Jon, don't get suckered into the religious war over 35mm/medium format/large-format cameras. Use what suits you best. After shooting 35mm for 20 years, and LF for about 18 months, I've come to see that the mind behind the camera and the technique used contributes more to the finished product than the choice of camera format. I love my LF camera far more than my 35mm simply for the control that it gives me. If I'm shooting wildlife, I wouldn't even think about using the LF gear. I shoot mostly rocks, trees, and streams, so I use the LF gear.
As for impressing your father with LF vs. 35mm, LF gear takes a lot of practice and patience, both good things to learn for life. I've got maybe 100 transparencies so far, and maybe 4 or 5 absolutely breathtaking shots that make it all worth it to me. Just because you use LF gear doesn't make things automaticaly come out better (just more expensive!). Keep trying and good luck!
Hi Jon, I have two amateurish pictures from 4x5 slides posted at www.photocritique.net under nature, 'A 4x5 shot'&'another 4x5', hope that won't kill your appetitefor LF. They are scanned from Ilfochrome contact prints as I can't afford a good scanner for LF slides. The actual slides look better.
I have been shooting 35mm for the past 30 years, Meium Format for the past 5, and Large Format of the past 1 year. I wish I had started shooting LF when I was your age. I am so in love with my LF camera that I often think about selling my 2-1/4 camera. Each has it's own use and each it's own technique. What I love about LF is being able to slow down, think, react, compose, think again and "make a photograph". There are many disappointing images, a lot can go wrong, but when it goes right and everything comes together....WOW! That is when you know that it is worth every painstaking mistake that you have made.
Take a look at the article entitled "35mm, medium format, or large format?" at http://www.photodo.com/nav/artindex.html . Look at the numbered T-Max 100 shots at the end of the article, namely #4 (35mm, Zeiss 50/1.4 at f5.6), #5 (6x6, Zeiss 80/2.8 at f11), #6 (4x5, Rodenstock sironar 150/5.6 at f22...I don't think it was the latest apo version, either). The conclusion is that the resolution from all three shots is close, but they fail to mention anything about the grain. A novice would probably say that #6 is the "sharpest," yet it's really the reduced grain, not the resolution, that makes it appear sharper.
The comment does not surprise me. I had a very bad time getting started in photography becaus of this type of attitude on the part of some retailers. Forge ahead and don't listen to negative comments (no pun intended). If you can avoid it dont do any future buisness with this place, part of their job is to encourage young photographers if they want to stay in buisness. Good luck and happy shooting. Steve
Jonny: You did make a mistake...It was going into the camera store and talking to that idiot. 35mm has a place in photography, but that place is not in making large, high quality prints. The modern 35mm lenses are sharp as a tack, sharper in most cases than lenses for 4x5, but sharpness is not the criteria. Grain has some bearing on larger prints, but the great advantage to 4x5 or larger negs is the room on the negative to get the smoothness of tones and the great detail. There simply is not room on the 35mm neg for all the tones and fine lines to be recorded. Camera movements are very important in controlling shape of objects, zone of focus, etc. You are on the right track to making some of the best images you will ever make with 4x5. Learn to use it and you will be happy for most of your photographic career. As for large format being dead, BS.
You know, my 4x5 Graflex was spec'd for Navy use as a coconut cracker. So when the guy behind the counter puts the APS in front of me, I stick it on my rails and close. If he tells me LF is dead, I'd hit him with it. I buddy of mine hit a clerk with a Linhoff -- now who's dead? Dean
Jon, I agree with all the opinions above. Don't listen to any comments similar to that idiot store clerk. All formats have it's own place and use even the point&shoot, APS and digital. Using arguments favoring one format to dowwn play the another one is a no-no. When I switch from 35mm to medium to LF, each time I though that I would sell the smaller one and so on. Right now, I still have all the gears for 3 formats. It's up to YOU to decide when to use which one in reference of shooting conditions and final output. Good luck and stick to your LF. (btw, show this thread to you father, He will understand)
Jonny, the guy behind the counter was really trying to tell you that he is incompetent when it comes to servicing large format customers because they know far more about photography than he does. He wants ignorant customers with credit cards who will swallow whatever rediculous line he spouts to sell a camera. The only mistake you made was in listening to the guy. There are lots of them around... boobs with autofocus cameras and zoom lenses, and of course they are always "experts." Perhaps that explains the rapid decline in the quality of photography we see these days even though the optics and film are constantly improving.
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