes... maybe. Flash was available at all speeds. The button to stop down the lense is almost in-accessble for my fingers, I hope this changes at some time. When comparing the controls to the Pentax I find the Pentax more intuitive, perhaps that comes from years of use, but navigating the Blad menu system was not too difficult and with little effort I could access the settings I needed. I guess the losses are in wieght, at about 2kg this is not something you would wear around your neck while hiking, although the design seems to invite that. I found myself constantly comparing with the 6x7 (something I will never part with). Other loses are in FPS at just under 2fps this is not a fast capture. The loss of AA batteries and the added cost of new AAA packs, and the added cost of new and larger CF cards, I would consider 4gig a reasonable size, make for some additional costs to this not cheap camera. The kit I am looking at comes in at $AUD40,000.00 although much of this cost is in the digital back. (film backs are available). The lenses are designed by Hasselblad and made by Fuji, Bokeh is BAD. Pentax glass has it all over these lenses if the 80mm 2.8 is anything to go by. I dont know why they chose Fuji as Contax usses Zeiss and they have a much better offering in lenses. On the plus side, the extra sensor size/mp is a welcome change and the ultra-fast AF is what I really was testing for. I passed this test easily, and could even focus on a fly on a black backdrop without hunting. In all I was impressed with the AF system in low light, which is what I was looking for but at $40k I will take look at the Contax before committing, unless of course Pentax comes up with a 645D with a new or improved AF system. Kind regards Kevin -- "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
