Shouldn't a medium format folder give the same IQ as an SLR?

Sirius Glass

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
50,248
Location
Southern California
Format
Multi Format
One cannot tell what camera was used taking a photograph, but the photographer who takes the photograph is aware of the features and capabilities of the camera and lens while they are taking the photograph.
 

Helge

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
Messages
3,938
Location
Denmark
Format
Medium Format
One cannot tell what camera was used taking a photograph, but the photographer who takes the photograph is aware of the features and capabilities of the camera and lens while they are taking the photograph.
To and extent you can with say, pre 1970 cameras. Or at least you can take a good guess.
 

Sirius Glass

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
50,248
Location
Southern California
Format
Multi Format
Ok. Fully agree on the 135 folders. It is my experience that 135 folders are better made/more solid/rigid than 120. All my Retinas I've had over the years (even an Agfa Solinette) are more solid than the 120 folders I've had over the years.

Yes, as I said I owned the Certo SuperDolly which used 120 film and the Voightlander Vito II which used 35mm film and the 135 was newer and better made. But neither one had interchangeable lenses nor changeable film backs.
 

Sirius Glass

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
50,248
Location
Southern California
Format
Multi Format

Hasselblad ==> guilty
Leica M ==> thought about but never took the plunge, because I really prefer slrs to range finders
Rolleiflex TLR ==> Great cameras but I never liked the left right reversal
 

MattKing

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
52,284
Location
Delta, BC Canada
Format
Medium Format
A couple of years ago I was out with a Brownie Hawkeye (which I got for free) at a nearby location I frequent, and started talking with a photographer who, like many people there, was looking for bird photos. He was showing me some of the results he had been obtaining - on the little screen on the back of his high end digital camera body - with suitably long and fast long zoom lens mounted.
I told him I was mostly using film. He exclaimed about how much money he was saving with digital. Then it came out that he had spent $13,000.00 on the kit he had with him.
It was at that point that I pulled out the Brownie Hawkeye and said that I was having to re-spool the film used in it, but otherwise it worked fine.
His response? "You are really deep into this!".
Enjoyment comes in all sorts of different flavours, and at all sorts of different prices.

This was one of the results from that day with the Brownie:


And this is from another visit to the same general location, using a relatively more expensive Mamiya 645 Pro:



I thoroughly enjoyed both experiences.
Just as I enjoy good photographic equipment generally.
 

Donald Qualls

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Messages
12,169
Location
North Carolina
Format
Multi Format
Some of my favorite images are from my Brownie Hawkeye Flash(es).

And I freely admit, I've never so much as handled a Hasselblad, Leica, or Rolleiflex. The only "professional" cameras I've got from after 1950 are my RB67 and my Graphic View II -- and I love the hell out of the RB. Haven't had the GVII out yet, but my original Graphic View is great to use, and the addition of centered tilts and a Graflok back ought to make the II even better.
 

Sirius Glass

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
50,248
Location
Southern California
Format
Multi Format


I really have to load the one roll of Verichrome Pan that I have, stupidly I misplaced the other, and get my Brownie Hawkeye out to see if I will enjoy it as much as when I was 10 years old. I even have five rolls of FP4+ 120 to use in it.
 

CJG

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2020
Messages
54
Location
Mountains of New Mexico
Format
Medium Format
Those are really nice Matt, they have a wonderful air to them,.

 

CJG

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2020
Messages
54
Location
Mountains of New Mexico
Format
Medium Format
 

Arthurwg

Subscriber
Joined
Dec 16, 2005
Messages
2,577
Location
Taos NM
Format
Medium Format


Just discovered that Diane Arbus used a Pentax 67 toward the end of her career. Hand held obviously. At some point she felt that the square was too static and wanted a rectangle to include more dynamism.
 
OP
OP

gone

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
5,505
Location
gone
Format
Medium Format
All my Retinas I've had over the years (even an Agfa Solinette) are more solid than the 120 folders I've had over the years.

I agree, especially the little Retina Ia, which is my favorite but doesn't qualify because it's scale focus. I had a few Voigtlander Bessa II folding cameras w/ Heliars, and their build quality and design were as good as it gets. The amazingly tiny Zeiss 120 folders are very solid too, and are possibly the smallest 120 6x6 cameras around w/ full rangefinders.
 

DREW WILEY

Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2011
Messages
13,803
Format
8x10 Format
Arthur - I wasn't aware of that. But I haven't followed the life of Arbus much. Brilliant artists are often those who know how to translate their own inner conflicts and contradictions visually into their work, even when seeking a mirror of themselves in the oddities and sufferings of others. Sadly, her pursuit of solving the riddle ended in tragedy. But she left some remarkable photographic examples of the conflict itself. I figured that much of it was MF work, but never researched the specifics.
 
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…