PhaseOne FlexAdaptor Getting Started

F l e x A d a p t o r

GETTING STA R T E D

PostScript Picture

(black logo)

Phase One A/S
Roskildevej 39
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]

Phase One U.S.
24 Woodbine Ave
Northport, NY 11768
USA
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]

Notice

The name Phase One is a trademark of Phase One A/S.

The names Hasselblad, Mamiya and Rollei are registered
trademarks of their respective companies.

All specifications are subject to change without notice.

Phase One takes no responsibility for any loss or damage
sustained while using their products.

This manual ©2003, Phase One A/S Denmark. All rights
reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or
copied in any way without prior written permission of
Phase One.

Printed in Denmark.

Part #: 86023004

Table of Contents

1

1 I n t r o d u c t i o n

Why choose a FlexAdaptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

2 Hardware description

What does the FlexAdaptor include . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Supported camera backs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

FlexAdaptor Ground Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

The Viewfinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Acessing the the focusing screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Mounting the FlexAdaptor on a view camera . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Mounting the camera back in Portrait or Landscape mode . .8

Phase One One-Shot cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

3 Capturing images for stitching

The color markings on the FlexAdaptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Capturing image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

4 Stitching images in Capture One for Macintosh

Capture One Stitch developer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

The command buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

5 Stitching images in Capture One for Windows

Capture One Stitch developer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

The command buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

6 Trouble Shooting

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

7 Technical Spesifications

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

1 Contents

FlexAdaptor Getting Started

2

1 Introduction

Why chose a FlexAdaptor

1. It is extremely easy to use and it provides you with the
opportunity of creating panoramic images on a 4" x 5" view
camera.
The FlexAdaptor from Phase One is a sliding adaptor that
allows you to capture one, two, or three overlapping images.
The individual shots may then be stitched in order to create
one high-resolution panoramic image.

2. It offers a unique possibility of creating very large images
With the Phase One FlexAdaptor and build in stitching large
files can easily be made. This allows for larger prints and
more detail in the images.

3. It lets you take advantage of the view cameras movements
even in one-shot mode.

The FlexAdaptor does not need to be reomoved in order to
work in one-shot mode. Just select one-shot mode and shoot
like you would with your Phase One single-shot camera back.
The focusing screen consists of masked areas that indicate
the available image areas for one-, two-, or three-shot mode.

4. Larger angle of view.
By using the FlexAdaptor the effective angle of view of the
camera is expanded by moving the camera sensor on the film­plane. This gives you a larger angle of view useful for
architecture and interior shots and eliminates the need for
expensive wide-angle view camera lenses.

2 Hardware Description

What does the FlexAdaptor include?

The Phase One Flexadaptor consist of the following parts:

• FlexAdaptor with focusing screen

• Removable viewfinder with build in magnifying glass

• One-Shot Sync cable for Phase One camera backs

• This manual

• Interchancable insert for Phase One camera back

• Camara adapter plate for the View camera

Which 4" x 5" View Cameras Does the FlexAdaptor Support?

This very flexible sliding adaptor can be mounted on
4" x 5" view cameras from Sinar and Horseman, Linhof,
Toyo, Arca Swiss and Cambo. On certain models of view
camera the buttons and the rear standard can limit the tilt
and swing movement.

Which Phase One digital backs can be used?

The FlexAdaptor is designed for the all Phase One One Shot
backs:

LightPhase, Phase One H 5, Phase One H 10, Phase One
H 101, Phase One H 20 and Phase One H 25 can be used with
the FlexAdaptor.

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FlexAdaptor Getting Started

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The FlexAdaptor comes with a Insert Plate to be fitted in the
FlexAdaptor. The right insert plate must be used in order to
fit the digital back to the FlexAdaptor.

The availible insert plates are for Hasselblad, Contax,
Maniya 645 and hasselblad H1.

Please note: If ordering a FlexAdaptor for use with the Light­Phase and Phase One H 5/H 10/H 20 for Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II
camera the Hasselblad insert is required.

NOTE: The FlexAdaptor DOES NOT support the Phase
One H 20 for Rollei cameras

Insert Plate for Hasselblad Insert Plate for Contax

Insert Plate for Mamiya 645 Insert Plate for Hasselblad H1

The FlexAdaptor Focusing Screen

The FlexAdaptor is equipped with a special focusing screen
that matches the focal plane of your camera.
The masked areas on the focusing screen are guidelines to
indicate the image area available in one-, two-, or three­capture mode.
This gives you full control of the capturing process.

The ground glass has printed lines to show the position and
orientation of the different Phase One camera backs.

• Phase One LightPhase, H 5, H 10, H 101

• Phase One H 20

• Phase One H 25

The FlexAdaptor Viewfinder

The viewfinder that comes with the FlexAdaptor is
equipped with a built-in magnifying glass. Mount the
viewfinder on top of the FlexAdaptor's focusing screen by
placing the right side of the viewfinder at the right side of

FlexAdaptor Getting Started

5

FlexAdaptor Getting Started

the ground glass. Now gently press the viewfinder's left
side down on the focusing screen until it clicks. Make sure
that both sides are properly mounted.

How to access the focusing screen

The viewfinder has a built-in magnifying glass. You can
choose to focus your camera by using the magnifying
glass or you can flip the viewfinder to the left and only
use the focusing screen. You simply release the
viewfinder´s right side and turn it to the left. Now you
will have direct access to the focusing screen. The
magnifier can be removed from the focusing screen by
flipping it. The magnifier re t u r ns to its original position
in front of the focusing screen when you press the blue

FlexAdaptor Viewfinder

6

FlexAdaptor Getting Started

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button on top of the viewfinder. Also, you may choose
to remove the viewfinder and use the focusing screen
for focusing.

NOTE!

Allways use the FlexAdaptor’s handle when lifting the
FlexAdaptor. Never use the viewfinder!
The viewfinder will come off.Phase One does not cover any
physical damage caused by dropping the FlexAdaptor

Mounting the FlexAdaptor on a view camera

1. Remove the focusing screen on your view camera.

2. Mount the FlexAdaptor onto the view camera. In

order to facilitate mounting, the FlexAdaptor matches
both the mounting of the focusing screen of the view
camera as well as its closing mechanisms.

3. Remove the FlexAdaptor once your work is
completed, and mount the original focusing screen onto
your view camera.

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Does the FlexAdaptor Limit Your Shooting?

You can still benefit from the original functionality of
your view camera in terms of movement i.e. tilt, shift, or
swing, image area, and supported lenses.

Please note: Some view cameras do have certain
limitations in terms of movements, once the FlexAdaptor
is mounted. For instance, mounting of the FlexAdaptor
on view cameras with L-shaped back rears e.g. Linhof
Kardan GTL will limit positive and negative tilts.

Since the focus plane of the FlexAdaptor matches that of
the view camera, you can use all available camera
settings. Also, you may use all types of lighting and you
may even use wide-angle lenses.

Mounting the digital back in Portrait or Landscape Mode

As mentioned above, the FlexAdaptor allows image
capturing in both portrait and landscape mode.

In order to switch from portrait mode to landscape mode
and vice versa the interchangeable insert, onto which
the digital back is mounted, must be turned to the right
orientation:

1. Open the insert lock by pressing of the two blue
switches on the closing mechanism

2. Turn the insert 90° or 270°

3. Click the insert back on again

Though carried out manually, the procedure is facilitated
by the switches and you do not have to remove the
digital back single-shot camera back while changing
orientation.

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With Phase One H 101, LightPhase/Phase One H 5 for
CONTAX 645 or Mamiya 645AF you always have to turn
the insert. Where the LightPhase for Hasselblad lets you
turn either the digital camera back or the insert 90° The
rotation of a digital back only makes sense for backs
with a rectangular sensor. Therefore the Phase One H 20
cannot be rotated.

The Phase One One-Shot sync cable

Phase One’s backs works in the way that the camera
“wakes up” the camera back prior to the exposure.
The camera body does this electronically or
mechanically. This feature does not work on a view
camera.

In this case the lens shutter must be fired twice to get
an image. The first shot is to ”wake up” the back and
the next shot will capture an image.

The time between the two captures must be between 5
and 20 seconds depending on the cameraback model
used.

“Wake Up” contact

Phase One One-Shot sync cable

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The One-shot release cable has a little contact built in to
the housing that connects to the digital back. By
pressing the contact the back receives the “wake-up”
signal and prepares for taking a capture and the back
will remain active until it times out.
In the instance of a time out a Dialog box will be
displayed on the computer.

This cable reduces the work of firing and cranking the
shutter twice and reduces the risk of moving the camera
due to the cranking of the lens shutter.

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3 Capturing Images
for Stitching

The color markings on the FlexAdaptor

The FlexAdaptor has four color codes on the small po­sition selector dial on the left right of the FlexAdaptor.
Each color identifies the position of the stops used for
stitching.

For the Phase One LightPhase, H 5, H 10 use the
color dots:

Red One-capture mode
Yellow Two-capture mode
White Tree-capture mode

Colored selector dots Position Selector dial

FlexAdaptor Slide Release

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For Phase One H 20, H 25 use the color dots:
Red One-capture Mode
Yellow Two-capture mode (Large overlap)
Green Two-capture mode (small overlap)

Start by setting the position selector in two-shot mode
(i.e. yellow dot for LightPhase and green and yellow
dots for Phase One H 20). Then slide the adaptor to the
left by means of the handle. Please note that in order to
slide the adaptor, the blue button on the handle must
be pushed down. Smoothly, the adaptor moves for­ward until a position is reached. Once reached, the
adaptor physically falls into place with a "click", in this
case at the first yellow respectively green dot. Now
you are ready to capture your first image, provided of
course that you already focused the camera. After cap­turing, you slide the adaptor to the next position.

Select three-shot mode by turning the position selector
to the white dot and slide the adaptor to the next posi­tion and so forth until all three captures are carried out.
In order to work in one-shot mode please select the red
dot on the position selector.

The sliding is very accurate, since the Phase One sin­gle-shot camera back is displaced parallel to the focal
plane of the 4" x 5" view camera. The mechanical con­struction ensures that the distance between the posi­tions and the available image area at each position are
exactly alike. The FlexAdaptor slides smoothly and ac­curately and the masked areas on the focusing screen
provide you with full control over each single capture.

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Capturing the images

When the composition and lighting of the subject is done
we are ready for capturing the files for our stitched
i m a g e .

1. Rotate the position selector on the FlexAdaptor into
the desired position.

2. Then gently slide the camera back into the desired
capture position for the first capture. It does not matter
is you shoot the left or right image first. The order can
be changed in the Capture One stitch developer later.

3. Capture the first image, and slide the FlexAdaptor
into the second position and capture the second image
and third image. Keep in mind that even small vibra­tions can change the tilt and swing of the camera and
make stitching a problem.

4. The images are now ready for stitching in the
Capture One

.

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4 Stitching images in
C a p t u r e One for Macintosh

Stitching images in Capture One is a simple process.
Keep in mind that the Curve, Histogram, Unsharp
Mask, Color-Management and other image settings in
Capture One will be similar for all the images stitched
together.

1. Now select the images to be stitched in the capture
collection of Capture One. Selecting multiple images
can be done by Shift-Clicking on images.

15

2. Transfer the captures to the build in stitching
processor by clicking the Stitch Developer button in
the Capture Collection.

3. In the FlexAdaptor Stitch Developer arrange the im­ages if the order is not right and give the stitched im­age a filename and start the stitching process by click­ing the stitch images button.

The stitching process will now start and stitch the im­ages and make it a tiff file.

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The command buttons

Stitch Images

The Stitch button in the capture Collection. This will
bring the selected captures into the FlexAdaptor Stitch
Developer.

Capture One Stitch Developer

Resize window

The resize window toggles between a large and a
small stitching window.

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Stitch Images

Starts the stitching process and develops a tiff file.

Image Title.

Sets the filename for the stitched image.

Overlap

Selects the overlap of the stitching. Select Narrow
wide or Landscape depending on the capture overlap
used when capturing the images.

Swap images

The swap images button(s) is used to set the order of
the images. If the stitched preview has the leftmost
image in the right side click the Swap Images button to
get the order right.

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5 Stitching images in
C a p t u r e One for Wi n d o w s

Stitching images in Capture One is a simple process.
Keep in mind that the Curve, Histogram, Unsharp
Mask, Color-Management and other image settings in
Capture One will be similar for all the images stitched
together.

1. In the Capture Collection of Capture One for
windows select two or tree images by shift clicking.

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2. Select ”FlexAdaptor Stitch Developer” from the
Workflow menu. This will open the FlexAdaptor Stitch
Developer. Now select the images to be stitched in the
capture collection of Capture One.

In the FlexAdaptor Stitch Developer give the stitched
image a filename and start the stitching process by
clicking the stitch images button.
If the capture files needs to be re-arranged the stitch
order can easily be set right here to.

The stitching process will now start and stitch the
images and make it a tiff file

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The command buttons

Develop and stitch the captures

Develop and stitch the captures starts the stitching
process.

Add selected captures

This adds the selected Captures in the Capture Collec­tion to the Stitch Developer window.

Identify stitch Order

Identify Stitch Order lets the operator select the image
that should be at the left in the final developed
stitched image file.

Clear capture selections

Clears the Stitch Developer window.

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Stops stitch operation

Starts to develop the images in the Stitch Developer
window.

Expand the stitch preview area

Gives a larger preview area of the Stitch Developer
window.

Image title

Sets the image title for the procesed tiff file

Overlap

Sets the overlap of the stitching. Select narrow , wide
or landscape depending on the capture overlap used
when capturing the images.

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5 Troubleshooting

What to be aware of when capturing and stitching images

Phase One´s versatile Flex Adaptor allows you to create high­resolution, panoramic images by stitching two or tree images
t o g e t h e r . A straightforw a r d process you quickly learn to mas­t e r.
The easy process of capturing and stitching images re q u i re s
a higher precession of the lens shutter and the lighting used
than just capturing single images. Even small variations in
the exposure from one image to another can be visible in the
final stitched image.

E x p o s u r e changes due to strobe equipment

Older strobe packs and generator strobes may vary with up
to 1/3 f-stop from one strobe pop to another. This is due to
the fact that the capacitors may "leak" power and are there­f o r e not always fully charged when the strobe pops. Also,
most strobe systems are optimized for the so-called "Near
Daylight" light. However, the color temperature of the Near
Daylight light will change if the effect of the strobe system
changes. Modern strobe equipment charges the capacitors
m o r e accurately and is there f o r e more consistent.

E x p o s u r e changes due to lens apert u re

The exposure may be affected if the lens' spring loaded aper­t u r e vary. Variations can be caused by common wear and
t e a r. Modern lenses like 35 mm lenses, medium form a t
lenses, and some large format lenses are equipped with

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built-in spring loaded apert u r e s .
If you are experiencing variations in the exposure try to
disable the spring-loaded.

The images does not align perfectly in the final stitched image

Even small changes in the camera position or in the camera
tilt and swing settings might have an effect on the accuracy
of the stitched images. Try to reduce the camera movement
in the capture process by using a heavy tripod or a studio
stand. Be careful when sliding the FlexAdaptor from one im­age position to another and when cranking the shutter.

My final stitched image is darker in the corn e r s

Most lenses have an image circle that by far exceeds the cap­t u r e area of the FlexAdaptor. However most lenses will lack
light in the corners. This might not be seen when shooting
film, but can bee seen using a digital camera. Especially older
lens designs and vide angle lenses has this flaw.

My final stitched image is not sharp in the corn e r s

Most lenses have the highest optical resolution in the center
of the image circle. Then the resolution drops at the edges.
The resolution of a high-end digital back is higher than what
can be achieved on film and there f o r e the blurring in the cor­ners is not likely to be seen when using film. The corner blur
is usually seen when

using large tilt and swing move-

ments on the view camera or when using old lenses.

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5 Technical Data

Phase One FlexAdaptor specifications:

4” X 5” view camera suppport:
Sinar, Horsmann, Toyo, Linhoff, Cambo, Arca Swiss

Dimensions:

Lenght: 307 mm
Width: 172 mm
Depth: 50 mm without viewfinder
Depth: 97 mm with viewfinder

Viewfinder dimensions:

Lenght: 102 mm
Width: 108 mm
Depth: 86 mm

Insert dimensions:

Lenght: 106 mm
Width: 106 mm
Depth: 83 mm
Catches: 3 - 4 mm

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FlexAdaptor Getting Started