MF a dying breed?

[docholliday]

Aggie,

I owned an RB for a while and I loved the Mamiya glass. The only MF glass that sucks is bronica's tamron glass. Junk. Pure junk. Even though I love Mamiya glass, once I got the Hassy, I quickly changed my likings to the Zeiss more. I'm gonna get some Zeiss sunglasses this summer. The coating (it's T*, but named differently) is on the inside of the lenses...weird. A friend of mine that has a pair was telling me that he could see distortion on the windshield of his car with them when the sun was at the right angle. So, I tried them on and sure enough, I could see a wave like appearance from the polarization of the glasses. Much better than any other sunglasses I've ever had. But, for the price of the sunglasses, I could get another body...

Printing the RB negs meant that contrast filtration varied between 1.5 and 3. Even on studio shots. With the Zeiss glass, I can print at 2 or use no filter all the time and I get shots which show a full tonal scale with no headaches.

The thing I never understood was why a Nikon LC37 (or whatever the UV filter is called) is more expensive than a Heliopan KR1.5...oh, wait...it's called marketing. I know a couple of Nikon users who frown on Schott glass, calling it "as cheap as the tiffen filters". Hmmm...can we say, brainwashed by advertising?

[tommorris]

Dying breed?

Not with me it's not.

You can replace my Bronica with a digi when you pry it from my cold, lifeless, blood-soaked hands. Until then, I will do what it takes to get my medium format on!

And I'm only a recent convertee... I bought a 645 Bronny recently, after trying out (and instantly falling in love with) the SQ. It is the most perfect camera ever, because it never gets on my nerves. People lend me these cameras with a million buttons on, and various knobs, sliders, menus etc. and I haven't got a clue. My questions are: "Where do I set the speed? Where do I set the apeture? How do I focus this darn thing?". These things get simpler for the gibbering morons (the "snaps" brigade), but for anybody who wants more control, they get more technical.

The future is simple: manual focus, manual exposure, medium format.

[Nige]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (docholliday @ Mar 11 2003, 03:28 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I&#39;m gonna get some Zeiss sunglasses this summer. The coating (it&#39;s T*, but named differently) is on the inside of the lenses...weird. A friend of mine that has a pair was telling me that he could see distortion on the windshield of his car with them when the sun was at the right angle. So, I tried them on and sure enough, I could see a wave like appearance from the polarization of the glasses. Much better than any other sunglasses I&#39;ve ever had. But, for the price of the sunglasses, I could get another body...
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my sunglasses do this... I&#39;m almost used to it&#33; Sometimes it&#39;s annoying in that you can&#39;t see thru the cars rear window for the kailidascope of colours reflecting of the window&#33; Regularly it shows up like a uniform series of dots. No idea how much the Hassy ones are&#33;, these were under &#036;50 US..

[docholliday]

Nige,

It&#39;s not Hassy sunglasses, it&#39;s actually Zeiss sunglasses with something like "T-coating" (note the missing * from T). I have a pair of the regular sunglasses and have had a few pairs of RayBans, etc.

There is something about the quality of the Zeiss glasses that is different (and better). Almost like looking through Cokin filters vs. Heliopan&#39;s.

They&#39;re somewhere between 200-500 US dollars. But, worth every dime.

[Sean]

Today in downtown Auckland before work I went into one of the larger camera shops. I&#39;ve been interested in the Mamiya7 and wanted to have a look. The salesman approached and asked if I needed any help. I asked, "where is your medium format gear?", he replied, "We don&#39;t stock medium format anymore, there&#39;s no intrest in medium format now since everyone is going to digital instead". I didn&#39;t say much to him and just left. I guess all the shops will take on this attitude soon? Gheez...

[clogz]

Yesterday in downtown Rotterdam I decided to continue my hunt for the four-bladed easel. I went to one of the two pro shops and noticed that things had changed: hardly any cameras at all on display. After introducing myself as being an amateur ( I love this game&#33 to one of the sales staff the bloke got a bit toffee nosed and told me with some relish that new management policy was to sell to pro photographers only and any analogue items were to be phased out. So I left this House of Disdain.

The second shop: staff are ususally cheerful there and service is excellent. They told me they were going to move to the suburbs within a month. My remark that this was the big chance to go all digital was met with a hopeful denial. On the contrary: as sales for B&W materials were going up they had decided to have the full range of Agfa, Ilford etc in stock as the new premises has a lot more space.

Conclusion: photo pro land will show a separation of the minds. There&#39;s going to be either digilemmings or undogmatic people with an eye for the (niche) market. If we all support the latter it is all going to be fine.

Still no four bladed easel though.

Hans

[Aggie]

..

[Robert]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (clogz @ Apr 30 2003, 12:38 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

Conclusion: photo pro land will show a separation of the minds. There&#39;s going to be either digilemmings or undogmatic people with an eye for the (niche) market. If we all support the latter it is all going to be fine.
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I think this is right. We&#39;ll see some drop out of the business. That will give the remainder more business and they will then look at more products then in the past.

[bkantelis]

MF is not dead, you should consider the split however. The bulk of photos are snapshots. In that world digital will rule, in volume commercial photography digital is also the way to go. However for fine art photography for example, film will always have a place. As to MF, there is a certain disciplne with this format that can really help improve your skills. I always encouraged my students to get a Yashica MAT124 or Rollieflex. The fixed lens MF really changed their work for the better. Of course it is not a one size fits all, but it clearly puts the focus on the image and the message.
Regards,
Bruce

[SteveGangi]

I have a Yashica 12, an older version if you will of the MAT 124G. I still kick myself for selling the 124G. One good thing about a fixed lens, especially for students is, it removes one more distraction. Let's just agree not to talk about my backpack full of Canon FD lenses (wink wink).