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Good bye to Medium Format Digital...

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FredBGG

Not Available
Fred,

Perhaps for the sake of making this thread worth everybody's while, you can share a bit more info regarding which MFDB equipment you had, how long you had it for, where did you buy/ sell it and who did you use for service and support. If you had any direct dealings with the manufacturer then you must also have some form of reference, support case number(s) etc.
Otherwise (and I'm not being sarcastic for a change, just honest) you're leaving us to guess or to search and to conclude that you've bought something on the cheap (relatively speaking), had is for a few weeks, didn't get on with it, expected the manufacturer to send you stuff (which normally doesn't happen as there is no direct sales channel in the US) and then sold it on (perhaps with a small profit? Was there a warning note included in the listing?) etc. etc.
Revealing more detail will add some weight to your complaint, although as many already suggested, one's (or three's) experience does not reflect on an industry or on a market as a whole

BR

Yair
There you go... attack the user that had problems with your product or service..... that's really going to look good.

I have email records.... to and from your company. Do you really want me to name names.

As far as sending items to customers... I was sent a part, but it was neither new or the part I needed. There should not have been any confusion because I send a photograph of the part I needed. I did not at any time expect anything for free from them as you allude with your comment "expected the manufacturer to send you stuff". For the record I contacted the manufacturer and on their suggestion contacted a recommended dealer. They did not come through so I contacted the company again, actually both Phase One and Mamiya USA.

I don't have to prove anything here. I think my work and my client list speaks for my professional standing.

I have used many systems over the years. I worked for quite a few years with the Mamiya RZ67 and recommended it to many colleges. I shot supermodels Amber Valletta and Yasmin Ghauri with the RZ. I was sponsored by Polaroid for many years and featured in their advertising.. I have collaborated with Elinchrom and Fuji. I was invited personally by Lino Manfrotto to visit him and his factories and give my opinion on his products and enjoy the fine food of the mountains in northern Italy.

I have owned many Mamiya and Phase One items. Last one's being Phase One AF and DF with various lenses. My principal backs p25+ still brilliant backs.... and rented various others.
 
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FredBGG

Not Available
To conclude my main point here is that I said good by to medium format digital for my work becuase of reliability issues and because I find the combination of the the D800 and 6x8cm medium format film out weighs MFD. D800 with select lenses (actually more options than those offered by medium format digital) gives me virtually what medium format gave me even with higher MP counts) larger format film gives me looks that medium format digital can't. I'll probably add an RZ67 system back into the mix. I may still use a MFDB on the back of my Fuji GX680 occasionally.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Which shows that it all depends on where we live in this world. Nikon here was hopeless until they took over the operation themselves about a year ago. Now, it's second to none. The Mamiya distributor actually has some cameras in a glass case at their showroom, but it's locked and it only opens at the sight of a big pile of 1,000 baht notes :loco:

Spare parts? Repairs? Nobody knows, and this is a city with around 15 million people :rolleyes:

Around a year ago, I needed a spare battery and a new control unit for my Metz 70 MZ-5 potato masher. No have, but they were willing to sell me the newer (Metz 75?) model for a reduced price. So I asked if they could deliver an extra battery for that model, since the need would be the same. No have, same same.

Although Bangkok might be worse than cities in the west in this regard, I do hear friends in Europe complaining about deteriorating service and problems getting spare parts there too. Equipment often has to be sent to other countries for repair or parts have to be flown in. If I need it by tomorrow morning, that simply isn't good enough. For me, that means that I stick with brands that have accessible service facilities nearby. Unfortunately, that excludes a lot of potentially good gear here in Bangkok, like MF DB. Although the situation isn't identical to Fred's reasons to start this thread, the principle is the same; a camera that doesn't work doesn't have any value, and for a client, the cost can be rather high if many people are involved in a shoot or if there are other time constraints. For the photographer, it may mean the loss of a client.
Yes, it is true that where and what circumstances weighs in heavily. In my Nikon example, it didn't matter ... no one had the part anywhere including Japan. It doesn't take 4 months to FedEx a part to Nikon USA from anywhere ... except maybe Mars.

Just because I've had excellent luck and service from Hasselblad doesn't lull me into a false sense of security. I plan for the worse and hope for the best on every single shoot (same as I do no matter what brand of tool I'm using).

As a former Art Director/Creative Director for 40 years, I may have attended more shoots with piles of support people, talent, location rentals, clients on set, and so on, than many photographers. There are always time constraints, and pressures for everything to work smoothly, and shoot insurance in case it doesn't.

I once worked on location with paid talent employing a shooter that had 2 Pentaxs and 1 Hassey V camera all fail with-in 20 minutes ... Murphy's Law on steroids. :facesmack:

Another big name shooter showed up to a super-star Football player's house for a Child Support campaign I had created for the State of Michigan. She arrived with an array of redundant RZ gear, multiple lights, giant parabolics, etc. ... and no film. :wtf: As we only had the subject and his family for 1/2 hour of stills immediately after I finished shooting the TV commercial with a production company, I loaned her my Leica R6.2, and bag of film, as the assistants rushed off to get film.

Once spent a 10 hour day shooting a Unilever commercial on location at a California farm with top clients present ... multiple set-ups, very expensive talent, endless details, dolly moves, the whole works ... only to find that the lighting techs has not sync'ed the HMI lights with the ARRI camera and all the rushes were chattering. :bugeyes:

I could write a book on this stuff ... as they say ... "Shyt Happens".

I will say that I attended numerous shoots in LA, Chicago, and NYC where rental Phase One or Hasselblad equipment was employed, and perhaps more importantly, had a tech running the camera ... and never experienced a single down shoot due to the gear. Lucky I guess.

-Marc
 

FredBGG

Not Available
That being said, my personal experience with the DF over the past couple of years has been a good one (and yes to affirm, I've experienced lock-ups which I believe to be battery/power related) and I do believe the DF to be a stable and good body overall. It is a vast improvement over previous generations. I believe the new Li ion battery insert should be included as standard equpment with all new DF bodies, with normal AAs as a back-up option.

ken
I can exclude power/battery being the problem. I use Duracell ProCell.
I do not use them for more than a half day. I always load new ones.
I know that does not sound very ecological, but the batteries get passed on to assistants and photographers that use them for their strobes etc.


Here's the current slightly used inventory ready to be passed on. Any students in LA that could use a boxfull of free batteries PM me.
 

rayyan

Well-known member
Please ... somebody shoot it ...

.....

Get enough of this kind of stuff on other forums, have always come here because most posters seem to have enough class to not throw this type of stuff up ...
The classless poster once again guv.

I have experienced that when I 'throw' my $, Euro, Franc,etc. at the shops in Mayfair or near Victoria Station...' class ' never entered into the discussion.

As a matter of fact, I get the phone answered on the first ring. This is for
repair. ' Class ' is never discussed on overseas calls at least.

For purchase, the phone is picked up before it rings.

Different experiences, different outlook, different ' class ' you might say.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Ah, but there's a big difference between CaNiSonys and MF DB: They are cheap and you can buy a couple of them just to be on the safe side. What the MF manufacturers will have to realise to survive is that premium image quality is only part of the equation. Premium build quality and service should be just as obvious. All of the pro or semi-pro DSLRs I have used have had better build quality than all of the MF cameras I have tried the last 10-15 years. That's like buying a Mercedes Benz and accept that after sales service isn't on par with that for the Ford Pinto. If they tried that, they would be dead overnight. That can happen to whatever is left of the MF manufacturers as well, and that would be a pity.
Ford Pinto is a bad analogy, you could buy 10 of them, but one crash and you are cooked, so to speak ... :ROTFL:
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
Definitely the wrong battery to use with the Phase DF body. I wouldn't use those batteries either. Well, let's not say "wrong," how about a more politically correct, "that's not the best choice in AA power sources for the DF..." But too late now and it wouldn't matter anyway. I don't think anything would matter at this point. You've had a bad experience, get over it and move along. Either figure it out (it may take more than 563 frames) or change. No need for the paternalism here. I think it's safe to say the majority at GetDPI, and especially those in Dante's Inferno, are an older, more experienced lot, educated, and pretty well-heeled. Somethings just weren't meant to be. Look at Wayne there with an Alpa and didn't like it? Certainly no battery issue there...:ROTFL: Hope you find what you're looking for; we certainly get the message that medium format digital ain't right----for you. And speaking of Wayne, I think he nailed it on the head with an apt ending.
:)

p.s. Those 9-volt Duracell batteries in that box must have been a bitch to shove into the DF battery insert... :ROTFL:

I can exclude power/battery being the problem. I use Duracell ProCell.
I do not use them for more than a half day. I always load new ones.
I know that does not sound very ecological, but the batteries get passed on to assistants and photographers that use them for their strobes etc.


Here's the current slightly used inventory ready to be passed on. Any students in LA that could use a boxfull of free batteries PM me.
 
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Aryan Aqajani

New member
larger format film gives me looks that medium format digital can't. I'll probably add an RZ67 system back into the mix.
I could not agree with this more! As the owner of Mamiua DM22 system and RZ67 PRO IID, touch the wood, I have not still experience any issues with 645 AFD III body although I am not really happy with Mamiya's focusing screens as I do MF most of the time! Changing the focusing screen into one of those brighter ones by Bill Maxwell or Brightscreen introduces so many problems that I don't want to get myself in! That being said, I don't know how to explain that I am really in love with my RZ67 and its giant waist-level finder. I got one of those bright screens for it and now when you look through the finder, the light really hits your eyes!!! Films like Tri-X 400 and new Porta 160 and 400 produces tones and colors unmatched! Add to that, the smooth shallow depth of field coming from 110mm f/2.8 or 180mm f/4.5. This is the camera that I will keep as long as I am alive even God forbid if Kodak, Ilford or Fuji stop film production!

So here I should officially say thank you Mamiya for making and introducing such gorgeous camera to us. Long live film!
 
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Chris Giles

New member
I gotta say whilst I've been considering the D800 I've been going over some shots from the weekend with my H1 + 100 2.2 + P25 back and they are still streets ahead of the 5D3 in detail at least.
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Yair

Your observation about Fred s integrity is out of place on this forum . If you were questioned about your objectivity as a outside vendor you would take offense . I read your comments as not being helpful but rather tearing down the integrity of the OP.



Fred,

Perhaps for the sake of making this thread worth everybody's while, you can share a bit more info regarding which MFDB equipment you had, how long you had it for, where did you buy/ sell it and who did you use for service and support. If you had any direct dealings with the manufacturer then you must also have some form of reference, support case number(s) etc.
Otherwise (and I'm not being sarcastic for a change, just honest) you're leaving us to guess or to search and to conclude that you've bought something on the cheap (relatively speaking), had is for a few weeks, didn't get on with it, expected the manufacturer to send you stuff (which normally doesn't happen as there is no direct sales channel in the US) and then sold it on (perhaps with a small profit? Was there a warning note included in the listing?) etc. etc.
Revealing more detail will add some weight to your complaint, although as many already suggested, one's (or three's) experience does not reflect on an industry or on a market as a whole

BR

Yair
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Folks, I'm killing this thread -- it's presenting the danger signs of going beyond typical GetDPI pleasant discussion. Thanks to the folks who tried to keep it balanced and restore order.
 
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