getting small

[Brian C. Miller]

Uh-oh, he's gonna get himself a 35mm kit next. But maybe you should try a different sort of 35mm.

I have a camera called a Pen-F, by Olympus. Its format is called "half-frame," 18x24mm, and its the same format that's used by 35mm movie cameras. Its a wonderful little champ with its 24mm lens, and I love it dearly. Whip it out, 72 frames on a 35mm roll, and wonderful grain with 400 speed film.

Or you could go even smaller and get a Minox. If the film you want isn't available for it, you can slice up a 35mm roll into two Minox rolls.

[paulr]

Now you're just trying to get me gang banged by all the ULF guys.

[Brian C. Miller]

Public flogging with dark slides and tripod-hauled! :-)

[julian_4860]

>>in a good way, or a clunky way?

the rollei is cool, very instinctive. I'm going the other way though. I'm working on some large prints from my last landscape series, and working 'at pixels' I keep thinking -'I wish I'd shot these on LF to draw more detail'...

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

So I found this job in San Francisco, a startup making photography software, they want to hire me as product manager. The CEO got me a Nikon D2X "to play with" over the summer. Great, I thought. Boy, was I wrong. Imagine me trying to set up for shooting one or two sheets of Velvia 8x10 at sunrise, while at the same time running around with the DSLR experimenting, shooting a few hundred frames. Very confusing, in the field and in the lab. Results are impressive though. I hate to admit it, but I think my 35mm cameras just turned into a private museum collection.

[paulr]

it seems like being playful and shooting from the hip is completely different mindset from 8x10, so it would be very confusing to try to do them at the same time. might work better to alternate weekends. or alternate projects.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

While I am going bigger, I had to get rid of some equipment since it is starting to accumulate and gather dust. My choice was between the Hassleblad and the 4x5 equipment. The 4x5 went. I love the square format! I wish LF manufacutrers made lenses like Carl zeiss! I dont know what is it about these lenses that the contrast is always absolutely perfect. I can understand why you like the MF, I take mine out for a spin every so often....is good to get away from the big toys once in a while.

[QT Luong]

Lars, that's what I've been doing for years. Instead of trying to get a few good trannies, I aim in the same timeframe for one, or maybe two good trannies and one or two dozens of acceptable (ie stock grade) 35mm frames (my current 35mm is a 1Ds2). After all these years, I still find the process confusing. Also, quite often, one of the 35mm frames also turns out to be a better image than the LF frames, which is frustrating (why didn't I shoot the best composition with the LF ?). There is two such different mindsets at play that it's like being two different photographers.

[Patricia Langer]

Paul, I have a Hassie and a Mamiya 67 that I use when I feel like I need to shake loose. I've been working a lot lately with the 8x10 -- it's new to me since May. My 4x5 is my regular camera and although she is usually my first choice, there are times...

I'm going to Greece in September, taking students, and I will be taking the Hassie and Mamiya because I couldn't possible use the 4x5 and be fully with my students. The large formats seem to take me into a world of my own, the smaller formats are looser. For me anyway. So have fun!

Patricia

[Frank Petronio]

Hassy stuff is so cheap nowadays that I almost want to buy a set simply because it is so ridiculous. But I won't ;-)

I have been working with a Nikon D2X for the past few weeks and I am blown away by its quality and speed. I have to force myself to slow down with it though, because it is too easy to shoot first and edit later. My 500 gb drive is already looking too small. For almost all commerical photography applications, it delivers more than enough information. I can't see shooting a "job" with 4x5 anymore, at least the kinds of jobs I do.

My take is that the practical applications for medium format and 35mm film are over for but large format will carry on for the "artists" market. I may ultimately jump up to ULF precisely because it is almost the opposite of digital ... but for right now I am shooting like crazy and love the 69 mb 16-bit files... which are the same size that I used to scan from 4x5 on my Epson - except the DSLR files have less noise.