Phase One IQ3 100MP Trichromatic Review

Phase One is no stranger to high-resolution imaging.

Along with Hasselblad, it's one of the only manufacturers delivering 100MP medium format camera systems.

But its IQ3 100MP Trichromatic ($49,990 with XF body and lens) goes beyond extreme resolution and a physically larger image sensor.

It uses a stronger color filter for truer colors, crisper details, and a base ISO 35 sensitivity to make long exposure photography in daylight possible without dealing with neutral density filters.

It costs a little bit more than the standard IQ3 100MP system ($46,990), but it sets itself further apart from high-resolution 35mm cameras, and earns Editors' Choice marks in the professional medium format category.

Design

Phase One camera systems are modular.

You can buy the IQ3 100MP Trichromatic digital back on its own for $44,490 for Mamiya/Phase One bodies or for Hasselblad H cameras.

I reviewed it with the Phase One XF, a body based on the Mamiya lens mount, a configuration that's bundled together with a lens of your choice for $49,990.

The $5,000 premium for body and lens isn't as harsh when you remember that many Phase One lenses sell for more than that on their own.

The back is a metal cube, with a touch screen on the rear and four soft key buttons, the image sensor at front, and a memory card slot on the side.

It has its own battery, so it can work with purely mechanical cameras.

There is a single memory card slot, with support for CompactFlash (CF), as well as FireWire-800 and USB 3.0 ports for tethered control using Phase One's Capture One software suite.

Wi-Fi tethering, via a $14.99 iPad app, is also an option with the IQ3 back.

Your experience with operating the Trichromatic will differ if you use the back with another camera, but it is tightly integrated with the XF, which remains the most technically advanced medium format body of its type.

Unique features include automated focus adjustments for macro stacking, a seismograph that ensures there's no shake when making exposures from a tripod, and a touch-sensitive control display—none of which are included in the flagship model from Phase One's closest competitor, the Hasselblad H6D.

The system isn't small.

The XF is 5.3 by 6.0 by 6.3 inches (HWD) and 3.1 pounds on its own.

Attaching the back adds a bit of depth and another 1.5 pounds.

When you add a lens, even a light one like the 1.1-pound 80mm LS f/2.8, you're looking at close to six pounds of camera in your hand.

While I'd never say that you can't handhold the XF system, its design lends itself well to use with a tripod.

But it's not a camera body that lends itself to fast-moving subjects.

Autofocus can take about a quarter-second to lock on, and the continuous shooting rate is just a meager 2.1fps.

Action photography is handled better by lighter systems with smaller image sensors and quick, more advanced autofocus systems.

Medium format lends itself quite well to landscape and macro applications, as well as portraiture.

The XF body uses the central area of the frame for autofocus, but does support a recompose mode that adjusts the focus point when shooting portraits—frame your model dead center to set focus and move the camera to compose your shot.

The XF adjusts the plane of focus as needed to ensure your subject remains crisply focused.

(The Hasselblad H6D-50c ($14,495.00 at Amazon) does this as well.)

The XF doesn't have as many on-body controls as some full-frame SLRs, but it gives you everything you need to adjust exposure.

There are three dedicated control wheels—adjusting aperture, ISO, and shutter speed—as well as programmable rear and front buttons, the former of which is useful if you want to separate autofocus function from the two-stage shutter release.

Buttons and dials are supplemented by touch-based menus, both on the XF's top display and on the IQ3's 3.2-inch touch LCD.

Despite a tough, metal build, the XF is not an all-weather camera.

You'll want to protect it if you're shooting in snowy, rainy, or otherwise inclement conditions.

There are medium format options with more robust weather protection, including the Fujifilm GFX 50S and the Pentax 645Z, but both use sensors that are physically smaller and "only" 50MP in resolution.

We've yet to see a full-format 645 image sensor at the lower end of the medium format price spectrum.

The XF ships with an eye-level viewfinder, which brings a big, bright optical viewfinder to your eye.

The viewfinder also includes a hot shoe—it can handle an on-camera flash or a wireless trigger for off-camera lighting—and a PC sync socket.

But if you use Profoto lighting you won't need to add a trigger or connect via a cable, as the XF body has a wireless controller for Profoto strobes built in.

This is especially handy if you opt to swap out the eye-level finder for a folding waist-level viewfinder, which is an option.

A Phase One system comes with more than just the body, camera, and lens.

For your money you also get a rolling Pelican hard case, sized for carry-on, two sets of batteries, data transfer cables, a memory card and USB card reader, calibration and cleaning kits, and a Capture One software license.

The system is covered by a five-year warranty, which includes access to equipment loans if your camera needs to be serviced.

Trichromatic Sensor

Phase One makes a number of medium format backs, ranging from the 50MP IQ1 ($16,990) all the way through the 100MP, black-and-white IQ3 Achromatic ($49,990).

We reviewed the IQ3 100MP in 2016—it's still available and selling for $41,990 as a back only, or $46,990 in a kit.

And, for those on a stricter budget, you can also get the standard version of the sensor in an IQ1 chassis starting at $30,990 for the back only.

But be aware the IQ1 drops a number of features, including live view capture, Wi-Fi, and the tight integration and power sharing with the XF body.

And to further complicate your choices, the exact same sensor can be bought from Hasselblad in the form of the H6D-100c ($32,995).

But while the H6D-100c, IQ1, and IQ3 100MP sensors match the Trichromatic in resolution and sensor size, they aren't the same.

The Trichromatic is a custom design in collaboration with the sensor manufacturer, Sony, and it's exclusive to Phase One.

Like other Phase One models, the back only shoots in a 16-bit Raw format—you won't get JPGs out of this camera.

See How We Test Digital Cameras

It shares the roots of its design with the IQ3 100MP sensor, but a different color filter array.

It's still a Bayer arrangement, but the filter is a bit stronger than you find on most cameras.

This means that light-gathering is cut a bit—the Trichromatic has a base ISO 35 sensitivity while the vanilla IQ3 100MP is ISO 50 at its lowest.

This isn't a terrible thing in the world of medium format photography—landscape photographers will especially enjoy the added two-thirds stop control at the low end of the range as it makes longer daylight exposures possible, without having to add neutral density over the lens.

I was able to capture the scene below with a 0.3-second exposure at f/22 in order to get the smooth waterfall look without having a filter on hand.

Because the filter is stronger, false color is less of an issue—the wavelengths that the sensor picks up at each red, green, or blue photosite are more limited.

Red pixels don't pick up a lot of non-red information, and while there's still interpolation required to fill in color that a particular photosite doesn't capture, the data the camera is working with is cleaner.

This results in mages with color that is truer to life, without having to make tweaks to channels in Capture One, and with stronger overall detail.

Of course, if you want a more artistic, surreal take on the world, you can still edit to your heart's content.

You're just starting from a better place than you would with a standard image sensor.

The color filter also cuts incoming ultraviolet light more aggressively, and does a solid job reducing purple color fringing, an effect often seen in high contrast areas of photos.

Is it a revolutionary difference? Not at all.

But it's palpable when viewing scenes shot with the Trichromatic versus the IQ3 100MP.

I certainly wouldn't advise photographers who currently own an IQ3 100MP to upgrade (unless Phase One gives you an incredible deal on a trade-in), but if you've been mulling an upgrade from an older system, the Trichromatic is enticing.

The advantages are not unilateral.

Phase One claims that there's no disadvantage in chroma noise with the Trichromatic, but it does show more luminance noise, which is akin to film grain.

Imatest shows that the Trichromatic has slightly higher noise levels at identical ISO settings when compared with the IQ3 100MP.

At lower sensitivity the difference is not great—both show about 1.7 percent at ISO 200 and 2.4 percent at ISO 400, for example.

But as you move toward the higher end of the range, the difference increases.

At ISO 6400 the Trichromatic shows 6.3 percent, versus 5.4 percent for the IQ3 100MP, and at the top ISO 12800 setting the Trichromatic hits 8.5 percent, a big jump when compared with the standard 100MP's 6.9 percent.

If you're not pushing the ISO high it's not much to worry about.

There's plenty of resolution, so you shouldn't be frightened by a higher Imatest result, and Capture One does have noise reduction tools—our lab tests are done with the default amount of color noise reduction applied, but without any luminance noise reduction.

To my eye, image quality is superb through ISO 400.

There's some slight roughness at ISO 800 and 1600, but it's not distracting.

It's not until you push to ISO 3200 and beyond that graininess has a real impact on images.

That said, if you often push your gear to its ISO limits, the IQ3 100MP is probably a better fit.

But for photographers working at the lower end of sensitivity the range, the Trichromatic delivers better results.

Conclusions

Phase One caters to the highest end of the photographic market, and while the Trichromatic is not its most expensive back (the black-and-white Achromatic costs a bit more), it is the most premium color option available.

It sacrifices some high ISO capability for advantages in color fidelity and fine detail, but the trade makes sense for a system that lends itself to use for studio and landscape work.

While the company does offer some systems under $20,000, it hasn't yet attempted to compete in the low end of the medium format market as brands like Fujifilm, Hasselblad, and Pentax have.

If you're interested in shooting with a sensor larger than 35mm film, but don't have a Phase One budget, our favorite low-cost model is the 50MP Fujifilm GFX 50S ($5,499.00 at Amazon) .

It doesn't pack as much resolution, and its sensor is about two-thirds the size of the Trichromatic.

If you're budget is ample, but not quite $50,000 ample, and you want a full-format 645 sensor with 100MP resolution, think about the IQ1 100MP.

It's available with the XF body and 80mm lens for $35,990.

But if you want the highest of all the high-end gear, there isn't a substitute for the Phase One Trichromatic.

It delivers the most pixels and the finest image quality we've seen in a medium format system, and earns our Editors' Choice.