South Georgia Trip with the Phase One IQ4 150 Digital Back

But a timely arrival is a challenge because I want to get out and photograph. And with a Phase One IQ4 150 with me, why wouldn’t I? This trip really made me think about the Phase One IQ4 150 and the place it occupies in the universe. Is a Phase One IQ4 150 expensive? Yes it is. And many of our clients have come to us in recent years for Hasselblad X2D cameras, and Fuji GFX 100 II cameras, wanting medium format, but something a bit more versatile, perhaps lighter weight, less expensive. But if you’re on a trip to the country, you do have a tripod with you, yes? And an IQ4 150 with a tech camera and a couple lenses doesn’t weigh much …. So for these trips I often choose the IQ4 150.

Why Phase One in 2024?

Because even today, the Phase One IQ4 150 is an image quality leader. The highest pixel count for the largest prints and the most ability to crop an image and still produce a large print. The most dynamic range. Great color rendition. With a great feature set – modern electro-mechanical shutters, automatic in-camera frame averaging, automatic in-camera dual exposure + for a 3 stop increase in dynamic range. It’s the best – period. Still, after 6 years – still the best. And paired with a technical shift camera (An XT, Alpa, a Cambo, an Arca Swiss), and paired with the best optics for shifting, Rodenstock HR glass. It’s unmatched, nothing else can deliver the same results. It’s a weird thing to say, but I feel it is underrated and overlooked. From a budget standpoint, it is out of reach for many, but not all. Sometimes I feel like photographers search for the latest new thing, and at times overlook the best thing that has been there all along.

Interstate 95 south of Savannah affords many opportunities for marsh views. Waterways are frequent, so overpass routes are plentiful. High tide (as in the case above) makes for a prettier picture, but there can be interesting photographs at various times of the day. This scene was so expansive that the 40 HR-W was way too short, so the 90 HR-SW was the choice. I applied some vertical shift and once I had what I liked, I shifted horizontally just a bit to get the exact frame I wanted.

Today I had a discussion with someone about the Rodenstock 90 HR-SW and I called it an essential lens for anyone with a tech camera. It may be the only essential lens, and by that I mean that most will have a short lens, and they may choose between the 32 HR-W and the 40 HR-W (or perhaps the 50 HR-W). One of those 3 should and will be in their bag, but the 90 HR-SW is the other choice. Any 2 lens kit should be the Rodenstock 90 HR-SW and one of the short lenses. The 90 HR-SW is that good.

The 70 HR-W approaches it with center sharpness, but when you shift 15mm – 20mm, the 70 HR-W will tire, while the 90 HR-SW will continue the fidelity and sharpness all the way out to the edge, even shifted beyond that. And that is what you’re paying for with the 90 HR-SW. In a way then, I consider the Rodenstock 90 HR-SW the best lens in the lineup, because it is the lens that will be pretty essential for a lot of photography that doesn’t really have any other lens that performs closely to it that one would consider as an alternative.

Driving west from Kingsland on Route 40, I spotted this abandoned church obscured behind some trees (with an active cemetery!) and turned around. It was hard to say how long ago this church had lost its way, this paint job looks maybe 15 years old or so? This particular area of the property was the least overgrown of the lot, so hard to say how often maintenance occurs. You can see the sandy underpinnings of the south Georgia coastal soil. I tried several different views of this church – the left side had a large wooden double door that had a long 2 x 6 board securing it shut that I really liked and wanted to capture, but I opted instead for the straight on view and shot it relatively close with the Rodenstock 40 HR-W, with just a bit of vertical shift to get level.

Heading north toward Dublin, GA I saw an abandoned one story school with a long slim profile. There was a forest growing behind it and across the street from it with a narrow dirt road that ran alongside the pavement, making it ideal to pull over and park and setup my photograph. This was one of the few photographs that I took where I stitched images together, in this case, 3 separate horizontal images, 15mm left, 0 center, 15mm right. I liked the isolation of this school and the long slim form factor of the structure.

I cropped in slightly from the left to even my frame (I misjudged the edge of the left side of the school) and ended up with a 523 mb file with this angle of view. Pretty impressive. Yes, here it has tiny details, but you can zoom in on the final tiff and see all in those windows easily. The whole file would natively print with no upscaling at 33″ x 60″ (300dpi). And I feel like my focus hit the school at the tail end, as the focus carries sharp from the roadway.

How limiting is a digital back with a technical shift camera? I had walked into a forest and took some images (none of which I liked enough) and then walking back out to my car, which was parked next to a sort of shallow, overgrown mud-stream (indicated by the millions of gnats that were attacking me), as I was putting the camera back into my trunk, something about this Fountain Grass just struck me, and if I had a Hasselblad X2D in my hand, I would have taken some photographs. But I didn’t. I had a Phase One IQ4 150 on an Alpa Plus tech cam on a tripod and I was getting the crap bitten out of me by all those gnats. But I took the tripod, and since my geared Arca Swiss L60 leveler had limited movement, I shortened a tripod leg and sort of braced it and pushed in and took a few captures. I mean, it was right in front of me. And I like it. And it worked. So … no, I wouldn’t shoot a wedding with an IQ4 150 on an Alpa tech camera, but it is not as un-spontaneous and limiting as one would think. And … I did have my iPhone in my pocket, but the heck with that.

Closing Thoughts

Phase One has a way of frustrating people. End users, dealers (like us). And we (by we, I mean all of us) do like to gripe and hold feet to the fire. Sometimes there are confounding decisions. Sometimes there are long periods with not much apparent activity. That can happen when you have a product life cycle of 6+ years. And yet, it is undeniable that Phase One creates unique and amazing solutions that produce photographic quality that is unmatched. It’s easy to forget that, and the potent combination of the IQ4 150 digital back and a great tech camera like an Alpa 12 Plus (or a Phase One XT … Cambo WRS 1600 … or an Arca Swiss RM3Di … ) mated with a Rodenstock premium HR lens reminds that if you are serious about photography, and damn the inconveniences – manual focus lenses? No IBIS? Heavy much? – then why wouldn’t you strongly consider stepping up for a Phase One system? Interested? Let’s talk!