Photojournalism / Street Photography with a MF Camera
 

Hello All,

A few weeks back, I asked for help selecting a Medium Format camera.
After all your advice, I visited a local camera store and checked out
all that was suggested to me. I eventually went with a Mamiya RZ67 Pro
II, which I have fallen in love with.

Now, I have decided it is time for a second Medium Format camera.
Since the RZ67 Pro II is so large and heavy, (which I knew before I
purchased it), I will more than likely confine it to the studio and
certain location shots.

What I am now looking for is a good MF camera for Photojournalism /
Street Photography, which I feel is very similar. Of all the cameras
that I have seen so far, I am finding that I am drawn to the Mamiya 7
II.

That said, I would again like to get your suggestions and advice.
Obviously for this type of photography, I would want a smaller and
faster MF camera that I can hand-hold. The 7 II seems to fit the bill.
I do know that the 7 II and the RZ67 Pro II use different lenses, and
I am ok with that.

If I did get the 7 II, I would probably start off with the 80mm lens,
which seems to be the standard lens for this camera.

That said, any suggestions? I would still probably carry my F100 or
D100 out with me when I go shooting, probably with a longer 80-200mm
zoom.

Thanks all in advance,

Chris
~Stay in Focus~

what kind of print sizes are you looking to do?

photojournalism and street work dont necessairly need that kind of
neg sizes.



"OnSafari" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello All,

A few weeks back, I asked for help selecting a Medium Format camera.
After all your advice, I visited a local camera store and checked out
all that was suggested to me. I eventually went with a Mamiya RZ67 Pro
II, which I have fallen in love with.

Now, I have decided it is time for a second Medium Format camera.
Since the RZ67 Pro II is so large and heavy, (which I knew before I
purchased it), I will more than likely confine it to the studio and
certain location shots.

What I am now looking for is a good MF camera for Photojournalism /
Street Photography, which I feel is very similar. Of all the cameras
that I have seen so far, I am finding that I am drawn to the Mamiya 7
II.

That said, I would again like to get your suggestions and advice.
Obviously for this type of photography, I would want a smaller and
faster MF camera that I can hand-hold. The 7 II seems to fit the bill.
I do know that the 7 II and the RZ67 Pro II use different lenses, and
I am ok with that.

If I did get the 7 II, I would probably start off with the 80mm lens,
which seems to be the standard lens for this camera.

That said, any suggestions? I would still probably carry my F100 or
D100 out with me when I go shooting, probably with a longer 80-200mm
zoom.

Thanks all in advance,

Chris
~Stay in Focus~

OnSafari wrote:
Hello All,

A few weeks back, I asked for help selecting a Medium Format camera.
After all your advice, I visited a local camera store and checked out
all that was suggested to me. I eventually went with a Mamiya RZ67 Pro
II, which I have fallen in love with.

Now, I have decided it is time for a second Medium Format camera.
Since the RZ67 Pro II is so large and heavy, (which I knew before I
purchased it), I will more than likely confine it to the studio and
certain location shots.

What I am now looking for is a good MF camera for Photojournalism /
Street Photography, which I feel is very similar. Of all the cameras
that I have seen so far, I am finding that I am drawn to the Mamiya 7
II.

That said, I would again like to get your suggestions and advice.
Obviously for this type of photography, I would want a smaller and
faster MF camera that I can hand-hold. The 7 II seems to fit the bill.
I do know that the 7 II and the RZ67 Pro II use different lenses, and
I am ok with that.

If I did get the 7 II, I would probably start off with the 80mm lens,
which seems to be the standard lens for this camera.

That said, any suggestions? I would still probably carry my F100 or
D100 out with me when I go shooting, probably with a longer 80-200mm
zoom.

Thanks all in advance,

Chris
~Stay in Focus~

Hi,

I use a Bronica rf645.
For street photography I prefer light wide angle lenses. The 65 on my
Bronica is perfect in that apsect. The camera is fast and silent. the
optics are super sharp.
Drawbakc might be that you that th Bronica shoots in portrait. For me
however that is an advantage.

Best regards,

Michiel Fokkema

In article .com,
OnSafari wrote:

That said, I would again like to get your suggestions and advice.
Obviously for this type of photography, I would want a smaller and
faster MF camera that I can hand-hold. The 7 II seems to fit the bill.
I do know that the 7 II and the RZ67 Pro II use different lenses, and
I am ok with that.

If you are happy to use a standard lens for this work, you could do a lot
worse than grab yourself a decent TLR, such as a Rolleiflex 3.5F. Available
for much less than you'll pay for the Mamiya 7II body, before you start
thinking about lenes, they produce superb results, can be discretely shot
from the waist, and are about the best cameras for handholding I've ever had
the pleasure to use. Ergonomically, they're probably the closet thing to
being the Leicas of the MF-world.

In article .com,
OnSafari wrote:

That said, I would again like to get your suggestions and advice.
Obviously for this type of photography, I would want a smaller and
faster MF camera that I can hand-hold. The 7 II seems to fit the bill.
I do know that the 7 II and the RZ67 Pro II use different lenses, and
I am ok with that.

If you are happy to use a standard lens for this work, you could do a lot
worse than grab yourself a decent TLR, such as a Rolleiflex 3.5F. Available
for much less than you'll pay for the Mamiya 7II body, before you start
thinking about lenes, they produce superb results, can be discretely shot
from the waist, and are about the best cameras for handholding I've ever had
the pleasure to use. Ergonomically, they're probably the closet thing to
being the Leicas of the MF-world.

Thanks for your input. I had never thought about using a Rollei TLR.
I will keep it in mind. I know you said that you feel that they are
about the best for handholding, nut my thoughts would be that since you
need to look down in to the viewfinder, it would make you more apt to
shake the camera. Am I wrong in this? What size images do they
produce?

As for an earlier reply that I received stating that MF might product
too large of an image for typical photojournalism, I need to better
convey what I am doing. What I meant by Photojournalism / Street
Photography, would be more towards the images of Paul Strand or Henri
Cartier-Bresson. It is more of a look that I am trying to capture, and
not actual photojournalism itself. If I were to go on a
photojournalistic assignment, I would probably shoot with my D100 or
F100 depending on what I needed to capture. I am looking at producing
these types of images, but seeing them blown up to gallery size.

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Chris Jett
~Stay in Focus~

Thanks for your input. I had never thought about using a Rollei TLR.
I will keep it in mind. I know you said that you feel that they are
about the best for handholding, nut my thoughts would be that since you
need to look down in to the viewfinder, it would make you more apt to
shake the camera. Am I wrong in this? What size images do they
produce?

As for an earlier reply that I received stating that MF might product
too large of an image for typical photojournalism, I need to better
convey what I am doing. What I meant by Photojournalism / Street
Photography, would be more towards the images of Paul Strand or Henri
Cartier-Bresson. It is more of a look that I am trying to capture, and
not actual photojournalism itself. If I were to go on a
photojournalistic assignment, I would probably shoot with my D100 or
F100 depending on what I needed to capture. I am looking at producing
these types of images, but seeing them blown up to gallery size.

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Chris Jett
~Stay in Focus~

OnSafari wrote:

Thanks for your input. I had never thought about using a Rollei TLR.
I will keep it in mind. I know you said that you feel that they are
about the best for handholding, nut my thoughts would be that since you
need to look down in to the viewfinder, it would make you more apt to
shake the camera. Am I wrong in this? What size images do they
produce?


In contrary...a TLR has the shutter build in the lens, because it has no
mirror clapping up and down, there is less camera shake.
I am comfortable to take pictures down to 1/8 of a second with my flex,
and still have perfectly sharp objects.
TLR have the 6x6 format.

Borgh

"Michiel Fokkema" wrote in message
...
[SNIP]

I use a Bronica rf645.
For street photography I prefer light wide angle lenses. The 65 on my
Bronica is perfect in that apsect. The camera is fast and silent. the
optics are super sharp.
Drawbakc might be that you that th Bronica shoots in portrait. For
me however that is an advantage.


If the OP is happy to use 645 for this caategory of work, I too would
suggest looking at the Bronica.

Another option is a Fuji 645: these have fixed lenses, and are very light.
The 60mm lens on the GS645S would make it a very good tool for this sort of
work - I have one and it's a great camera. The GS645 has a 75mm lens and is
also an excellent camera, though the bellows are often perished and need
attention.


Peter

In article .com,
OnSafari wrote:
Thanks for your input. I had never thought about using a Rollei TLR.
I will keep it in mind. I know you said that you feel that they are
about the best for handholding, nut my thoughts would be that since you
need to look down in to the viewfinder, it would make you more apt to
shake the camera. Am I wrong in this?

The reason they're stable is because you hang them from your neck and
tension the neck-strap, essentially having your body as a sort of
inverse-monopod for every shot. The shutter-release action is to squeeze
towards your body, which the camera is already pressed against, so that's
not going to induce shake either.

What size images do they produce?

6*6. A Rollei E or F with a Planar or Xenotar lens can produce more image
quality than most people are likely to need.