More image quality for future project

[sojournerphoto]

Yeah I keep coming back to that Mamiya 7.... a little gun shy after my poor experiences with two Mamiya 6's still.

Also checked out a Fuji GSW690III and the GW690III, those are relatively cheap, just wondering if I would prefer a 28 or 40mm 135 equivalent.

Make sure your happy looking through the Fuji first. I tried a couple and vf's were not as good as the Mamiyaa. YMMV...

Mike

 

[Turtle]

the 43mm on Mamiya 7 is the same as 21mm in the horizontal but with more depth due to the aspect ratio.

 

[Frank Petronio]

Performance, Value, Practical Utility in my opinion.

1. A used 8x10 studio monorail like a Sinar P or Norma, ($1000 USd) with a 1990s-era 240-360mm Rodenstock lens ($5-800), a huge Gitzo #5 504 tripd ($500) and $1000+ worth of film and holders. This is the best way. Color Negative, not chrome, you have a good scanner to use so why not scan big film?

Don't fall for that wooden camera Deardorff-Ebony BS, you want a sturdy camera.

2. A used Graflex Crown Graphic ($350 USd) with a 1990s-era 90-210mm Rodenstock lens ($3-600) like the Grandagaon 90/4.5. Budget for $100 ea Grafmatic holders (six shots) and a lot of film. If you are not using movements (and even if you are) the $250 light tight box is just as good as the $5000 light tight box. Actually a $1000 1950s-era Linhof Technica IV will be a little studier, but the Crown has few parts to wobble anyway.

3. A Fuji 6x9 Rangefinder, either 65 or 90mm, their lenses are amazing, as good as the Mamiya 7 or better. Under $1000 USd.

As nice as they are, with those $$$ Digitar lenses, I can not imagine why an Alpa could be somehow sharper than the Fuji? The Fujis really are quite good.

All said, a tripod is the key factor. If you are forced to handhold, then the 4x5 in bright light (1/250s @ f/16) if going to win. If the light is poor or mixed, the Fuji at 1/125 @ f/8) will be the best.

Guys like Spencer Tunnick, who does all those groups of naked people in cities, use the Mamiya 7 and it works well, but I agree, it feels like junk after using a Hasselblad or Leica. And imho, being 2m away from his big prints made me wish he used 8x10, because he easily could have (plenty of light and depth of field with the kinds shots he does.)

Those Duselldorff type photographers, Struth and Gursky, etc. used 8x10 until recently they may be doing medium format digital by now I do not know. Their prints are the best and a benchmark.

 

[Avotius]

Thanks for all these comments guys, my experience with large format starts and ends with a horseman 45Fa taking photos of paintings for a couple days years ago. Now am brushing up a bit with roger hick's book which I was surprised to find on taobao.

Just a curious question frank, you said shoot negative not chrome, and as this is usually the way I shoot my leica I was wondering why you would suggest it here. Film speed? Ease of scanning? More dynamic range? Those are the reasons I shoot negatives rather then chromes but wonders why on a 8x10 you would suggest it.

 

[amateriat]

Colin: I'd say those are reasons enough to shoot neg instead of chrome, even in a larger format. It comes down to control, which is why I've shot a lot more neg film in the last ten years than I thought I ever would. Were I shooting in any other format, I'd feel no reason for changing this, it's just a bigger "canvas", if you will.


- Barrett

 

[Avotius]

Since I am pretty familiar with negative films like Reala then I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do this project in it but the big problem here is availability, for the most part I can only get a hold of Provia 100f in any quantity. They got some Kodak films here but I am not a fan.

 

[sepiareverb]

I'll second LF for prints that size. 45 minimum, 810 better. If people are going to be close it would have to be 810 for me.

 

[oftheherd]

Not knowing exactly what type of photography you are doing makes it difficult to suggest anything. My limited personal experience only adds to that. 6x7 or 6x9 on a tripod will give very good results when enlarged in a darkroom. I have the Mamiya Super Press 23 and it is nice. The 65mm, 100mm f/3.5 and 150mm lenses are good for street shooting, even hand held, but tripod will obviously increase your sharpness with any camera. In a 4x5, some of the 4x5 view cameras are very light, but not hand holdable. They just might be light enough to transport on tripod depending on what you are doing.

My real curiosity is why you want MF or LF and then want to scan for your prints. Why not stay with a high pixel digital and use some of the better interpolation programs? If you have time you might want to experiment with some things, including some of your MF on a tripod scanned, versus straight digital interpolated.

Just a thought. Good luck with it either way. Sounds like a great challenge.

 

[Avotius]

Not knowing exactly what type of photography you are doing makes it difficult to suggest anything. My limited personal experience only adds to that. 6x7 or 6x9 on a tripod will give very good results when enlarged in a darkroom. I have the Mamiya Super Press 23 and it is nice. The 65mm, 100mm f/3.5 and 150mm lenses are good for street shooting, even hand held, but tripod will obviously increase your sharpness with any camera. In a 4x5, some of the 4x5 view cameras are very light, but not hand holdable. They just might be light enough to transport on tripod depending on what you are doing.

My real curiosity is why you want MF or LF and then want to scan for your prints. Why not stay with a high pixel digital and use some of the better interpolation programs? If you have time you might want to experiment with some things, including some of your MF on a tripod scanned, versus straight digital interpolated.

Just a thought. Good luck with it either way. Sounds like a great challenge.

Film is a prerequisite of the project or I would have sprung for a 5D mk2 right off the bat also in my opening post I said that this project would revolve around street photography, but obviously with the use of larger format films, the difficulty level would be significantly more, especially with large format because I am not accustomed to shooting moving things with LF. Just one of the challenges of the project though.

I have a friend who has a Mamiya 7 with all the lenses, if I can convince him to let me borrow it (which has been difficult to say the least) but as soon as he heard about this project he sent me his large format camera, its in the mail now! Unfortunately it is a Sinar P2 with 5 lenses, and not exactly street friendly but it will give me a good reference to start with, and at least my lens situation is solved, though what 5 lenses he has I am not sure, he wasn't really sure himself, just said a Fuji, Nikkor, Schneider, Rodenstock and one "other".

 

[oftheherd]

Well, since the first 4 lenses are top rated lenses, the 5th isn't likely to be a slacker either. Now your only problem is getting used to the camera and lenses and the situation of their use. Without looking back at all the posts, I think you mentioned having used LF before, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of your practice results in case you aren't able to show us the final results for a while.

 

[Avotius]

Yeah it seems for the most part there should be no problem with the lenses, but I have not used a rail camera before (just a field camera) and it looks to be a totally different monster.

Either way, here goes nothing!