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Favourite medium format?......


Nick De Marco

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Please no discussion about Film vs Digital again ! :blink:

i thought the question was "favorite medium format "

My favorite is Leica Soo7........ what's rong with that??

Neil

 

 

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I think Keith M, or Ian "Wattsy" has one.

Too big for me, but I certainly liked the couple that I have owned over the years.

Partly because of the film real estate of course, but I never found anything to complain about with the handling, nor the optics. For aerials, it was superb.

Gary

I do indeed have a GW690II   :)  Sadly unused since the Hasselblad 500C arrived late last year.  Out of curiosity I just weighed them - the 500C plus its standard Planar 80mm comes in at 1.6kg whereas the GW690II is a mere 1.5kg   ;)  Yesterday I spent time walking up Knap Hill and along the Tan Hill Way on the Marlborough Downs equipped with the 500C fitted with Tessar 160mm CB (and a Distagon 60mm CB plus 2nd film back etc in my backpack).  My shoulders and legs are well aware of it today...

 

A quick grab shot just now of the pair in question (Leica Q).

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Edited by Keith (M)
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I do indeed have a GW690II   :)  Sadly unused since the Hasselblad 500C arrived late last year.  Out of curiosity I just weighed them - the 500C plus its standard Planar 80mm comes in at 1.6kg whereas the GW690II is a mere 1.5kg   ;)  Yesterday I spent time walking up Knap Hill and along the Tan Hill Way on the Marlborough Downs equipped with the 500C fitted with Tessar 160mm CB (and a Distagon 60mm CB plus 2nd film back etc in my backpack).  My shoulders and legs are well aware of it today...

 

A quick grab shot just now of the pair in question (Leica Q).

Keith - I do remember quite vividly when you first acquired that Fuji. And i am not surprised that it has received little if any use since you acquired your beautiful Hasselblad, with which you have made some wonderful photographs.

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Last week with my Hassy 503cw, 250mm superachromat and Ektar catching some passing trains and hoping for a dramatic sunset, which unfortunately didnt materialize

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Edited by A miller
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Advertisement (gone after registration)

Here's a photo from an earlier attempt about a year ago with the same gear and film...

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"At's not a Texas Loyca. This is a Texas Loyca!" (apologies to Crocodile Dundee )

 

http://www.novacon.com.br/odditycameras/combgra.htm

I had one of those Combat Graphics - one that worked! The shutters usually break largely from

triggering it without film. I always had a test film loaded. The complete kit includes an

olive-drab aluminum case. Mine was serial #7. (I got it from a militaria collector who did

not know what it was.)

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My medium format? I have a few choices, my Bronica 645 RF works great with a 45mm lens on landscapes and buildings, My Rolleiflex 2.8 C, works great on anything and my Voitglander Bessa I folding camera is perfect for anything. 

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My favorite MF camera is a Linhof Technica V 6x9.  Okay, it's heavy, but if I use MF, I use a tripod, always attached.  The camera and tripod lie on a cushion in the back of my car, or hooked on my shoulder when walking around.

 

When traveling by air, I use a Ricoh GRII digital with 28mm eq. lens -- small, fast and good enough image quality. 

 

The main advantage of the Linhof is the ability to make some minor camera adjustments to focus the near far ... and keeping the verticals straight matters for me.  I use modern Rodenstock lenses, Apo Sironar-S.  With modern films, my results easily beat my M9.  I like Acros 100 for B&W and Portra 160 color negative film.  I develop my B&W film in 510 Pyro and send the color film out for developing and scanning (one week round trip with excellent jpegs).  An Epson V850 does a good enough job for the B&W negs using a glass negative carrier with my hand ground fine diffusion glass.

 

I find that scanned film looks better than most instant capture images from digital cameras.  Perhaps the interpolation reduces the gradation.

 

The Technica is not suitable for super wide angle lenses.  Digital cameras are also at their worst with wide angle lenses.  I use a PAQPRO XL, a modified Graflex XL and 35mm Apo-Grandagon with a roll film back.   

 

I have sold a Fuji 6x9, Mamiya 7 and Graflex XL.  I have kept my Rollei 2.8F, Hasselblad Super Wide and 503 with a 110mm f/2.  The M9 is easier to use for almost the same image quality and easier control of depth of field.  The Technika beats them all.

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[...]

The Technica is not suitable for super wide angle lenses. [...] I use a PAQPRO XL,

a modified Graflex XL and 35mm Apo-Grandagon with a roll film back.

I have a 35mm Apo-Grandagon on a Horseman 6x12, and while I am a super wide-angle

enthusiast the lens has overwhelmed me. What I really need is the Pro body with

rise, but even then the lens requires a center filter, and the filter does not

'kick in' until f/22, so it becomes a tripod camera. Reality sucks. ;)

 

Good luck to you. You are the first I've read of that uses a PAQPRO XL.

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35mm Apo-Grandagon on a Horseman 6x12

 

I would use a 6x7 cm back.  I would not use the rise feature because the central part of the image circle is the best.  Put a bubble level in the shoe holder as a guide to leveling the camera and then just aim the camera in the direction you choose, no viewfinder.  With a 6x7 cm back you can use the lens at f/8 with no center filter.  That should be fast enough for most situations and the dof should be fine.  The Hasselblad Super Wide had a 38mm Biogon which was quite wide on 6x6 cm.  35mm on 6x7 cm is a bit wider with excellent quality image.  If you really want wide,  make another exposure and stitch the images in PhotoShop.  Crop the bottom of the image instead of using the lens rise.

 

The Horseman looks very nice.  The PAQPRO is probably less expensive, but not quite as nice.  It is a dedicated single lens camera.  I use a Horseman roll film back on mine, usually a 6x7 to use the sweet part of the image.

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If you are going to get a "Texas Leica" try the wide Fuji.  GSW690II.

Approx 35mm equivalence, weighs 1.5 kg, decent viewfinder and rangefinder.  Neg is half the size of 4x5, on 120 film

 

Good lens. Good to load. Double stroke winding.

 

Second release position on body, with lock.

Fuji GSW690 II

 

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M-P Canon 35mm f2 (huge crop)

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I had one of them Dave, a fantastic camera, and very handy for the many aerials I took with it out of a helicopter over the years.

Partly it was the sheer size of the tranny on the light-box, but the lenses were really good too.

Gary

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  • 3 weeks later...

Very nice edition Andy. It's as refreshing as it is unusual to see so many square photographs in a publication and I think you've used that format to excellent effect. My two favourite photos are the baseball pitch photo the one with the person walking through dark tunnel. I also like the Charioteers portraits (and I thought the digital photos look good as well  :ph34r: ).

 

br

Philip

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Purely by virtue of its having survived some ninety years and still working, my temporary favourite is an Ensign Special Reflex by Houghton-Butcher with f4.5 Aldis Butcher lens. Every frame astonishes. I notice that people on film forums often compare their cameras with old cars, usually Porsche 356 or 911, or perhaps a 1960s muscle car. This Ensign is the chain-gang Frazer Nash of the medium format world.

 

Stuart

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A followup to previous posts - my new magazine is out, with stories done with film MF, both Hasselblad (earlier this year) and my Super-Isolette.

 

(and, yeah, an M10 color story, which you can ignore if you desire.... ;) )

 

http://www.coloradoseen.com/

 

Very nice, Andy.  I really appreciate the film photos, especially the ones from the stadium.  And I agree that the square format works really well,  Congrats.

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