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Still using medium format
I just came back from a trip to Alaska. I decided not to bring my 35mm
camera and to use my Hasselblad 553ELX. It was heavier than heavy, but I figured I wanted to use what I have and get the quality I want. My traveling companion used a tiny Canon P/S digital camera with a capacity of 2000 shots (wow!). She would complain about how big and heavy my camera bag was and how tiny her camera was and the fact that she could put it in her purse and not carry some huge bag around. One of the kids that was with us decided that he wanted to take pictures with the digital camera every single day of the trip. So the day before he got the digital camera and proceeded to shoot 300 shots in a span of 20 minutes. He's 6 years old, mind you, so he shot everything under the sun, including his shoes and a bunch of other insignificant things. In fact, he was using the camera in ways that's normally fit for movie or video cameras. I took some shots, very careful not to use up all my film. The day after the boy takes more pictures. My traveling companion bought the digital camera, large SD card, and extra battery for this particular boat trip. We took a boat on a 9 hour tour to the glaciers and on our way we saw the sea animals that inhabit the place. I had a limited amount of film (very, very poor planning on my part) with 8 rolls of b/w (3 400-speed and 5 100-speed) and 4 rolls of 100-speed slide film. So what happens? It rains (dark skies demanded fast film or slow shutter speeds with 100 speed film). I ended up wanting maximum quality so I used 100 speed film as much as I could. The shutter speeds were very slow, especially with my f/4 lenses with a 2x teleconverter (yes, f/8!). Needless to say a few of my shots I was hoping to get were blurry when I finally developed the film (sigh). So, we start getting close to our main destination with the glaciers. My traveling companion with at least 1500 shots left in her camera gets her camera, holds it up and suddenly...beep, nothing. Battery dead. She left the spare in the hotel room and she's left with nothing to take pictures with. I, on the other hand, was still shooting. My ELX battery still winding away. If my batteries had died I would have reached in my bag and pulled out my spare 500C/M and continued on. On the boat I heard repeated whispers from one passenger to the another when we finally got the glaciers "...I can't. My batteries are dead" or "I'm out of room on my camera." Thunk...whirrrr....went my camera. So, I got the shots that mattered whereas they didn't (poor planning on their part). Unfortunately there was a shot I wanted and should have had if I had bothered to wait 2 minutes, but I moved away so others could take pictures. When I saw what was unfolding before me I was too late to get in position. That one untaken picture, unfortunately, is the one I keep going back to in my mind. I got home and developed all 12 rolls of film. Some pictures I expected to be blurry were, but the ones that did come out the way I wanted were nothing short of spectacular. I also love the fact that if I wanted to enlarge them to 30"x30" I'd have no problems doing so, whereas a 6 or 7MP camera might. So, overall I'm really, really glad I lugged my 15 pound camera bag around. My traveling companion has over 1000 pictures taken by her little movie camera-like son. She's happy with her pictures and that's all that count. So, I'm sure I'll continue to use my ancient Hasselblad since it brings me satisfaction when I get the slides and negatives developed. I don't need instant gratification and I know that I like the fact that I already own my equipment. I don't need to shell out $8000 and up for a new 16MP camera that will give results "superior" to medium format when in reality their cameras will be "obsolete" and "inferior" to other cameras just 2 or 3 years from now. They may be "better" than medium format but I don't care. I get the tonal range and sharpness that I need with what I have. As long as there's film available I'll continue to use my medium format camera. |
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