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Phase One IQ4: Focus Stacking Commentary
My intent in reviewing the Phase One IQ4 has been to avoid criticizing things that are just what they are. To paraphrase, features of a sports car lacking in a old diesel pickup need not be criticized as flaws.
But the Phase One IQ4 automated focus stacking feature is so badly done that it cannot be let go without commentary, as it is a huge disappointment in being extraordinarly difficult to use for my needs, aned I am speaking as someone who focus stacks exensively—one of the experts in the world I would say, at least for field shooting.
Let me save readers a lot of grief: the focus stacking feature in the IQ4 is so modal and so at odds with real-world photography in the field that after a few hours of trying to use it with only one success and numerous frustrating design problems, I just abandoned it.
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Phase One IQ4 + Schneider Kreuznach LS 35mm f/3.5
ENV: NE of Eureka Dunes, altitude 5600 ft / 1707 m, 42°F / 5°C
RAW: LACA corrected, push 2.3 stops, -100 Highlights, +5 Contrast, USM {8,50,0}, diffraction mitigating sharpening
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