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!

Abandon hope...

Robert Campbell

Well-known member
The Crusader Knights of St John built a castle at Halicarnassus, modern Bodrum, in Turkey - using material from the original mausoleum.

They had a torture chamber in the castle; and above the entrance to this they had a motto... yes, you guessed: Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

I think I'll stick to small sensors and 35mm :)
 

Dale Allyn

New member
Bertie,

That may be a wise decision. I was just peering over the slippery slope a little, when all of sudden Guy, Jack and some other devious souls on this forum shoved me straight to my peril. They were so smooth and skillful in doing so that I didn't have a clue what was happening! It's obvious that they feel better within a group of others plummeting over the edge.

:D
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Yes now way i am jumping alone. I need to land on something besides a rock.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:
 

Robert Campbell

Well-known member
Bertie,

That may be a wise decision. I was just peering over the slippery slope a little, when all of sudden Guy, Jack and some other devious souls on this forum shoved me straight to my peril. They were so smooth and skillful in doing so that I didn't have a clue what was happening! It's obvious that they feel better within a group of others plummeting over the edge.

:D
Groupthink? :ROTFL:
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
To be sure, misery loves company. But then, so does joy. And speaking form experience, the slippery slope of MF digital has it's share of both...

:toocool:
 

jonoslack

Active member
The Crusader Knights of St John built a castle at Halicarnassus, modern Bodrum, in Turkey - using material from the original mausoleum.

They had a torture chamber in the castle; and above the entrance to this they had a motto... yes, you guessed: Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

I think I'll stick to small sensors and 35mm :)
Bertie
You put it so much more eloquently than I would. But my sentiments are just the same . . . not only for financial reasons either.

The great joy of dipping into this forum is that; when one fancies a Zeiss 25 f2.8 . . .well, it's peanuts in comparison with what these guys are spending!

Guy, I'm glad you have some bodies to fall on . . . and even more glad that none of them are mine :)

P.S. Bertie - you have a new car?
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
I have to blame my delay in dipping into MF to my own sloth.
I was happy enough with my D200 until I tried the M8 on a dare.
I was happy with the M8 in low light until I tried the D8 at a camera shop.
I was happy with the prints I was producing until I tried a P25 and a P45 in San Juan.
So my progression has more to do with the ready availability of evidence delivered into my hands.
I guess if I weren't so lazy, I would have gotten here much faster.
OTOH I still love my M8 and thanks to DAG there is hope of final qa adjustment of Leica lenses.
-bob
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
skip the Medium stuff and go straight to the car in Bertie's avatar :lecture:
 

robmac

Well-known member
I keep glancing over the crest trying to convince myself 'nah, it's not that steep...', then reason kicks in when I realize what the $$$ could buy in 35mm, then I moronically look at some MFDB shots or the new promos from Hassy or the used gear listed by Son and start wandering up to the crest again.....

Though I do agree as Jonathan says - watching the financial haiku taking place in here does help keep things in perspective.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
You know the funny thing is I had more money in both my DMR system when i had it and when I was flush with the M8 system this is actually cheaper. If you can believe that

I should qualify that as separate systems not together. Now you think MF is that scary
 

jonoslack

Active member
You mean financial seppuku.
Hi Carlos
You could be right!

Actually, from my point of of view it isn't finance.
Clearly I'm a terrible gear whore, but, truth to tell, it's the image which is the driving force for me (really!). I do buy gear because I think it will have a positive impact on my photography.

For the little commercial work I do (some PR, very rare weddings (when there's no escape)) the M8 together with the Nikon dSLR system does a perfectly good job.

Most of my nature and still life photography is reactive, and if I think too hard about it the spirit has gone . . . the landscape is usually at the far end of a long walk which might have started in the rain. It's very rarely deliberate, and thus almost never on a tripod. Of course I would like the extra resolution (holding some hope for the Nikon D3x), but I really don't think that the more deliberate way of shooting inherent in MF would do my photography any favours.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
I submit that it isn't all just gear mania.

The rub comes when you actually use the stuff, and dissatisfaction sets in with everything else.

I shoot far more DSLR shots than MFD, wedding work makes sure of that. And between the M8, Nikon D3 & the new lenses, and my Canon 1DsMKIII with some R glass, and L Primes ... one should be more than satisified with IQ ... not :thumbdown:

That's the infection. You see those glorious MFD prints (not web uploads) and it sucks you in :thumbs:

I'm with Guy, I want to just shoot MFD and carry a M8 for snapshots. When the H3D-II/31 goes to ISO 1600 it'll come really close to that for me. If they'd get the M8 up to ISO 2500 that's useable, then the D3 could be shelved ... except for that delicious 200/2VR ... uh ... well Hell, get them all ... I didn't want to retire anyway :rolleyes:
 

jonoslack

Active member
Hi Marc
I submit that it isn't all just gear mania.

The rub comes when you actually use the stuff, and dissatisfaction sets in with everything else.

I shoot far more DSLR shots than MFD, wedding work makes sure of that. And between the M8, Nikon D3 & the new lenses, and my Canon 1DsMKIII with some R glass, and L Primes ... one should be more than satisified with IQ ... not :thumbdown:

That's the infection. You see those glorious MFD prints (not web uploads) and it sucks you in :thumbs:
I wasn't suggesting for a minute that it was 'gear mania' what I WAS saying is that whatever fragile fragment of artist I have in me would be compromised by the need to be deliberate and intentional which MF certainly brings.

Mind you, I reserve the right to crack jokes about it all!

I'm with Guy, I want to just shoot MFD and carry a M8 for snapshots. When the H3D-II/31 goes to ISO 1600 it'll come really close to that for me. If they'd get the M8 up to ISO 2500 that's useable, then the D3 could be shelved ... except for that delicious 200/2VR ... uh ... well Hell, get them all ... I didn't want to retire anyway :rolleyes:
:)

I quite agree - an M8 with a sensor that behaved like the D3 . . . . . and then, there are moments when one wants an slr . . .
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I submit that it isn't all just gear mania.

The rub comes when you actually use the stuff, and dissatisfaction sets in with everything else.

I shoot far more DSLR shots than MFD, wedding work makes sure of that. And between the M8, Nikon D3 & the new lenses, and my Canon 1DsMKIII with some R glass, and L Primes ... one should be more than satisified with IQ ... not :thumbdown:

That's the infection. You see those glorious MFD prints (not web uploads) and it sucks you in :thumbs:

I'm with Guy, I want to just shoot MFD and carry a M8 for snapshots. When the H3D-II/31 goes to ISO 1600 it'll come really close to that for me. If they'd get the M8 up to ISO 2500 that's useable, then the D3 could be shelved ... except for that delicious 200/2VR ... uh ... well Hell, get them all ... I didn't want to retire anyway :rolleyes:
Well and this is the issue even this 22mpx back is just sucking me in like crazy. The files are truly something else . The detail, DR and all the stuff we pushed the M8 and DMR for are even better here. That is the scary part because we all know how much I loved my leica's with color, saturation and it's DR but this is another dimension of that . I am sitting here after a call today to go to Washington and shoot our soldiers coming home from Iraq. Big PR gig and i am really thinking of going primary MF and backed up with my Nikon. This is what i bought this stuff for was to shoot and i am determined to get my money's worth. This can do a excellent ISO 400 and the camera is fast enough and so is the back. Why not, I will test it out and make sure but my feeling is this is my primary camera now.
 

robmac

Well-known member
You mean financial seppuku.
:ROTFL:

That said, the more I see what these entry-level system can deliver with, what in many cases, is modestly-priced glass, I keep thinking I could tolerate being laughed at. Hell, it's been done in the past for far less deserving reasons....
 
Last edited:

harmsr

Workshop Member
I submit that it isn't all just gear mania.

The rub comes when you actually use the stuff, and dissatisfaction sets in with everything else.

Marc got that point write on the spot. I was happy with the M8 and D3 using Zeiss primes, until I made the mistake of using MFDB. The images and prints just floored me, and I found the solution that I needed for what I do. This sent me off that steep cliff.
 
Top