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Medium Format Digital v. Medium Format Film
- Thread starter dave.gt
- Start date
dave.gt
Well-known member
Yes, jpegs are always a teaser aren't they?:0Dave, I don't think comparing jpegs tells you much and resizing for the internet (4:3 vs 6:6) robs a little also. I can say there is a considerable difference when comparing the tiff files on a good monitor. But then I have always preferred bw
At first glance, they look entirely different and I presume you liked the b/w film image better, right?
My film rolls are being developed and scanned for me this week. My Velvia rolls should be back next week. And... I have a single roll of TriX to develop on my own at home if I can find the energy and time! So, yes, I am looking forward to a complete evaluation of my trial images from the 503 as well as the film backs on the H5.
Thanks, John!
Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
I've been asking myself lately why I take photos. Apart from the little commercial photography that I still do, which is almost always digital for practical reasons, there are two main categories:
- Snapshots of friends and family. Most of those can be taken with my phone or any kind of compact camera, mostly a GM5 in my case.
- Photos I take for my own pleasure, when I have time, as a hobby or simply to slow down and get some variation from the hectic threadmill that everyday life has become.
For this latter category, I'm increasingly tending towards the opinion that film is a much better medium. I enjoy the slowness of the process, I enjoy the experimentation with different films, I enjoy the suspence waiting for the results, and I enjoy the clockwork nature of older equipment. I even enjoy grain and the imperfections, just as I enjoy the brush strokes and imperfections of paintings.
Most of all though, I enjoy the fact that with many medium format systems, it's possible to use film as well as digital backs on the same camera body, using the same lenses. With the falling prices of older digital backs, it's coming within reach for an increasing number of photographers to use both media.
So it's not "Medium Format Digital v. Medium Format Film". It's "Medium Format Digital and Medium Format Film". An important point using medium format in my view is the ability to use both.
- Snapshots of friends and family. Most of those can be taken with my phone or any kind of compact camera, mostly a GM5 in my case.
- Photos I take for my own pleasure, when I have time, as a hobby or simply to slow down and get some variation from the hectic threadmill that everyday life has become.
For this latter category, I'm increasingly tending towards the opinion that film is a much better medium. I enjoy the slowness of the process, I enjoy the experimentation with different films, I enjoy the suspence waiting for the results, and I enjoy the clockwork nature of older equipment. I even enjoy grain and the imperfections, just as I enjoy the brush strokes and imperfections of paintings.
Most of all though, I enjoy the fact that with many medium format systems, it's possible to use film as well as digital backs on the same camera body, using the same lenses. With the falling prices of older digital backs, it's coming within reach for an increasing number of photographers to use both media.
So it's not "Medium Format Digital v. Medium Format Film". It's "Medium Format Digital and Medium Format Film". An important point using medium format in my view is the ability to use both.
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darr
Well-known member
:clap::clap::clap:
jerome_m
Member
Youtube "following videos" are chosen by an algorithm and depends on whatever videos the user has watched in the past, so I have no idea what this "19 min. video" could be. And I am not convinced why I should spend 19 minutes of my time.
I don't have a Netflix subscription. Moreover, Netflix videos availability is on a country per country basis, so I do not know if I would be able to watch that particular video if I had a subscription.
In a nutshell: please do not blindly refer to videos on a public forum. Not everyone is able to watch them.
On the thread: yes, MF film is nice. Results from my RB67 compare favourably to results from my H4D.
dave.gt
Well-known member
My apologies if my posting offended you. I had no idea.
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dave.gt
Well-known member
No, it should not be a choice of one or the other unless the artist has a preference for the exclusion. Imo, photography for me is as essential as breathing. Sometimes I breathe slowly and at other times I am so busy that I can barely breathe enough.
My 503cxi "breathes" with a sound that is at first startling to the uninitiated. The slow, methodical and usually quiet process of shooting with that camera is good for my soul and the images hopefully reflect that.
The physical evidence of the negatives will endure for many years.
Most of what I do is digital capture. Yet another method of self-expression. It is an exciting time to be immersed in photography. Like a painter, the choices are there to best represent what is in the "soul" and needing to expressed in one form or another. Sometimes, for me, the images are accompanied by dialogue. Sometimes the images are also presented with music in various forms.
It is all good!
Wayne Fox
Workshop Member
But that doesn’t mean we don’t know anything about it. I’ve shot thousands of rolls of medium format film in my career, and have no nostalgic attraction to it, do not believe it offers anything that special (at least color film) and I lose all the control that I struggled with for decades with film and darkroom that I now have with digital. Film is costly and to me very environmentally unfriendly, and you have to scan it anyway to make prints.Let me guess...
No one on this forum shoots Medium Format film?
Not sure it changes the perspective, that really only happens if you move the camera closer or further. But the digital shot was on a 44x33mm sensor, I assume the film shot would have been a 645 format, to 60x45mm. That’s pretty typical, film exposes a larger surface area than the sensors we use on medium format. I assume in this shot, the cropping was just a little different, perhaps because on the film shot he had a little more to play with.Wow, John!
That comparison is really cool. Same lens yet wider perspective with film! I will move to the big screen on the computer firca closer look! Stay tuned, be
right back!
No different that using different size films.
dave.gt
Well-known member
I understand your perspective on digital and film.
There are those of us who have shot hundreds of thousands of images in digital who actually like to use film as well. We are all different and that is a good thing.
I find it interesting that Platon, a very good, no, excellent photographer chose to shoot world leaders and events with a film Hasselblad. I find his approach extremely interesting! How he is able to capture the "truth" of the character of each of his motifs... He has perfected his art.
No, there is no magic camera. There is no magic format. There is only magic in what the artist is able to create using whatever his/her skills, talents and expression of self.
Again, this is a wonderful time to be a "photographer", or whatever one's definition is when describing the use of a camera in creating images.
dave.gt
Well-known member
Wow! My first 120 Velvia images!!!!
Today, I dropped off my Velvia rolls of slide film to be scanned. I have spent the last two days looking at those lovely frames and I am lost for words because they are stunning. It is true that slide film on a light table is amazing and even possibly better when projected!
But these will be scanned and I have no idea how the scanning will turn out but I am so looking forward to working with the final scans. Having shot 35mm slide film for decades, I was not prepared to see those beautiful 120 film images.
It is true what they say about Medium Format!!! It simply rocks!
Today, I dropped off my Velvia rolls of slide film to be scanned. I have spent the last two days looking at those lovely frames and I am lost for words because they are stunning. It is true that slide film on a light table is amazing and even possibly better when projected!
But these will be scanned and I have no idea how the scanning will turn out but I am so looking forward to working with the final scans. Having shot 35mm slide film for decades, I was not prepared to see those beautiful 120 film images.
It is true what they say about Medium Format!!! It simply rocks!
dave.gt
Well-known member
beano_z
Active member
So how did those turn out?Wow! My first 120 Velvia images!!!!
Today, I dropped off my Velvia rolls of slide film to be scanned. I have spent the last two days looking at those lovely frames and I am lost for words because they are stunning. It is true that slide film on a light table is amazing and even possibly better when projected!
But these will be scanned and I have no idea how the scanning will turn out but I am so looking forward to working with the final scans. Having shot 35mm slide film for decades, I was not prepared to see those beautiful 120 film images.
It is true what they say about Medium Format!!! It simply rocks!
Anyway, I got some of mine back, I'll just post them without any additional comment, simply because for me there's no additional conclusions to be made except that I love Velvia 50 and I enjoy using it (but aren't we all here because of that?) :grin:
Victoria Harbour
by BB, on Flickr
Victoria Harbour
by BB, on Flickr
Kowloon Peak
by BB, on Flickr
Kowloon Peak
by BB, on Flickr
Shanghai Pudong CBD
by BB, on Flickr
Shanghai Pudong CBD
by BB, on Flickr
Lastly some mandatory camera porn just for the hell of it! To be able to catch the best light on both film and digital, I've just put together this contraption which allows me to mount two camera bodies (with two different lenses because the FoV on 6x9 film and 645 are quite different) on the same tripod head, which makes life a little easier and less nerve-wrecking when the best light only lasts for a few minutes...
dave.gt
Well-known member
Binbin,So how did those turn out?
Anyway, I got some of mine back, I'll just post them without any additional comment, simply because for me there's no additional conclusions to be made except that I love Velvia 50 and I enjoy using it (but aren't we all here because of that?) :grin:
Victoria Harbour
by BB, on Flickr
Victoria Harbour
by BB, on Flickr
Kowloon Peak
by BB, on Flickr
Kowloon Peak
by BB, on Flickr
Shanghai Pudong CBD
by BB, on Flickr
Shanghai Pudong CBD
by BB, on Flickr
Lastly some mandatory camera porn just for the hell of it! To be able to catch the best light on both film and digital, I've just put together this contraption which allows me to mount two camera bodies (with two different lenses because the FoV on 6x9 film and 645 are quite different) on the same tripod head, which makes life a little easier and less nerve-wrecking when the best light only lasts for a few minutes...
View attachment 135292
Wow, great images here. Really!
And the film+digital setup is brilliant and quite impressive! What cross bar and such did you use? I have a proposal in to the hospital for doing something similar and I await their new budget approval before receiving the word to get to work. I like your setup better than my setup which uses a B&H Photo crossbar and a MacBook Pro tether table.
Regarding my scans... hmm.. I received both rolls and the Velvia 50, shot at 100 ISO turned out very well!
my first result was posted yesterday on the Fun with Medium Format Images thread and compared with a similar previous image from the 59c digital back.The other roll... Velvia 100.., <sigh>...The scans were simply botched by the lab in spite of fantastic images on the light table. Everything from black spots to artifacts were everywhere and the images were both flat and overexposed. So, I now must find someone to re-scan the entire roll. Wish I had access to an X1 scanner!
So, my results are still not ready to share. Some days are diamonds, and some are just rocks. Still working on them though!
Frankly
New member
FWIW I used to believe in shooting all the same type of camera, film, media, etc. to maintain "continuity".
But for 15 years I've given up on that notion and rely on the images and thinking to carry on the continuity. So I'll mix crappy old 35mm with 8x10, my old 6mp files with my 100 mp files. My "tog" book is a good example.
Juxtaposing high and low quality and still finding a connection between the two seems to me a greater accomplishment, a maturity of your vision.
You could think of grainy 35mm as being quick high notes versus rich 8x10 being the low notes, and as a photographer you're composing a tune to tell your story.
For instance Avedon used a Rolleiflex and an 8x10. He shot a different type of image with each kind of camera yet it is easy to place his images shot with different formats together and distinguish Avedon's way of seeing.
AS for the original question I always chuckle with the film/digitial question as it really depends on the scanner. Medium format film sloppily scanned on an Epson looks a lot different than a good drum or Imacon scan.
But for 15 years I've given up on that notion and rely on the images and thinking to carry on the continuity. So I'll mix crappy old 35mm with 8x10, my old 6mp files with my 100 mp files. My "tog" book is a good example.
Juxtaposing high and low quality and still finding a connection between the two seems to me a greater accomplishment, a maturity of your vision.
You could think of grainy 35mm as being quick high notes versus rich 8x10 being the low notes, and as a photographer you're composing a tune to tell your story.
For instance Avedon used a Rolleiflex and an 8x10. He shot a different type of image with each kind of camera yet it is easy to place his images shot with different formats together and distinguish Avedon's way of seeing.
AS for the original question I always chuckle with the film/digitial question as it really depends on the scanner. Medium format film sloppily scanned on an Epson looks a lot different than a good drum or Imacon scan.
beano_z
Active member
Well actually, some components of this bars setup was supposed to double as a long lens support, but I found out that it is too heavy as it is now. RRS stuff may the best out there but sometimes they’re just overkill for the job, so I’m looking for a lighter more portable setup, which should also fit easier in my bag without disassembly. Anyway, finding new gear to purchase is part of the fun of photography I guess......Binbin,
Wow, great images here. Really!
And the film+digital setup is brilliant and quite impressive! What cross bar and such did you use? I have a proposal in to the hospital for doing something similar and I await their new budget approval before receiving the word to get to work. I like your setup better than my setup which uses a B&H Photo crossbar and a MacBook Pro tether table.
Regarding my scans... hmm.. I received both rolls and the Velvia 50, shot at 100 ISO turned out very well!
The other roll... Velvia 100.., <sigh>...The scans were simply botched by the lab in spite of fantastic images on the light table. Everything from black spots to artifacts were everywhere and the images were both flat and overexposed. So, I now must find someone to re-scan the entire roll. Wish I had access to an X1 scanner!
So, my results are still not ready to share. Some days are diamonds, and some are just rocks. Still working on them though!
Look forward to your shots!