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Re: [OM] Does buying a medium format make sense anymore?

Subject: Re: [OM] Does buying a medium format make sense anymore?
From: Albert <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 13:37:09 +0800

Albert, let me answer your other questions :-) Judging from your postings on and off the subjects, I sense that you feel in some way dissatisfy with your pictures - hence the questions about MF, zone system, slides, light meters etc. I think a more fruitful approach is to ask yourself what aspects you are not happy with your pictures, and then what are the solutions? Often the answer is not more equipments but other aspects of photographic skills. May be posting some pictures and ask for criticism would help. I get lots of valuable feedback from you guys. Yes, they can be brutally honest, but that is good. That's how we learn.

Good luck.

Actually, there are multiple problems..

Part I

As far as my 35mm goes; my #1 problem now is framing. But nobody can really help me with that, I'm the one looking through the lens, while there are suggestions, rules of 3rds etc.. They are mere suggestions, and it has helped me a lot to look at other people's pictures.. but that will always be a struggle.

The second one is metering. But my last 20 rolls have been Reala.. and my 50mm f1.8, and I've gotten to know both quite well. And that has helped my metering a lot. I now know how the film performs, when my meter is lying to me, and how I have to compensate accordingly.. Focusing and sharpness is not a problem, my pics are generally sharp.

Part II

I've had my eye set on a medium format camera for a long time. My friend has a Hassy, and I took it out for a spin, but found it was way to cumbersome to take on vacations.. And so that ruined my medium format for vacation thoughts..

Until I saw the Fuji RF's, and the Mamiya RF's. Being this anal nerd, I'm always afraid of battery dependency, and so I thought, well, the Fuji's are not battery dependent, just like the Hassy's, and so I became pretty set on wanting one. It's like the billionaire who wants to build his own little Beetle. Why? Because that's what he has set his heart on. But I'm not sure if it's practical anymore.. I might have to step back and reevaluate it. But I saw a few slides from a 6x7, and they just blew me away...

I use to work at a place as a webmaster, and the place sold furniture. They would get their furniture taken in a studio by professionals with a either a 4x5 large format or a 6x7 MF and I remember staring at them, and thinking I wanted to make those too..

So I don't know if digital will satisfy seeing 6x7 or 6x9 sized slides as a replacement.. But then again, the practical side of me says, for the price, you can get a decent digital 35mm and probably almost equal the performance of medium format... Also, I've made only 3 8x10s in my lifetime.. So makes me wonder about going MF.. the inner struggles are horrible..

Albert



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