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The forum's newest Sinar MFDB owner

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Well, I finally did it. I took the plunge into medium format digital. Somewhat by accident, really. I had decided that I would buy a Hy6 to shoot film after I found a pretty decent deal through Calumet. When I was speaking to their representative, he asked me why I didn't shoot digital. I told him I did not have 30,000+ to spend on a back. He said, "how about 10,000?" Yes please. He had a 54LV that had been used for only one shoot. The photographer made so much money on the first shoot, that he decided to immediately upgrade to the 75LV.

So, I managed to get a basically brand new latest generation (well, at least until Photokina) 22mp back for a price that I could stomach. This is great for me, because I already have the Rollei lenses, 4560 film back and most everything else I need to use the system. The camera is brand new, but at a slightly better price because of the package deal. The total package was a reasonable amount -- covered by my recent sale of the DMR, Leica M and R lenses and other things I have been selling from my apartment.

In any case, I am very much looking forward to it. While I would love the Emotion 75, I believe that 22mp is plenty for me...if I need more I can always shoot 4x5. The real pleasure though will be to shoot the fantastic Rollei lenses with the convenience of digital -- and have the ability to pop on the film back for black and white.

I will not get the kit until some time mid next week, but once I do I am sure I will have some images to post. I look forward to sharing the pleasure and pain (hopefully not too much pain!) of shooting these esoteric, but extremely capable camera systems.
 

David K

Workshop Member
I'm happy for you Stuart, sounds like you got a heck of a deal. This and the Rollei 110 from ebay... have you considered a career as a personal shopper :) Looking forward to some images when you get your kit.
 

helenhill

Senior Member
Wow Stu.......
Fantastic news !!
Congrats on taking the Plunge :D
Medium Format is Divine, coupled with Digital I can't even imagine

Iceland Landscapes & the music scene are waiting

Cheers ! Helen
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Thanks David. I know! I have had a string of good luck. Maybe I should consider a career as a personal shopper though...I always seem to have very good luck in finding things at a very good price. If anyone wants to pay me to buy them stuff, that's fine by me.

This current deal was one that I could not refuse, but it was not one that I was looking for. It just fell in my lap, so I have to be quite thankful for it.

Thanks Helen -- I can't wait to bring it over to Iceland. MFDB is used extensively there, so I hope it will help me compete when I get there. I plan to see if I can rent it as well to subsidize it a bit.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Sounds like you got an awesome deal Stuart -- congrats and happy shooting with it! Welcome to MF digiland too!!!
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Thank you all for the kind words. I find it a little ironic since I have just spent the evening in rubber gloves mixing PMK pyro and developing a few rolls of film...perhaps I will be doing that a bit less (I doubt it though, I still love black and white film).
 

evgeny

Member
I shoot in Jerusalem past week with Contax 645 and Distagon 35mm and Kodak b&w film.

Got really an old-looking grainy image of Jews in Western Wall.. :thumbup:
Wow, I can record images, which look like history as they were recorded 100 and more years ago! I was never able to catch such an old-fashioned image with Nikon and 35mm film.

I don't know how to show same impression using my 54M back... :talk028:
The back is too good to show grain and old mood.
I never use/like photoshop, no, no, thank. However I spend a lot of time to scan the film. Then I add only a bit of processing in linux gimp just to crop, add a bit of contrast, etc, and magic happen. :ROTFL:

Enjoy your new 75LV :thumbup:
The b&w film is your natural companion as well :D
 
Congratulations, Stuart!

I am using my 54LV on the Hy6 and I am happy with the quality and speed of shooting. More than enough for my purposes in terms of resolution.
Also I like the e54LV on my ALPA with shifts much more than the e75 I owned briefly, it demonstrates less digital artefacts than the eMotion 75 did and the 54LV needs less software corrections; I am able to shoot ALPA without doing a lot of white files through a Plexiglas plate.
Yevgeny
 

EH21

Member
Stuart,
That's exciting news and I'm happy for you. If you end up ever having a chance to shoot B&W film and DB on the same subject I'd be very interested to see the comparison.
Regards,
Eric
 
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