N
nightfire
Guest
Ok, here's my "problem":
From time to time, I find myself longing for a really long lens for my 645AF and P45+ for atmospheric compressed landscapes (layers of hills, distant mountains in clouds etc.). Currently, I do such shots with my 150/3.5 and crop away up to half of the frame in post. As a consequence, I've recently started lusting for the huge chunk of glass going by the name of Mamiya 350/4.5 APO.
Problem is, I'm not sure if acquiring a 300/4.5 specifically for these situations would make much sense. First of all, the aforementioned scenarios amount to maybe 5% of my total shooting. Of course, my insane inner voice tells me that if I had such a speciality lens, I would feel more compelled to seek such images, and so on. But still, I'm not sure that this lens would deliver better performance and value in these specific situations than, say, your basic Nikon or Canon DSLR with a 70-200/2.8 VR (+ optional 1.4x TC). The 70-200 is more expensive (used), but might be a better and more versatile solution in terms of focal range and max. aperture. Also, I feel that it would be easier to buy and trade used Japanese DSLR gear compared to the relatively scarce 300/4.5 which only pops up every few months in the forums.
So on one hand, I'm dreaming of great telephoto images with my medium format rig, but on the other hand I'm not sure if it would not be better to pursue this goal with a standard DSLR + tele zoom lens setup according to the "horses for courses" principle. What do you think?
From time to time, I find myself longing for a really long lens for my 645AF and P45+ for atmospheric compressed landscapes (layers of hills, distant mountains in clouds etc.). Currently, I do such shots with my 150/3.5 and crop away up to half of the frame in post. As a consequence, I've recently started lusting for the huge chunk of glass going by the name of Mamiya 350/4.5 APO.
Problem is, I'm not sure if acquiring a 300/4.5 specifically for these situations would make much sense. First of all, the aforementioned scenarios amount to maybe 5% of my total shooting. Of course, my insane inner voice tells me that if I had such a speciality lens, I would feel more compelled to seek such images, and so on. But still, I'm not sure that this lens would deliver better performance and value in these specific situations than, say, your basic Nikon or Canon DSLR with a 70-200/2.8 VR (+ optional 1.4x TC). The 70-200 is more expensive (used), but might be a better and more versatile solution in terms of focal range and max. aperture. Also, I feel that it would be easier to buy and trade used Japanese DSLR gear compared to the relatively scarce 300/4.5 which only pops up every few months in the forums.
So on one hand, I'm dreaming of great telephoto images with my medium format rig, but on the other hand I'm not sure if it would not be better to pursue this goal with a standard DSLR + tele zoom lens setup according to the "horses for courses" principle. What do you think?