Setting all the technical stuff aside for a moment, I often wonder if we don't do ourselves a disservice by hopping around from one lilly pad to another? We barely get the feel for something and are onto something else."I'd rather shoot with a Leica S2 and the 120/2.5 Macro over almost anything ... followed by the M9 and 50/1.4 ASPH"
Marc, I agree with this sentence, because for me, it comes down to lenses. Many have mentioned the flat look of the D800, that it doesn't have that 3D "pop". That's never been the case with MFD. Bigger sensor, shallow DOF, really, really good lenses to exploit the technology. My #1 best selling print was shot with the H4D/40, using Fuji lenses, it was published in a Travel magazine, but now is being sold to private/corporations in very limited editions. The point is, i've been chasing that "look" in every camera i've shot since then, but alas...have not obtained that particular, indispensable, look of MFD.
The whole notion of "the camera getting out of the way" can be viewed a couple of different ways I think.
Obviously if the damned thing genuinely doesn't work reliably, then it most certainly IS in the way. That goes without question. Keep that in mind while reading the rest of my post please
The other perspective is how one can develop a rhythm with a camera if given the time and a little patience. One used to read of the dreaded Hasselblad V lock-ups ... yet, in 30 years of using one, I never had any V camera lock up. I could work very fast with those cameras, but knew exactly what to do, in what order, and when. Like a good "soldier" I could field strip one of those cameras with a blind-fold on, and put it back together just as quickly.
In a way, the experience with the H system has been similar because the shooting rhythm has fundamentally been unchanged through all 8 iterations that I've owned. The only thing I had to alter was I now use the thumb button to activate H4 True Focus rather than the shutter button. Pretty no-brainer.
The initial regimentation for using a H camera was drilled into me by my Hasselblad re-seller who was a professional studio tech ... at first I took his remedial teaching demeanor as a bit condescending ... but in retrospect I credit him with no user screw-ups. So, I end up often walking other H users through what they did wrong as opposed to what was wrong with their camera that they blamed on the manufacturer. Half these folks never bothered to sit down with a cup of coffee and the user's manual
Anyway, I'm reluctant to leave such a fast and familiar way of working, and feel that way about my M camera after 30 years with the same idea. After a year now, the S2 is starting to get there ... partially because of the way it was designed in the first place. It gets familiar pretty fast.
Sometimes I think familiarity breeds contempt with photo gear. I broke my own resolution recently and bought a Sony A77 replete with all kinds of logical reason why. Absolutely hated it and the images from it. Made me love the A900 more ... even after 3 whole years :ROTFL:
Took the A77 back and felt better than when I bought it.
All the best,
-Marc
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