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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

"Gee, what Camera should I buy?"

Which Camera?

I have had the opportunity to be on several photographers forums and one of themes that captures the imagination, visceral reactions and high end emotion is "Which Brand is the Best!"

Back when film was king and in most cases, any 35mm SLR could provide a professional photographer the tools required for doing the job. Motor drive speed was the one of the most important factors in making a decision and most of the brands offered relatively fast speeds for most applications.

Today the requirements are similar with quite a few other considerations thrown in to the works. How many pixels, sensor quality, speed, in camera editing, synch speed, video provision, noise levels, color rendition etc. etc. etc.

Now if we were having this discussion five or six years ago, the playing field would be quite small and the choices would be quite limited. Today, every major brand from Sony to Canon, Pentax, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus, etc. have some very good tools for those of us looking for a reasonably prices "Disposable Camera!"
Yes I said "Disposable Camera". These high technology tools give us quality that we could only have dreamed of a few years ago, out classing most 6x4.5 and 6x6 Medium Format film cameras and easily out classing high iso film.

When we consider that most digital bodies are recycled every 18 months or so, we have to ask ourself, "when should we upgrade or why should we upgrade?" In the past a 35 mm film body could be used for a minimum of 5 years and the only concern would be would the camera last over 200,000 activations and which lens do I want to add to my arsenal.

Today it is very much the opposite and the element of the the greatest importance in my opinion is the quality of lenses you have in your arsenal. These lenses will be used on every future upgrade of body, unless the camera manufacturer changes the mount system. In that case you are **** hot out of luck.

What am I trying to say here is that I would not go out and spend a fortune on the top of the line camera, unless it is very reasonably priced. Every single mid market camera today can produce excellent professional results. Determine the maximum output required for what ever medium you are working in and based on those requirements, you can make your purchase.

Spend the money you saved on your kids, your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife or mistress.

If the technology that is out there today is insufficient in your estimate to produce a fine image, I strongly suggest that you find another hobby or become a professional pixel peeper

http://www.benjaminkanarekblog.com/?p=417
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Benjamin,

These are fine words, especially to spend your money on your "girlfriend, boyfriend, wife or mistress". Like lenses, choose them carefully and they can last a long time giving endless pleasure.

I'm shooting for a large institution and use the 5DII instead of my 5D and 1DII only because the cameras I had couldn't do the job without flash during music performances. Now I use the 5DII for everything.

However, no one needs the huge files! I'd rather have a small light camera as capable at high ISO. Now I just want to have less weight!

Asher
 
Years ago I decided to stop worrying and just do photographs by contact from 8x10 negatives. It is very liberating to be able to spend about $5 all up, film, paper, chemicals, everything included, and turn out a fine 8x10 black and white photograph that can always deliver detail finer than the eye can see and tonal gradation beyond discernment.

Any decent normal lens, and any servicable 8x10 camera produced in the last hundred years or so will reliably produce this result. In the admittedly small world of 8x10 photography there is no practical obsolescence and no realistic prospect of an upgrade.

I have had the privilege of being involved in about 110 international standard photographic exhibitions over a couple of decades; sometimes as a gallerist, sometimes as an exhibitor. One of the side benefits of this opportunity was reading the gallery visitor's comment book. Of the thousands of entries I read I never once saw "bad film", "bad lens", or "bad camera".

Photographers agonise about camera, lens, and film. Their real challenge is talent, energy, imagination, and vision.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Years ago I decided to stop worrying and just do photographs by contact from 8x10 negatives. It is very liberating to be able to spend about $5 all up, film, paper, chemicals, everything included, and turn out a fine 8x10 black and white photograph that can always deliver detail finer than the eye can see and tonal gradation beyond discernment.
So Maris,

What would be your 3 B&W films you would use and why and how would your process them? Are these the same as you would suggest to others learning to follow your advice?

I promise, I'll try to follow your advice too!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Photographers agonise about camera, lens, and film. Their real challenge is talent, energy, imagination, and vision.
Maris,

This seems so obviously true but may yet be off the mark! A lot of folk have talent energy, imagination and vision, all of them and in buckets! That's not what's lacking, perhaps. It's having a unique fingerprint of some sort, that can define our work by mixing all these attributes in some creative way that distinguishes our body of work from that of others.

When someone can walk into a gallery and recognize the photographer's work, then it's perhaps done right. Even then, I'm not sure.

Asher
 
So Maris,

What would be your 3 B&W films you would use and why and how would your process them? Are these the same as you would suggest to others learning to follow your advice?

I promise, I'll try to follow your advice too!

Asher

There is no need for 3 different films. In 8x10 contact work all panchromatic B&W films can deliver more sharpness, tonal range, and gradation than can be seen. Grain is always invisible, contrast is manageable. Speed doesn't count. None of my subject matter is going to die, deteriorate, or run away inside ten minutes. Nothing is hand-held. Everything is tripod mounted so longer shutter times or smaller lens apertures are no problem. No manufacturer sells bad 8x10 film. Pick the cheapest!

All my sensitive materials come from Freestyle. Arista-EDU-Ultra 8x10 film is $2 a sheet. Developing in Xtol used as a replenished developer costs about 11 cents a sheet. Fixing costs more; about 20 cents a sheet for the Ilford Hypam fixer I use. A sheet of 8x10 VC RC photographic paper can be had for about 35 cents. Fibre Base VC 8x10 paper goes closer to $1 a sheet. Processing and washing the paper runs to about 40 cents. Drying the result, signing and titling, and finally looking cost zilch.

That is all there is in the small world of 8x10 contact photographs. It's all that Ed Weston ever did. Imagine, one of the world's greatest photographers never owned an enlarger, never even wanted one.

As for my camera, lens, film holders, tripod and the rest of the paraphenalia well that's all last century stuff. In contrast to new gear none of it seems to be spoiled by use. The marks of handling may even improve it like a well worn Japanese ink-stone.

The photographer does not fare so well. The face in the bathroom mirror is marked by time. Maybe the photographs, clear, crisp, and archival as the day they were made, really are a ransom against eternity.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
There is no need for 3 different films. In 8x10 contact work all panchromatic B&W films can deliver more sharpness, tonal range, and gradation than can be seen. Grain is always invisible, contrast is manageable. Speed doesn't count. None of my subject matter is going to die, deteriorate, or run away inside ten minutes. Nothing is hand-held. Everything is tripod mounted so longer shutter times or smaller lens apertures are no problem. No manufacturer sells bad 8x10 film. Pick the cheapest!

All my sensitive materials come from Freestyle. Arista-EDU-Ultra 8x10 film is $2 a sheet. Developing in Xtol used as a replenished developer costs about 11 cents a sheet. Fixing costs more; about 20 cents a sheet for the Ilford Hypam fixer I use. A sheet of 8x10 VC RC photographic paper can be had for about 35 cents. Fibre Base VC 8x10 paper goes closer to $1 a sheet. Processing and washing the paper runs to about 40 cents. Drying the result, signing and titling, and finally looking cost zilch.

That is all there is in the small world of 8x10 contact photographs. It's all that Ed Weston ever did. Imagine, one of the world's greatest photographers never owned an enlarger, never even wanted one.

As for my camera, lens, film holders, tripod and the rest of the paraphenalia well that's all last century stuff. In contrast to new gear none of it seems to be spoiled by use. The marks of handling may even improve it like a well worn Japanese ink-stone.

The photographer does not fare so well. The face in the bathroom mirror is marked by time. Maybe the photographs, clear, crisp, and archival as the day they were made, really are a ransom against eternity.
Maris,

This is wonderful but don't dismiss the guys with a Speed Graphic and 4x5 film! Even subjects that move can be photographed and then speed matters!

Asher
 
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