The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Are there still pro shooting MF FILM?

richardman

Well-known member
I know the MF film is not as good as MFDB or even dSLR (may be with the exception of the Mamiya 7), but just out of curiosity, have all working pros like Ann Leibovitz etc. move to dSLR or A7 or whatever or are there working pros who still shoot 6x7, 6x6 film?
 
Since the thread wasn't moved I'll field your question.

Answer: YES. Many professionals shoot a lot of film. Mostly in the fields where it still makes sense, because film is a creative choice. Weddings and portrait are having a huge film moment. Jose Villa who defined the current aesthetic shoots all Fuji 400H and Ilford 3200 in Contax 645s. John Dolan who is more known within the industry but is hugely creative and successful does work with an old Leica and a Rolleiflex. Jonathan Canlas shoots all film too, but with an assortment of stocks and cameras (currently a Pentax 645 kit and a Rolleiflex). Outside of this there are a ton of people who you can sort of identify as being 'fine art' (though we hate that term) wedding photographers. Basically we target high end and creative clients. Using labs like The FIND lab and Indie Film Lab has made shooting film and editing digitally easy. Clients generally love how they look on film. High resolution digital has not done our brides any favors. I personally shoot 'hybrid' meaning film and digital, and I match my digital to my film. I use a Rolleiflex, and a Nikon F100 with the 58mm 1.4. My digital kit is a D750 and a Sony A7 with Contax CY lenses. I also make super 8 films for clients.

You should also ask yourself what 'better' means? Sure digital is sharper and faster, but that doesn't always mean better images. It would be nice if we could get to a point where we don't have to remind people people that sharper doesn't always mean better. Personally I always will prefer the workflow of film to digital. I like the cameras better and I like the time and dedication involved in making images with film.

Since this is the LF thread, I'll add that digital has for the most part only reached 645. You might have bellows on your camera but it's not 4x5, let alone 8x10. I'll take an Alec Soth 8x10 print over an Annie Leibovitz digital montage any day of the week. :)
 
Top