This afternoon, I was invited by my photography teacher to attend a large format photography group outing. It was quite the eye-opener for me since I had never seen a large format camera before.
With the increasing popularity of digital cameras in the consumer market, I find that many photography enthusiast are reverting back to shooting with film using rangefinders and other formats. Here’s the customary group shot for any outing:
Its takes quite an effort to setup and pack up as well. There’s losta equipment required and I really admire their enthusiasm for photography.
As for myself, I don’t really see myself picking it up in the near future. My dream is still to own a nice medium format camera but I probably still need to master my Canon 5D MK II first ^^
I shoot a DLSR these days, but I’ve played around with 4×5 in the past. It’s a lot of fun if you have a lifetime to spare.
Looks like a fun outing!
View cameras are slow to set up and use but they are the best type of cameras to use for elaborate still life or landscape photography. I must admit I’ve been too lazy to drag mine out, process the film… etc etc etc. Digital cameras just make things too accessible. Not to mention no real wait time before I can share my images.
As for medium format, look into a nice used Hasselblad maybe. I got a used 500C kit off ebay for around $500. The original ones are all handmade and built like a tank.
Keep Shooting!
With practice Large Format becomes a fairly quick process. You really get beat the image quality. Personally I love it. Medium Format is great. I recommend a Mamiya. I think the 6×7 for is more versatile plus the quality of the lens and camera is equal to Hasselbald in my opinion but at half the cost.
Wow. Those boxes look really scary!!
Not evolving outta the DX format here!