color or b&w?

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noah b

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So what do you MF shooters prefer the look of in quality and resolution, color or b&w? I've been doing a lot of b&w work since I got my Mamiya 7 but haven't done color yet. I really dig Martin Parr's work but I'm trying to come to a conclusion on which medium I want to work with for the next couple years.
 
6x7 transparencies will make you a believer. Both are good. Sometimes are color times. Other times are black & white times. It's all good.
 
I have only ever shot b+w on my Mamiya as well, but then I pretty much only shoot b+w on any camera these days.

Unlike you, Martin Parr's work does nothing for me. I realise of course that ths is because I must be suffering from some serious deficiency in photo appreciation/taste (because everyone tells me so :rolleyes:) but I'm afraid I just don't get it.
 
The world is in colour. It's just that MF colour looks that little bit better :)

Try a roll of Velvia50 in there and you'll be a believer...
 
I think there are times for both but as stated above, MF transparencies are pretty cool the first time you see them!
 
I tend to shoot B&W on MF because there are no local one-hour labs that can process 120 color film or transparencies in one hour. I can do my own B&W.

I agree that color slide film on MF is great, but I just haven't the time/patience anymore in most cases.
 
6x7 slides?

6x7 slides?

venchka said:
6x7 transparencies will make you a believer. Both are good. Sometimes are color times. Other times are black & white times. It's all good.
Click to expand...

6x7 slides? I know 6x6. What frames / projector do you use for those? Please dont tell me you crop 6x7 to size.
-a
 
noah booshu said:
1. So what do you MF shooters prefer the look of in quality and resolution, color or b&w?

2. I've been doing a lot of b&w work since I got my Mamiya 7 but haven't done color yet.

3. I really dig Martin Parr's work but I'm trying to come to a conclusion on which medium I want to work with for the next couple years.
Click to expand...

numbers added for clarity;

1;not sure 'in terms of quality' works as a question that can be applied to b&w v colour, however b&w film and self processing for most people provides more oppotunity to experiment and increase skills or redo a subject/picture and changing the light/contrast in the picture...even though 'life' is in colour this is what i like about b&w, it forces you to look at the compostion, subject matter, light and shape within the frame...when done well, the end print excites and chalanges the minds eye, it lets you see things that you ordinarely ignore, the same picture in colour, often the colour is the distraction, it doesnt excite the minds eye/or hold the interest of the viewer as long, can become boring to look at over time.

having said that doesnt mean shooting colour or viewing colour prints is dull or boring (more of a chalenge for casual oppotunities to appear though). in the right circumstances colour is the best choice and more visualy stimulating than the same shot if taken with b&w.

In terms of 'resolution', again i am not sure the comparison applies, they are different animals...grain ect

2; its easy to answer, dont limit yourself to just one or the other. my personal preferance is toward b&w but for certain things colour is my choice. my list where i would use colour is long-sunsets ect ect , but suffice to say if the colour in the scene is what is visualy exciting, then thats what i want to capture. also i use colour for everyday snap shots and family outings/bbq ect..they are usefull just for the recording but more often than not colour clashes in a scene to much to make a fine art print.

3; i had a quick look at some of his work. JMO but i quickly split his work into 3 ruffly even catergories. 1st cat was pictures that were best in colour and a percenatge of those were excellent pictures. 2nd was a group of pics that i thought would work just as well or better in b&w. 3rd was a group that didnt impress my much, little more than snap shots taken on the weekend at the horse races, ok if you were simply reporting the days events but nothing worth looking at more than once and would be just as boring if taken with b&w.

of course for most of us this later cat is what most of our shots fall into
 
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Many years ago there were a lot of projectors on the market that would project medium format slides. Linhoff made one, I think Graflex made them too. They took what was at one time standard 3.25x4 inch slide mounts. The mounts were usually glass but cardboard ones were available. The slides were called "lantern slides".
 
Al Kaplan said:
Many years ago there were a lot of projectors on the market that would project medium format slides. Linhoff made one, I think Graflex made them too. They took what was at one time standard 3.25x4 inch slide mounts. The mounts were usually glass but cardboard ones were available. The slides were called "lantern slides".
Click to expand...

A few years ago I used to keep checking for 6x6 and 6x7 slide projectors on ebay. You would see them, especially the 6x6, fairly often. I could never afford them, much less the 6x7 that showed up less frequently. sigh
 
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