Digital Photography Studio, Los Angeles, California

Davis Photographic is a digital photography studio. Our standard photo shoot includes color and exposure correction of our RAW image files, and then we deliver the images on DVD ROM as high resolution RGB TIFF files for printing and screen resolution sRGB JPEG files for web use.  Photo retouching, clipping paths (outlining photos and knocking out the backgrounds) combining images and other Photoshop work is available at $85 per hour.

When shooting fashion, headshots and images for the web, I normally shoot with a Canon 5D, a 13 mega pixel camera. For high end print and advertising shoots I use the Phase One P45+ 39 mega pixel camera. With the Phase One, you can see the images on a computer screen seconds after I shoot. When practical, I can bring a laptop to a photo shoot and deliver a disk from a short photo shoot on the spot. Most photo shoots, particularly headshots that last less than two hours can result in a client walking away with a disk within an hour of finishing the shoot.

The Best Digital Camera System in the World

Davis Photographic offers a Phase One P45+ digital camera system, which is a 39 mega pixel medium format camera back. I have personally tested the other major brands of digital backs such as Leaf and Hasselblad, and feel that the Phase One P45+ is the best commercially available digital back in the world.  Many other commercial photographers would agree with me. Here is why:

• The files are huge, up to 224 mega byte 16-bit RGB TIFF files. These files are large enough for huge posters, outdoor billboards, trade show signs, murals, two-page tabloid size magazine spreads, and other large print applications.

• The images have more colors, millions more colors then the typical files from Nikons, Canons, Fujis, Sonys, and other small DSLR (DSLR = Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras. Most small digital cameras only create 12-bit files, as compared to the 16-bit files created by Phase One. This means that there are more shades of each color available, and millions more total colors in the file. This means that the colors in your images will look about 25-35% richer, more saturated and reproduce better than images from smaller cameras.

• The images have twice the dynamic range of the smaller DSLRs. The average small DSLR has 6 stops of dynamic range vs. Phase One which has 12 stops of dynamic range. This is the span of shades that the camera can reproduce. A typical DSLR shooting a properly exposed image containing both shade and sunlight will result in the details in the shadow areas blocking up, and the details in the bright areas over exposing and blowing out. Imagine a bride in a white dress standing in sunlight, and the groom in a black tux partly in shade and partly in sun. The area of the black tux in the shade would turn solid black when shot with a typical small DSLR, but shot with the Phase One back you would be able to see the texture of the material, threads in the stitching, and highlights in the satin. The bride’s white dress in the sunlight would show some details in the shadow area shot with a small DSLR, but the highlights would go totally white – no detail, and completely blown out. With the Phase One you would be able to see the texture and details in the material of the bride’s dress, the stitching, and in photos taken from less than six feet away you could see lint and loose threads.

• The detail is amazing. In a typical portrait enlarged to 100 percent, you can count the eyelashes, see individual eyebrow hairs, and see the smallest details in the skin. This detail translates to sharp, beautiful reproduction even in huge sizes.

• Instant feedback. The Phase One back can be tethered to a computer, and seconds after the picture is taken the image appears on the computer screen. The client or art director can look at a final image in full size, rather than a tiny 2” picture on the back of a camera.

I have personally compared a Leaf Aptus 75, Hassleblad's 39 mega pixel digital back with the Phase One P45+. I believe the Phase One P45+ has less noise and better detail than the Hassleblad back, and better and more accurate color and better contrast than the Leaf Aptus 75. Click to see a comparison a Leaf Aptus 75, a Phase One P45 and a Canon 5D.

Call 213-434-3344 and request a quote to be faxed or emailed to you for your next digital photography project, or email davis@davisphotographic.com

See How to Buy a Camera for more information

Advanced Photographers, see my Commercial Photographer's Technical Blog

The Phase One P45+, considered by many photographers to be the best commercially available digital camera system in the world.