Buying a new MF camera

[Noble]

It's kind of unusual to find a medium-format lens faster than f/2.8, but f/2.8 at 1/50 will get you to a fairly low light level with reasonable parameters, I think. The shallow depth of field becomes a challenge, but there's nothing wrong with the occasional challenge.

Listen to what this poster is saying. Your normal lens on a 6x6 will be 80mm. I rarely shoot at 2.8. The problem is your depth of field gets so shallow you may only get one eye in focus. If the subject is moving then no eyes in focus. You need to pick up some medium format cameras and see how they feel. I don't own any lenses faster than 2.8 and my lenses are still beasts. I couldn't imagine what they would be like if they were 1.8s or 1.4s. I don't think those types of lenses exist in this universe because they would be prohibitively expensive and they would kind of defeat the purpose. They would be so heavy they would be a pain to shoot hand held. At least in the SLR form factor.

Trust me. Shoot with a medium format camera at 2.8 for awhile and then come back and tell us what your keeper rate is. Unless you are constantly focused at infinity I would assume it will be pretty low.

 

[ntenny]

Trust me. Shoot with a medium format camera at 2.8 for awhile and then come back and tell us what your keeper rate is. Unless you are constantly focused at infinity I would assume it will be pretty low.

I don't know that I'd agree wholesale; it depends on what your subject matter is, how critical the focus point is, and how good the camera's focus mechanism is. Close up for portraiture, yeah, you're going to be choosing one eye over the other (I'm told that the ULF people sometimes have to choose which *eyelash* will be in focus). But for mid-range stuff like outdoor environmental portraiture, I find my keeper rate is limited by composition and lighting more than by focus, even wide open.

There are quite a few variables, though. You can get away with faster film in medium format because the grain is less of an issue in the larger frame, for instance, so hopefully you don't *have* to shoot wide open so much.

-NT

 

[Noble]

I don't know that I'd agree wholesale; it depends on what your subject matter is, how critical the focus point is, and how good the camera's focus mechanism is.

I use a Rollei 6008i. If the focusing mechanism is junk then every medium format camera's focusing mechanism is junk. I don't know what you mean by "how critical the focus point is." If you mean you don't care where the focus point lands then, ummm, yeah of course it's fine... because you don't care. And the subject matter is irrelevant. If you want something to be sharp and it isn't that's a problem. If you don't care what is sharp then again it is not a problem... because you don't care not because the lens performed.

Close up for portraiture, yeah, you're going to be choosing one eye over the other (I'm told that the ULF people sometimes have to choose which *eyelash* will be in focus). But for mid-range stuff like outdoor environmental portraiture, I find my keeper rate is limited by composition and lighting more than by focus, even wide open.

I addressed this with my somewhat extreme example of focusing at infinity. The farther away a subject is from the lens the larger the apparent DOF. My point was giving the DOF issues with using a longer lens due to using a medium format camera you aren't going to find yourself longing for a 1.4 aperture. I shoot portraits of people that are waist up with an 80mm and you have to be careful with DOF. It is not as fast and spontaneous as shooting with a 35mm camera.

I perhaps shouldn't have used the word keeper because people have different standards for what they keep. All I was trying to say is you will objectively take a sharpness hit with the limited DOF. If that is okay with you that is your choice but there will be a difference.

 

[mr rusty]

I agree DOF is a learning curve with MF. I recently bought mamiya 645J, and whilst I am really pleased with it (and I do carry it around on a neckstrap with a prism finder), I have found several shots where I was surprised I had missed the focus. With 35mm at 5.6 and beyond I don't find DOF a great issue - provided the subject is in focus, the rest fall around it OK. With MF, this doesn't work and you certainly have to start spending more time on focussing.

 

[philosli]

I recently acquired a GA645 (60mm F/4) and I'm very happy with it. It's light weight (lighter than my 35mm SLR + a zoom) and you can carry it everywhere. That's very important to me.

Even for 60mm at smaller aperture, the DOF is shallow and I need to be extra careful with it. And with smaller aperture to gain DOF, the shutter speed drops and thus I would say, w/o flash, it's a day light camera (handheld) or you need a tripod.

And the lens....is *deadly* sharp, as many people have said.

Metering is quite accurate for shooting slides. Autofocus is fine; I think half of the time I use zone focus or hyperfocus. The camera is really a joy to use.