Goodmorning and hello :)

[Nerotheroman]

Good morning everybody,

I'd like to introduce myself.
My name is Mathias (people call Mat
most of the time), I'm 22 years old and live
Germany.
Currently I'm attending Ruhr University Bochum.

I got my first camera in the age of twelve and since
that moment I never stopped loving photography.

All the years I was shooting digital only, until
last month a customer of mine asked for some
portraits with the analog look.

So I did a little reasearch and bought a Mamiya Rb67.
And did the shooting.
When I first saw the pictures I was blone away:)

Now I do shoot analog 90percent of the time and it
feels great!
It slows down the whole process of creating a picture,
process it and print it.
Amazing :)

So I know the Mamiya isn't truely large formart,
but until I saved up enough money and find out
what my lf needs are, it serves me well.

Tomorrow I even will start developing my own b/w
negatives, I'm really excited :)

I'm happy to be here with you guys and am looking
forward to many interesting discussions.

Best wishes
Mat

[ScottPhotoCo]

Welcome Matt. Many wonderful photo adventures and much to learn here if you want. :)

Tim
www.ScottPhoto.co

[HoodedOne]

Welcome Mat. And greetings from the Netherlands.

[Nerotheroman]

Hello guys,

thanks a lot for welcomming
me:)
@Tim:Yes I want to learn all I can :)
@HoodedOne: Good to know some people are from Europe, too :)

Best wishes
Mat

[John Kasaian]

Welcome from California!

[Vaughn]

And welcome from another part of California! I started with a medium format camera in 1975. I now use an 8x10 and an 11x14. There is no known cure.

[Nerotheroman]

Good morning,

thank you guys for welcomming
me.
California, my favorite place on earth :)
I went there in 2008 for a 3 months exchange program.
Miss it so bad. Such a wonderful piece of land.
From the wineyards and beautiful beaches to breath taking Yosemite valley :)

@Vaughn: What medium format camera did you start
with? If I may ask?

Greetings
Mat

[Vaughn]

Good morning,
...Vaughn: What medium format camera did you start
with? If I may ask? Greetings Mat

Rollieflex 3.5. I still have a 2.8 that still gets used.

[Andrew O'Neill]

So I did a little reasearch and bought a Mamiya Rb67.
And did the shooting.
When I first saw the pictures I was blone away

If you do ever pick up large format, you'll be blown away again. Welcome!

[Nerotheroman]

Good evening guys,

@Vaughn: What a beautiful camera!
You are a very lucky man :)

@Andrew: Thank you !
I shure will pick up LF, but first I have to be clear about
what I really want :)
Tomorrow I will open a thread explaining what I exactly
want to do. And am sure you guys will lead me into the
right direction.
And yes I'm sure it will knock me out again :)

Have a nice evening
Mat

[Vaughn]

Learning photography with the Rolleiflex was very good. Took my first photos with it in 1975...made my first prints in 1977. Clean simple camera -- no lens choices to worry about, hand-held meter, usually on a tripod, closed down to 16 or 22 and on the B setting. Found that I was using it like a view camera (even has a GG), so going to 4x5 seemed like a very natural progression. I enjoyed learning to using the square format. Giving 8"x 8" and 11"x 11" negatives serious thought (as well as 5.5x14...I already do 4x10)!

[Nerotheroman]

Good morning,

wow just two years between starting to shoot and
printing for the first time.
Today Im gonna develope two rolls of film for the first time :) Excited to see how difficult that turns out.

Square format is a nice thing, my godfather shoots with a
Rolleiflex SL66.
For me its incredebly hard to learn how to use this format.
But he is good in it :)

Greetings
Mat

[Brian C. Miller]

Square format is a nice thing, my godfather shoots with a
Rolleiflex SL66.
For me its incredebly hard to learn how to use this format.
But he is good in it :)

Frame, click. Frame, click. Frame, click.

No problem!

And welcome to the forum.
I started with medium format as well, my Pentax 6x7, still using it. Before that were a couple of point & shoots, and then I <i>really</i> noticed moonlight. I went for LF when I needed perspective control and found that an equivalent single lens for the 6x7 was more than a whole LF rig.

Think about how you photograph, and let that decide the type of camera you purchase. I still use my first LF camera, a Graflex Super Graphic 4x5. It's still going strong, and I'm still enjoying it. LF can be very, very cheap. You need a decent camera, and just about any lens in good condition will give you excellent results. That's just the way that LF is. Yes, you can spend a zillion dollars on lenses, but you don't have to do that. LF design hasn't changed much since the early 1900s, simply because it hasn't needed to change. It's like the shark: same design, same efficiency, no problem.