medium format vs digital full frame

jung

I am in a situation where I primarly shoot Architectural, portraits and some landscapes and I am not sure if I should be moving in the direction of the Mamiya 645 or the D700. If I had the money to just purchase a digital back I would go medium format no brainier but I do not at this time, hell I am saving up for the D700 currently but my future goal is to become the best photographer I can be and produce high quality imagery. I know the images from the MF are going to blow those from the FF out of the water but the cost of a digital back is just insanely expensive so I would like to hear some opinions on what to do.

I do not want to shoot film for very long, my end goal no matter which way I go is digital.

please offer some suggestions.

Thanks,

Jung

ivar

MF and 35mm are two different tools. I think you should ask yourself which of the two, regardless of price, suits *your* needs better?

Moogle Pepper

Or you can use the D700 and rent the MF till you make a ton to buy your own MF system.

NikonsandVstroms

The D700 has an amazing AF system and high ISO performance but from what you listed these don't seem like huge factors in your photography.

Have you looked at the Sony A850? It has twice the resolution and is less money.

ziggy53

The difference between 645 film format and FF-35mm-digital is not so much if you would have to digitize the film images afterwards. If you print directly from 645 film using an optical process then you can still realize a quality advantage from the film, but it's not all that much of an advantage.

6cm x 7cm medium format film is still viable, but you need to look at large format, 4" x 5", to get amazingly better.

For vista landscapes, a digital camera and stitched panoramas can provide much more detail than medium format film. A panoramic head and panoramic software is probably a much better recommendation unless you need instantaneous images.

Another technique that is not used too much is multiple stacked images for enhanced detail. It works, but you don't see the improvements that multiple image panoramas can provide.

For architectural images, again, stitched images wins over film. Just look at this singular strip Baldy made (bandwidth alert):

http://cmac.smugmug.com/photos/472303454_ojUut-O.jpg

No film image can match that result.

ReeRay

Shooting film is a slow and frustrating process - I know, I do it! I always will, it's in my blood, but irrespective of the merits or otherwise it is not conducive with economy or fast delivery of the product.

If you are going to digitize you'll need to consider purchasing a high end scanner or consider lab scanning costs. Both options very costly.

I also mulled over a digital back for my Hasselblad V system until I realised that the "affordable" used backs gave a 1.6 crop factor and negated my wide angle lenses which I use the most. I guess this problem might occur in your case.

In the end I went for a Canon 5D MKII - FF, amazing resolution and the use of my wide lenses.

The cost was half of a used MF digital back.

kdog

ziggy53 wrote:

For architectural images, again, stitched images wins over film. Just look at this singular strip Baldy made (bandwidth alert):

http://cmac.smugmug.com/photos/472303454_ojUut-O.jpg

No film image can match that result.

Wow. :wow That's a real exercise in perspective control. Did he use a tilt-shift lens for that?

ziggy53

kdog wrote:

Wow. :wow That's a real exercise in perspective control. Did he use a tilt-shift lens for that?

It's mentioned in the thread what he used but I seem to recall it was a 300mm prime and a geared head on atripod.

Grainbelt

Pentax recently announced the 645D, a digital medium format camera that will go on sale in Japan for the equivalent of about 9k USD.

Photometric

http://kenrockwell.com/pentax/645d/index.htm


Don't forget there is the D3X....