A New Phase

How a test shot convinced me I was on the right track

By December 2023 I had been using my Cambo Actus technical camera for six years – since December 2017. It was a vast improvement over working with a Pentax 645Z but since that point I had been through a succession of gear swaps – upgraded GFX bodies including the GFX 100S and the GFX 100II, a flirtation with the larger Cambo Actus MV and a succession of lenses – especially 35mm lens options. The fundamental issue continued to be that the experience was still not as enjoyable as my Linhof Technikardan 45S had been and I found the lens and image quality just about acceptable but not inspiring. It still felt like a compromise.

Friends Joe and Dave had been telling me for months that I should really be trying out a Phase One back and for some reason I had resisted. The final straw though was a lens test I started to do for Paula at Linhof & Studio in November. I had an array of 35mm lenses – an original and a recent Pentax 645 lens, an Actus 35 which was a converted Contax medium format lens and a new lens that had been released for the Actus that Paula had lent me. I dutifully set up a lens test and systematically compared each lens. I realised that I didn’t think any of them were really any good or inspiring on my GFX 100S.

In December I folded and picked up a second-hand Phase back – an IQ3 100. I told myself I couldn’t lose out as the price was good and it should still sell for a similar price second hand if I didn’t get on with it. So when it arrived I was left holding this small box with no idea how to operate it. Paula, ever the enabler of all things photography, had sent me the bits that I would need for my Actus and I worked out how to use it in my lounge. I had to dig out and fire up my old Minolta light meter as although the IQ3 100 had Live View, it did not have a Live View histogram so there was no way to meter electronically.

I took the Actus, Phase back and my 120mm Large Format era Nikon macro lens out to Skipwith Common – my go-to testing ground for all things photographic. As soon as I arrived I saw the opportunity for the main image above and set it up. I metered the scene just like I had with Large Format and I realised I needed a polariser and did the calculations to add the extra couple of stops. I made the image above – it was the first meaningful image I captured on the Phase.

When I got it home, imported the image into Capture One and saw the result out of the box – especially the colours – I knew at once I was finally on the right track. The next few days with Paula’s help I picked up a second-hand standard lens (70mm Rodenstock) and a little later a 40mm wide angle Rodenstock lens – both in Copal 0 shutters. By the time I was ready to pick my Dad up to bring him to my house for Christmas I was convinced I was going in the right direction. After I picked him up, I took Dad to a couple of favourite locations in Hull including Bankside and I set up the alternative image with the 40mm.

The experience was totally different to using the GFX on the Actus. It felt like I was using a real technical camera again not a compromise – it was really a new phase for my photography. By the new year I had made several strong images – almost every time I took it out – including at least five images that made it into the final ‘Requiem for the Ash’ portfolio. I was hooked.