What is driving you upon the system you chose?

[alapin]

Thanks andrel23.

It's a shame that those who shoot digital don't get to experience this wonderful magical moment.

 

[Ric Trexell]

Not into digital yet...but

I have 35mm's and MF but because I hope to do some stock photography I will most likely need a digital camera. I never embraced digital for the simple reason that I'm mainly interested in preserving my photos over decades and I have never yet seen a digital that was a hundred years old. Yes, I've heard they will last that long and printed pics will but we won't know that until the year 2090 or so, and by then I hope to be dead. (I'm 59 now so that will probably be possible.) Although weaker eyesight makes the 35mm cameras harder to use, I still say nothing beats looking at a slide on the light table or on a page of slides. Plus showing them to the family on a projector beats looking at a computer screen. With film I also feel I'm getting the best of both worlds. I have a negative (or slide) and can scan it and have a digital shot. I would hate to see film die off completely.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

For me it's all about the pictures, and the camera is the very least important part of the whole chain. By far. As long as it works, and the lenses are pretty good and of a focal length I like, I'm happy with it.

I really enjoy the actual camera work, especially when I'm with friends, or if I'm working with a portrait sitter, but what really drives me is the darkroom work. To watch small 35mm negatives blossom under the enlarger and in the trays, or to watch my carefully exposed and processed 120 6x6 negs mature in the print is something that takes me to a different dimension. It's the culmination of all the hard work that went into all of the learning I've done, the pinnacle of my own achievement.

120 is for urban and nature landscapes, 35mm is for everything else. It's just fun fun fun all the way.

 

[andrel23]

Like you Thomas, I'm feeling the same way. It's not really the tool wich is important but the resultant!

Digital is fun and has a fast rebound, but I think that printing from a computer screen to a printer is going in the opposite way. I'm very often disapointed at the results and even if my printer is properly calibrated.

It is clearly the opposite in film! Anticipation is driving magic when you rock your tray to pop your view into your eyes! Nothing will replace that!

 

[Gerald C Koch]

I never liked the look of digital particularly in BW.

I still enjoy watching the print image appear in the developer tray.

 

[cjbecker]

Why did digital leave a bad taste in your mouth?

1. It always felt like it was putting more in between me and the picture. There are so many buttons, I could never quite put my head around it. This button does This, but when you push This, it does This . There is just too much going on.

2. I hate computers. ESPECIALLY editing pictures on them. That is why I do color through RPL so I don’t have to edit my color. I’m a photographer not a computer wiz. Put me in a darkroom and I am set. (I really need to get the enlarger back out though). When I do BW I develop then scan. In photoshop I do levels and curves, that is it, and that is still too much. I have been getting more into polaroid recently because the Zero editing and the beautiful essence of it.

3. I hate how they feel. I like to have just a Shutter speed, Aperture, ISO, and a release button. preferably looking down into it, and in a box shape, rollie/blad.

There are a ton more things that back this up for me but.

 

[ContaxRTSFundus]

Back in the 70s when I was using the Contax RTS system, I bought a Mamiya 645 and was so excited by the quality of the images but did not pursue MF further as my work was in gymnastics and I needed the Zeiss fast lenses to compensate indoors for shooting without a flash. GAF500 (grain the size of golfballs) and Ektachrome pushed a stop were my staples). Now that I had less need of f1.2 and 1.4 lenses, I was tempted to get a Mamiya 645 ProTL and a few lenses - I was hooked. I then graduated to the Mamiya RZ system partly because of the larger format but also because of the quality of the glassware and sold all my Mamiya 645 kit to help pay for the 'upgrade'. I was perfectly content until ebay intervened and one one night I bought a Contax 645 (old marque loyalty) with 5 lenses and then followed that up the same day with a Fuji GX680II whne MrCad had a half-price sale. Again, for me it's the glass that counts. Although the range of lenses on the Contax is limiting, their quality is breathtaking and I now understand why their s/h remain obscene - espcially in the US. I also love the ergonomics of the system - reminiscent of the quality of the original RTS with its miriad accessories.

However, for me the Fuji was the revelation. After shooting just 2 rolls of Fuji 800ASA (sadly gone for ever) through the basic 135 f5.6 lens, I was hooked. Checking out comments here and elsewhere, I bought 2 GX680III and 2 GX680IIIS bodies and every lens from the 50mm to the 300mm including the 100-200 zoom which is superb. The only lens I don't have is the 500mm as I can't see a use for it in the studio and the 300mm is long enough for my outdoor needs. Adding the AE Finder and the Magnifying Hood (a brilliant viewing accessory) has given me a lot of shooting versatility and of course, the beauty of the Fuji is that it can shoot 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7 and of course 6x8. Add to that the GX680III has a full set of tilt, shift and swing movements that can be used with all but the 50, zoom and 500mm lenses and you have the ultimate MF system camera -admittedly though, it is a bit weighty. But the IIIS is lighter and less bulky and is the ideal partner for the 50mm super-wideangle.

Of course, this has rendered my Mamiya RZ67 kit redundant - I'll keep the Contax 645 for its greater ease of portability - so I'm going to sell all of it bar the ProII and 4 lenses. I can't justify the space for all this MF gear. Oh yes, I know it's not a system camera but my one remaining and oft-used MF camera is another Fuji - the delightful GA645Zi which is the perfect travel companion - not a phrase likely be in the same sentence as a Fuji GX680!

And another thing - though heresy in this forum - I have a superb old Ixpress 384 digital back with adapters for the Contax, Mamiya and Fuji cameras for those moments outdoors when the film runs out.