Handheld MF?

[CMur12]

I think it would depend on how steady your hands are and how large a print you want to make.


I can't hold a camera very steadily, so I need to turn to higher shutter speeds for hand-holding. As such, I use a tripod whenever I want top image quality. (Which is usually my reason for shooting MF. I'm also not a street-shooter.)


As was suggested previously, you may need to experiment to see how steady an RZ67 is in your hands for the size print you wish to make.


- Murray

 

[shimokita]

I have a left hand grip for my RB67. There are different style grips available, mine is the multi-angle-trigger-grip as seen in the attached link (no relation to seller). The white button adjusts the angle. The only difference is that mine has a adjustable flash accessory shoe mounted on the top of the grip. It was something like USD 10.00 in an accessory bin in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

https://www.camleyphotographic.com/shop/mamiya-rb67-multi-angle-grip-514870-condition-4e-6705/

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I don't think the mirror slapping up is the main contributor to blur when hand holding a Hasselblad. On a tripod perhaps (but most models have a pre-release function you should be using for tripod photography if sharpness is key). When hand-holding one I think it's the mass of the components moving inside the body and the torque reaction of the drive springs, that make it harder to keep the body steady. I suspect that experiments with one fitted to a gimbal mount would confirm camera movement prior to the mirror ceasing its travel.

Accessory sports finders were made for them which enable the image to be framed and the exposure made after the mirror has been pre-released. Even today with prices of Hasselblad items having appreciated in recent years, there is little demand for the sports finder and they are still available quite cheaply.

 

[retinax]

I think it would depend on how steady your hands are and how large a print you want to make.


I can't hold a camera very steadily, so I need to turn to higher shutter speeds for hand-holding. As such, I use a tripod whenever I want top image quality. (Which is usually my reason for shooting MF. I'm also not a street-shooter.)


As was suggested previously, you may need to experiment to see how steady an RZ67 is in your hands for the size print you wish to make.


- Murray

This. The most important variables are how much you want to enlarge and how steady you can hold, so no way around trying it all out or being conservative. I tend to the latter as I detest motion blur in my photos, irrationally as I like some pictures made by others that have it. I'd usually rather take grain of faster film.
I think that if you want to make a print the same size as you would from 135, the same speed per angle of view should be holdable, if you want to benefit from MF by making bigger prints, you'd need shorter times, probably in proportion to the FL so that the 1/FL may hold again, that is if it works for you on 135. But the differences between people, careful solid stance and breathing vs. walk-by shooting, caffeinated or exhausted vs. natural condition, ergonomics, mass of camera... are far greater than those between formats.
A monopod is not a bad idea, even when collapsed it can provide a little additional mass and dampening to the camera body. Some archers attach similar aluminium or CF sticks to their bows and they do significantly stabilize the bow, simply through the inertia of very little additional mass, but on a long lever, far away from the centre of mass.

 

[Doug]

I like a right-hand grip, as this does help me manage a secure hold on the camera and reduces shake.

 

[Richard G]

So many variables. Certainly depends on what you're photographing, printing and what your hand-holding skills are. I just don't seem to be able to hold my TLR so still. But the Hasselblad I've tried at 1/30s with the 80 and that's a bit slow for me. I have used a monopod and had a very sharp landscape photograph with the 80 at 1/125s. I had a lot of advice not to shoot handheld below 1/250s with the Hasselblad. I have taken shots hand held with mirror prerelease and shooting 'blind' with the leaf shutter alone. That also works well. Needs a static subject. In the end I am nearly always using it on a tripod. The plain acute matte D screen is hard to focus accurately without the magnifier.

 

[michaelwj]

I found with a Hasselblad that 1/250 was good, 1/60 was bad, 1/125 could be good with some work - with 80mm and shorter lenses. The 180mm was tripod or 1/500.
Given this and my dislike of carrying stuff, i shot Kodak T-grain film (T-max or Portra 400) at 1000 and pushed it in development.
When I could be arsed with a tripod I shot slow films.

 

[michaelwj]

Your subject would likely be placing a lower limit on the speed anyway. You still have to freeze the motion of the subject, and that is all speed, not how good you are at handholding.

 

[Larry H-L]

In addition to the monopod and L-grip ideas, also consider a “chest-pod.”

A Leitz tabletop tripod and tall Leitz ball head or similar setup can be rested on your upper chest (you become the vertical tabletop), this helps with hand- holding stability and allows slightly slower shutter speeds without camera movement.

But as Michael says above, shutter speeds can't go too slow with portraits, as your subject is also moving... putting them in a seated position, or against a wall might help with that.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Serious question: If we are hand-holding, is there an image quality benefit to MF?
Versus 35mm?

 

[joe bosak]

Handheld MF?

Just another sensor size debate? I mean, depends on a lot of variables including viable alternatives for whoever is asking.

 

[tunalegs]

Serious question: If we are hand-holding, is there an image quality benefit to MF?
Versus 35mm?

Yes.
You get more selective control over DOF when taking, and you get more control over contrast when printing (and less apparent grain). Resolving power is one of the least important advantages of MF in my opinion.

 

[Doug]

Serious question: If we are hand-holding, is there an image quality benefit to MF?
Versus 35mm?

Yes, certainly, with only that one variable considered. Shooting 6x7, 6x4.5, and 30x45 (digital) I have used a tripod only a few times in decades, for special occasions.