Got me a Hassy kit!

My life with Hasselblad is on about the same time line as the OPs...I just got a second body as well, the 40 f4 FLE, 180 f4 (which I absolutely love to death so far), and the 350 f5.6. It is incurable, but when I reach for cameras it's either the Blad or the Leica, I love them both and have never regretted one minute buying into either format.

I have owned my 500C/M since '97. Started with an 80c and 150c in silver. I did replace the 80c with an 80c T* and sold the 150 about 7 years ago. The next year I bought a 50c T*. I walked into a deal I couldn't pass up a couple days ago, a near mint 80CF and a 150CF for $700. I just might have to buy a second A-12. Once I bought the Hasselblad, I sold all of my 35mm equipment. I like this camera. Can't see myself using anything else at all.

Life's Big Choices

stealthman_1 said:

My life with Hasselblad is on about the same time line as the OPs...I just got a second body as well, the 40 f4 FLE, 180 f4 (which I absolutely love to death so far), and the 350 f5.6. It is incurable, but when I reach for cameras it's either the Blad or the Leica, I love them both and have never regretted one minute buying into either format.

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I too have the H or L decision to make each day I pick one up. I came down to the Hockeing hills area for a photo contest (www.shootthehills.com ) and unfortunately is is now an all digital contest. I took the Tachihara with me because I could not give up shooting some film this weekend. So life's big decisions now are when to retire, what to buy the wife for Christmas or what to reach for (H, l or T) to shoot with.

You need a lens shade.

And dump the miniature format camera. (Up to you to decide which one(s) that is/those are.)
Once you do that, you'll find you have a lot less decisions to worry about.

By the end of the year, I should have a clean 120 F/4 Makro-Planar and will be done for awhile with that.

At that point I will have 14 camera bodies, 30+ lenses and tons of other gear.

I could see getting a either 40 FLE or 903 SWC and a 350 5.6 SA down the road, but that is spendy glass...

Need to sell some fine art prints before I jump off that end..

You could also have a think about whether you really need "14 camera bodies, 30+ lenses and tons of other gear".
As a result, you may find you do have plenty spending money, even without selling some prints.

Q.G. said:

You could also have a think about whether you really need "14 camera bodies, 30+ lenses and tons of other gear".
As a result, you may find you do have plenty spending money, even without selling some prints.

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It does sound a bit crazy, eh? But that is what pros often end up with. Only three bodies are non-film types though, D3, D700, G10.

Over half of the 14 are for the Kodachrome Project. That alone has an FM3A, F100, Leica M3 x2, MP3, M6TTL, Hasselblad XPan and a Stereo Realist 3D camera. Tons of other gear consists of things like a Hensel Porty battery powered 1,200 watt strobe, Kenyon KS-6 Gyro, two vinyl underwater housings, lots of custom made camera mounts for placing remotes, etc.

I'll admit though, this is the most gear I will ever own. After the Kodachrome Project is done, the 35mm stuff will shrink a bit.

Makes me feel bad. I only have one(1) 500C/M body, one(1) A-12, one(1) 80CF, one(1) 150CF, one(1) 50c, one(1) 250c, one(1) meter knob, one(1) other meter, and one(1) tripod.

Edit: Also have one(1) 8mp dedgutul thing...

Dang!
That must mean you can only take one (1) film image and one (1) digily image at one (1) time!

Gah!

PKM-25 said:

Over half of the 14 are for the Kodachrome Project. That alone has an FM3A, F100, Leica M3 x2, MP3, M6TTL, Hasselblad XPan and a Stereo Realist 3D camera. Tons of other gear consists of things like a Hensel Porty battery powered 1,200 watt strobe, Kenyon KS-6 Gyro, two vinyl underwater housings, lots of custom made camera mounts for placing remotes, etc.

I'll admit though, this is the most gear I will ever own. After the Kodachrome Project is done, the 35mm stuff will shrink a bit.

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Don't know enough about the Kodachrome project, so i'll just ask: why does it take so many cameras?

Q.G. said:

Don't know enough about the Kodachrome project, so i'll just ask: why does it take so many cameras?

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Well, for starters, there are three speeds of the film, 25, 64 and 200. So at any given time, all of those cameras will have partially used rolls of those films, which may or may not be what I want to use at that exact moment.

The FM3A is a battery free rig that I can beat up while on a climb with a sturdy manual focus prime instead of delicate Leica gear. The F100 uses all of my Nikon glass, even the "G" lenses that do not have aperture rings like the 14-24 and 200-400 that will not work with the FM3A.

The Leica M gear is the primary gear for the project as it is small, light and has outstanding optical quality. The 4 bodies provide both film speed diversity and frame line diversity not to mention backup for when one is in the shop getting an adjustment. But the optical range is pretty narrow, basically 28-90mm.

The XPan should speak for it self, incredible with Kodachrome 25 and 64.

The Stereo Realist, I actually have two, is for a 3D component to the project that will be a backlit gallery show with viewers stuck on the wall for people to look through. I am shooting with one 3D and the other will travel from country to country for other photographers to use. They were super cheap, not a big loss if the traveler gets lost.

It's just like anything else in professional photography, lots of redundancy for critical applications and lots of different gear to cover an infinite scale of visual options in a finite amount of time. Sometimes I will have one body doing a star trail and will need another for a slightly different shot so two or even three bodies going at the same time are not uncommon.

They are like socket wrenches, there is a basic approach. And there is a total approach that means you have 5 different sets of the same sizes.