Medium Format-Changed Everything.

[dave.gt]

Confessions of a recovering photographer...:grin:

How about others who have been down the same road over the years to finally open your world to Dante's influence? Can we ever go back, really go back?

I have been struggling with going back to shooting my favorite 35 mm camera with my favorite films. I still enjoy shooting the first "real" camera I ever owned (Nikon FE) and I enjoy the processing and the whole workflow. But I struggle with the end use of anything other than Medium Format.

The 503, inexpensive, well-worn, produces those huge negatives and processing the final images is a delight. I am working on 12"x12" images now with a book format and some framed wall images in mind The studio's digital equipment is another world entirely and stunning, with similar, although different, images from 9"x12" to 36"x48"...

Where am I going with 35mm film? What end use, what project? After all these years, my world has changed, even as I walk out the door... do I really need to carry a camera at all? Camera therapy for me now is a "planned-for" special event with a colleague for specific images for specific purposes, not a faux HCB fantasy, nor a project-specific walkabout.

Can I regain my love for 35mm images? Maybe. But Dante had made it so very difficult.

How has MF changed your photographic world?

 

[DB5]

If you define your tools and establish their parameters then its fine.

If you realise that a Medium Format camera won't do everything, then the different quality of smaller formats no longer matters.

I use Medium Format where possible but I wouldn't go without my Leica M that goes with me everywhere and allows me to be far more unseen.

 

[dave.gt]

My Leicas no longer matter. That is a fact. Strange but true...

It seems the past few years I have to have a purpose for shooting. Projects and people are a good example when my subject is delighted with the results, and it is usually in the form of a story.

Casual snaps even of the grandchildren hold no allure any longer... there is no real end use for them other than sharing and a short-term viewing. Books, framed images, published work, studio images are examples of "longer term" results.

Sigh... it is my goal this week to resist Dante. I have my Rolleiflex 4x4, my SLRs, and my Leica to carry and discover projects suitable for them.. No MF to distract me. Wish me well as I return to my beloved small format!!!

Anyone else want to share how MF has changed their photography?

 

[Godfrey]

A bazillion years ago, I sold *everything* (my entire Leica M system plus my Nikon system constituted everything other than a point and shoot at the time) to acquire a Hasselblad 903SWC. I then contrived as how I could use the SWC to do everything ... and found that while it couldn't actually do everything, it did a fair good approximation of same. Of course, that led to acquiring a 500CM and a couple more backs, couple more lenses, etc. And then digital came about and I was out of corporate and started my photo business, so I sold the SWC and all the Hassy gear to fund more digital gear. And on and on...

Go back? Sure, maybe. Sometimes nostalgia wins.
Go forward? Always.

Forward for me right now means smaller, lighter, and simpler. My goal is a pro-quality capable kit that is compact and light enough that I don't mind having it with me on a fifty mile bicycle ride. I don't make huge prints, 11x17 is generally the largest. Books don't need as much resolution as big prints either.

Whatever works and gives you satisfaction.

G

 

[sog1927]

So one fine day about 30 years ago I was in a camera shop in Santa Fe, NM. I had a bunch of Nikon gear since my student days and my workhorse camera body was still my aging Nikon F (which still works, by the way). In the display case was a lovely, brand-spanking-new F4 body. I almost bought it.

Then I looked behind it and saw a used 500 C/M with a 50mm CF Distagon for almost exactly the same price. "Self," I said to myself, "you can either buy something that will take pictures easier or you can buy something that will take pictures better."

As Robert Frost said:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 

[Geoff]

Close to thirty years ago, lost patience with 35mm. Just didn't have the oomph, and made the change to MF - first film and then later to digital. The disadvantages are more weight (especially with the digital back), the general loss of handheld (so nice with MF and film), and the bulkiness of the gear. I still love it, as it gives texture to the photos in a way that smaller format just doesn't do justice.

Recent addition of a Leica M240 to ease up for travel, for a lighter touch, to keep out of a too-formal approach to photographing. But MF just is something else - a magic, a quality that makes one want to keep looking at the prints. Wouldn't ever go back, and really am glad its here with us.

 

[dave.gt]

So one fine day about 30 years ago I was in a camera shop in Santa Fe, NM. I had a bunch of Nikon gear since my student days and my workhorse camera body was still my aging Nikon F (which still works, by the way). In the display case was a lovely, brand-spanking-new F4 body. I almost bought it.

Then I looked behind it and saw a used 500 C/M with a 50mm CF Distagon for almost exactly the same price. "Self," I said to myself, "you can either buy something that will take pictures easier or you can buy something that will take pictures better."

As Robert Frost said:

Ah, yes, it seems my path was a little longer than yours! But I am happy to be on it now.

 

[MGrayson]

My history:

Thirty Five years ago...
Olympus XA - fun
Fujica SLR - meh
Yashicamat TLR - Yes!
Pentax 6x7 - Best camera evah!:thumbs:
4x5 Field Camera - Hmmm... nothing looks good
8x10 Century - Took ONE exposure. Frustrating. Sold everything.

Fifteen years later... kid on the way, so must get camera.
Olympus 3030 - Digital! Wooo!
Canon 10D - Digital SLR! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ!
Canon 1D - Kids move too fast! Need pro AF.
Canon 1DsII - Need MP, Zeiss 21 Distagon FTW! :grin:
Leica M9 - Canon stuff too heavy. Leica optics unfortunately not hype. Never get the hang of rangefinder
PhaseOne IQ140, Cambo, SK - Fabulous IQ. Too much stuff to carry around. Sits unused most of the time.
Leica S - OMFG, what a fun system! Could be lighter, but such a joy to use. :thumbs:

And there we stand.

--Matt

 

[djonesii]

Lets see ..... the path:

Oly EM-10
Nikon D50--> D80--> D300
Epson RD-1

Then some film
Voigtlander R, Leica M6, Fuji 645 ZA, Bronica RF, Speed Graphic, Alpenhouse custom 4X5 on a Polaroid body

Mamiya ZD ... Phase on P30+ on a DF
Ran out of time to shoot in the studio and sold off the MF gear. Leica Q is very close in IQ ...

Then a bunch of micro 4/3rds

Now a Leica Q and a bunch of Fuji gear.

Lusting after the rumored Fuji MF in a left view finder package. Getting some time back in the studio!

at least I can say not near as bad a Guy!

Dave

 

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

Well, I started out as a sort of MF guy - actually a 6x9 cm bellows camera. Then an Ilford pseudo-TLR, followed by a Rollei real TLR. I'd never really used anything but 120 roll film until my early twenties. Many years of 35 mm followed- mostly Canon - but I was still missing MF. Prosperity enabled me to go to a Hasselblad, then Rollei 6008. Back to 35 mm when digital Canons appeared - but again missing MF.

Then Dante had his way with me and Phase One took over my budget. I have a Fujifilm X100F as a carry-around and a Sony A7r3 for (mostly) wildlife but I always come back to MF. Much as I like the convenience and portability of FF 35mm, the image quality, DR and "smoothness" of MF means I always turn to it first and only use the alternatives when it's simply unavoidable.

I do make large prints, typically around 36 inches, and the resolution of the Sony is perfectly acceptable at that size (assuming no cropping) but the prints still look better from MF. I guess tonality is important to me.

You win, Dante!

 

[algrove]

Summer of 1966 used Kodak Rangefinder.
Got Minolta SLR for college work end of same summer.
Photographed John Glenn and Capsule. Watched Hassy on moon.
Got 500C and a couple of lenses. Used in US and Middle East.
Sold it while working in Brazil. Got Nikon with 80-200 and 500 mirror lens since going to Amazon and then Kenya a month apart. Then on to Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia.
Got Nikonos gear and had fun using it.
Got Nikon F.
Working too much for many years and many places not camera friendly. Sold all Nikon gear while working in Paris, but traveling 34 days a month. Yes.
Lost 25 years of slides in Hurricane Andrew in 1992 after moving back from Germany.
Lost one eye in 2010 and almost second eye. Got M9 as my first digital camera so if blind could leave some prints behind.

Then decided to make up for lost time in a big way.
Got MM1 and 65 M lenses and 25 R lenses. Got M240x2 and MM2x2.
Tried A7R#1 36MP-sent back.
Bought more Leica gear
Got SWC and P45+.
Then got 503CW and a bunch of Hassy lenses including 350 Achromat.
Got Pentax 645Zx2 and sold all Hassy gear. Loved 645Z images.
Sold most Leica gear as service delays irritated me to death.
Sold 645Z's and got IQ3100 with XF and 6-7 S-K BR lenses.
Got XT-2x2 and a bunch of lenses for Morocco trip.
Tried A7r3 42MP-sent back and 6 Zeiss lenses. Sony was not for me.
Bought long Mamiya 645 lenses for use with XF.
Got GFX and a couple of lenses. Bad copies I guess so sent back.
Got STC and 3 Alpa lenses-HR40, HR70 and S-K 150. 9-10 lb. kit is perfect.
Sold XF and all S-K lenses.
Sold all Fuji XT-2 gear.
Got MM1x2 and 2 lenses.
Got IQ3100 Achromatic a few weeks before Ireland trip. And got XF and 150/2.8-the lens which I have never used. Might sell.
Got M10x2 and a few lenses.
Liked M10 B&W conversions so sold both MM1's.
Now it's May 2018 and what's next? Who knows.

Do I enjoy using MF gear and printing MF images? You bet I do! They just taste better.

P.S. Don't show this to my wife or I'm a dead duck.

 

[DB5]

My history:

Thirty Five years ago...
Olympus XA - fun
Fujica SLR - meh
Yashicamat TLR - Yes!
Pentax 6x7 - Best camera evah!:thumbs:
4x5 Field Camera - Hmmm... nothing looks good
8x10 Century - Took ONE exposure. Frustrating. Sold everything.

Fifteen years later... kid on the way, so must get camera.
Olympus 3030 - Digital! Wooo!
Canon 10D - Digital SLR! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ!
Canon 1D - Kids move too fast! Need pro AF.
Canon 1DsII - Need MP, Zeiss 21 Distagon FTW! :grin:
Leica M9 - Canon stuff too heavy. Leica optics unfortunately not hype. Never get the hang of rangefinder
PhaseOne IQ140, Cambo, SK - Fabulous IQ. Too much stuff to carry around. Sits unused most of the time.
Leica S - OMFG, what a fun system! Could be lighter, but such a joy to use. :thumbs:

And there we stand.

--Matt

I dream of a Pentax 67D.

 

[dave.gt]

algrove,

Wow, what a history and a long journey through some fine equipment.

"Working too much for many years and many places not camera friendly. Sold all Nikon gear while working in Paris, but traveling 34 days a month. Yes.
Lost 25 years of slides in Hurricane Andrew in 1992 after moving back from Germany.
Lost one eye in 2010 and almost second eye. Got M9 as my first digital camera so if blind could leave some prints behind."

Very sorry about the slides lost, but the eye, that is distressing to hear. I am quite happy, though, to know that your photography just keeps on going!

Keep on truckin'...

 

[jeffrypittman]

35 years ago started with Minolta (X-700) and stayed with Minolta through the Maxxum 9, Maxxum 7 and 7D and later Sony A-700, A900 and the A99ii.
My first MF was a Rollei 2.8F (still in use) and a 2.8GX (also still in use). Later, went "all in" with Rollei with a 6008i (later sold), 6003 (sold and later replaced), 6008AF (still in use) and added a CFV-39 digital back. Added Hasselblad 503CW and 501CM a few years back when prices were too low to pass up. Also still shooting Nikon F4, F5 and F6 and a D3s. Leica MP (film) and M240 are a favorite when traveling light. A disproportionate percentage of my favorite images have been shot with the Rollei TLRs.

 

[richardman]

I have no medium format digital. In fact, not much of digital anything other than an iPhone and an M9 with sensor corrosion :-/

Anyway, shot thousands of rolls with the Leica M7. Love the XPan... then went on to 4x5, love it. Even have 6x17, 8x10. Love them all.

But the best is the Hasselblad 203FE. I can shoot it handheld, or put it on a tripod, and get amazing resolution. Best of both worlds.

The 1x crop is of a structure at the top of the mountain in the back. You can clearly make out the googley eyes someone painted on the structure. Acros 100, Route 1 on the California coast, next to the Devil's slide.

 

[Shashin]

Kodak Instmatic

An Ansco 35mm camera

Nikon FM

Mamiya C220

Wista VX

Mamiya 6 and Mamiya 6MF

Widelux F8

Nikonos IV

Konica Hexar Silver

Horseman SW612

Olympus EP-1

Pentax 645D

Sony RX1

Fuji X Pro2

Fuji XF10

 

[JohnBrew]

I’ve had enough MF cameras and found for my needs that stitched and stacked 35mm images do the job.
But then I got on a lightness kick because of my back. Swapped my DSLR for a mirrorless. All the same I found myself taking a Leica M to Portugal for travel. Recently returned from first travel experience with mirrorless. It has now been relegated to landscape photography and I will return to the M for travel.
But, oh my, that X1D II does give me pause...:loco:

 

[tsjanik]

Not counting the brownie I had as a child, which melted in the desert when I left it in the sun inside a car, my first serious camera was a Yaschia Mat 124G. Great camera, but what I really wanted was a Nikon F (the era of the film Blow Up). I did acquire a used Spotmatic and a few lenses. I loved the versatility a 35mm system gave vs. TLR. When the Pentax was stolen from my car (I've learned not to leave cameras in cars :banghead, I replaced it with a Pentax LX. A marvelous camera and I was very happy to leave screw mount lenses behind and have TTL flash exposure. Next acquired, in order: Toyo 4x5, Pentax 645, Pentax 67 (agree Matt, coolest camera ever), 645N , 67II, 645D, 645Z and recently a GFX 50r. I got he Fuji for its weight and electronic shutter , but much prefer the OVF and ergonomics of the Pentax.

 

[Paratom]

In Film times I had (still have) a Mamya645 with 3 lenses and a Leica M with 2 lenses. When digital area came and I earned my own money I started to get way too many cameras, coming and going. Then I came here to getdpi and decided to buy a digital MF, settled for Hy6 but after some years replaced it with a Leica S for greater speed. 3 years ago I started to shoot film again occasionally and decided to get a Hy6 again, but this time with a film back (645) - this week I will receive my 6x6 film back and looking forward to shoot some more MF-film. I asume this to stay forever with me because it is film.
In regards of digital MF I am torn between x1d and S system but also not sure if in digital times the advantage of medium format is as big (any more) as it was in film times. Have to say that the M10 is the closest camera to film shooting (IMO) because its reduced on the basic functions.

 

[dave.gt]

What a difference a year makes.

A year ago when I started this thread, I had no idea how photo-related things would change. I should have known that changes are inevitable!

This morning, I eschewed the paint brush that I have been wielding for a week now, I am just too exhausted to finish with touching up the usual mistakes. I hate painting!:facesmack:

So, I was making my shopping list for later in the day, checking the pantry and the fridge... then I stood staring for the longest time at my film stash in the freezer. Lots of 120 and 35mm film.:thumbs:

I already have a box of film ready to be developed but I need to get busy shooting!

So, out comes the Studio's H5D... both film backs loaded and I am thinking:

Road Trip!!!

And then I find myself standing and staring for the longest, into the garage... the sedan needs some maintenance badly. Ka-ching!

Road trip will have to wait. But when shooting a few rolls of 120 Ektachrome I can go anywhere... just need to decide what is close to home. Of course, I will also be shooting some 35mm New Ektachrome 100, too. So, I guess, I have answered my original question!!!

Old Car City!!!!!!:thumbup: