Phase One IQ260 Medium Format Camera
Not sure if you made it out to Imaging USA this year in Phoenix, but it was gorgeous and educational. I don’t know about you, but for most of the United States, we were stuck in the middle of an Arctic Blast! St Louis had temps as low as -20. It was miserable and I was more than happy to get the team out of there and head to a warmer climate.
During our time in Phoenix, we had scheduled a Destinations photo-shoot. This is something new we started doing for both ourselves and a limited group of 5 other photographers. Click here to learn more about Sal Cincotta Photography Workshops. I figured, if we are going to travel all over the planet shooting gorgeous models and gorgeous locations, we might as well invite 5 other photographers looking to have fun and build their portfolio at the same time. Makes for a fun and creative journey.
As I have been building my portfolio this off-season, I have found myself using my Phase One IQ260 more and more for the important jobs. The switch to a medium format camera has been one of reluctance, aspiration, and wanting to next level the competition.
With 13 stops of dynamic range, 60mp of data, and a host of other features that make medium format so attractive, it’s hard to ignore the Phase One IQ260 as a major contender and replacement for my 35mm platform. The difference is beyond noticeable. And the reality is, you can get into a medium format camera for the price of a mid-level dslr. Visit Capture Integration to learn more.
Back to the shoot…
The day started at 7am with hair and makeup. I can not stress the importance of having professionals be part of your day. SPEND the money, it makes all the difference in the world. We worked with Savannah May out of Phoenix for make-up and Aaron Moses for Hair and they were amazing to work with.
9am wheels up as we headed out to our first location Superstition Mountain. What a gorgeous and iconic location about 40min outside of Phoenix. The goal before we ever rolled up to the location – we wanted a shot from the center of the road leading us to our model and then of course to the mountain as as secondary element.
For this scene, I chose to back light Toni with the sun and used a silver reflector for fill light. That’s it. Sometimes simple is better. And I am not going to lie, I am happy with the results we all got at this location.
From here, we photographed by the side of the road to grab a few different looks in the purple dress and then headed to lunch at the Mining Camp Restaurant – Apache Junction. The funniest part about lunch, we rolled in with about 12 of us and the waitress asked if we had reservations – we looked around the EMPTY restaurant and said no – and laughed to ourselves. Shows what we knew. 15min later, the restaurant was bursting at the seems with people. It was clearly the place to be out there.
Next up, off-roading into the dessert. One of my staff went to ASU and told us about a location we could gain access to with a lake in the background up in the hills. Score, we thought – lets find it. As we followed our GPS – we ended up taking our 15 person passenger van off-roading – getting lost – and lots of laughs along the way.
The best part of getting lost, you find locations you might not ordinarily find. Case in point. We found this amazing two peak hill where we could put Toni out on one and we would have a perfect vantage from the other to photograph her from. After a little hiking, no one fell (not naming names here) – we got to our spot and just had nothing but gorgeous landscape to work with. Because of the distance, we decided to work with the available light here. We needed to be quick and efficient to get the shot, so we could move on to our next location.
Next up. Lake shot.
The fun thing about this little Destinations shoot, is the ability to move quickly with a small group of people and just experiment.
While driving down the road, we found this boat launching dock that would give us the vantage point we were looking for. At this particular location, we wanted to use off camera flash to really create something with a little more drama. We used the Westcott Apollo Orb with the Triple Threat to support up to 3 Canon 580s all on the Manfrotto Nano Stands. LOVE LOVE LOVE this product. Its portable, easy to set up, and best of all, economical. I highly recommend you check this out and add it to your arsenal.
All-in-all, the group had an amazing time. I am still blown away with the caliber of images that are coming off the Phase One IQ260. If you have not had a chance to play with a medium format, I highly encourage you to play with one for a day, the folks at Capture Integration can help you and I promise you will never see your imagery the same way once you start playing with a medium format camera.
Good luck! Get out there and keep working on your portfolio.
Sal