[jtkratzer]

I put together a decent Pentax 645n kit and was pretty blown away with the results compared to 35mm. I found a deal I couldn’t pass up for a 6x7 MLU with SMC 105/2.5...I keep leaning towards the larger negatives. I absolutely could see myself trying 4x5 down the road, after my five and eight year olds are perhaps graduated or earlier if they want to tag along and participate.

For those with experience with both camera systems (medium formats), is there room in the stable for both or do you find yourself with 35mm and one of the two? At a time when I’d like to thin the herd of my 35mm stuff (mostly due to getting loads of stuff I don’t want, need or use from sellers who won’t break up a package), I don’t want to just keep adding and as a result, use a number of items even more infrequently. I’m just curious at this point, as I have yet to even put my hands on the 6x7. I asked the seller to send it directly to Eric for some TLC.

Pentax 645n kit includes (all manual A lenses) - 35, 55, 75 and 150.

REALLY, just curious what your progression and experience has been and where you ended. I don’t think I knew MF existed until I joined this forum a number of years ago.

[texandrews]

I put together a decent Pentax 645n kit and was pretty blown away with the results compared to 35mm. I found a deal I couldn’t pass up for a 6x7 MLU with SMC 105/2.5...I keep leaning towards the larger negatives. I absolutely could see myself trying 4x5 down the road, after my five and eight year olds are perhaps graduated or earlier if they want to tag along and participate.

For those with experience with both camera systems (medium formats), is there room in the stable for both or do you find yourself with 35mm and one of the two? At a time when I’d like to thin the herd of my 35mm stuff (mostly due to getting loads of stuff I don’t want, need or use from sellers who won’t break up a package), I don’t want to just keep adding and as a result, use a number of items even more infrequently. I’m just curious at this point, as I have yet to even put my hands on the 6x7. I asked the seller to send it directly to Eric for some TLC.

Pentax 645n kit includes (all manual A lenses) - 35, 55, 75 and 150.

REALLY, just curious what your progression and experience has been and where you ended. I don’t think I knew MF existed until I joined this forum a number of years ago.

You don't say what 35mm stuff you have. I gave up on 35mm in the '80's as being too sh*tty for my purposes, except to make slides of my artworks for job and exhibition applications, and even then switched to 4x5in and 6x9cm transparencies. But today's 35mm FF digital cameras are incredible imaging devices and well worth having, and you may be able to use those legacy lenses to good purpose. As far as 645 and 6x7----the 6x7 neg/transparency still has validity IMO, and the 6x9 even more so. Film 645 to me is now almost as obsolete as 35mm film. I'm glad I had my 645 gear, because it made my entry into medium format digital possible---I had lenses. But the 645N body is gone. So is my Fuji 6x9, and I miss it sometimes. That decision was pure hard-headed economics, though.

I see you are in Lancaster county, just north of me. Let me know if you ever want to try out a Z to see what the files are like.

[jtkratzer]

You don't say what 35mm stuff you have. I gave up on 35mm in the '80's as being too sh*tty for my purposes, except to make slides of my artworks for job and exhibition applications, and even then switched to 4x5in and 6x9cm transparencies. But today's 35mm FF digital cameras are incredible imaging devices and well worth having, and you may be able to use those legacy lenses to good purpose. As far as 645 and 6x7----the 6x7 neg/transparency still has validity IMO, and the 6x9 even more so. Film 645 to me is now almost as obsolete as 35mm film. I'm glad I had my 645 gear, because it made my entry into medium format digital possible---I had lenses. But the 645N body is gone. So is my Fuji 6x9, and I miss it sometimes. That decision was pure hard-headed economics, though.

I see you are in Lancaster county, just north of me. Let me know if you ever want to try out a Z to see what the files are like.

35mm stuff is all film. I feel like I’m done with digital beyond the convenience of an MX-1 (I have one) or Ricoh GR (maybe an upgrade to the MX-1) for low light, quick snaps. I just don’t enjoy the process of culling and editing after using the camera. Time is my most limited resource and being able to just shoot and send to a lab is my preference. I could see myself picking up an improved 35mm autofocus body and ditching the two ZX bodies.

Once you’re into a film system, it’s all about the lenses. There’s nothing else you can do with most of them. Nothing new is being produced. I don’t do this for a job or income. It’s all personal use and satisfaction.

[Kerrowdown]

Highlander?

I can help you with this bit only, as I am one.

[Silent Street]

My move up from 35mm, which I had used since my first start in photography in 1977, took place in 2009 with a loaned Pentax 67 with a 90mm f2.8, followed by purchasing my own P67 a year later. But wait! It didn't stop there. I added another lens. And another. And another. And one more for back-breaking good measure! :-p

For a brief time I also owned a Hasselblad 503CXI but found focusing and body idiosyncracies were slowing me down much more than the straightforward use of the P67, so it was sold off. A year ago I added an Ebony SV45Ti and 90mm stock S-K f5.6 lens. While a beauty to unfold and use, the now limited and continuously diminishing range of films for 4x5 has seen me continue to use the P67 for all of my photography, so the future of the SV45 is a bit 'up in the air' at the moment. Because of skin and respiratory sensitivities, I do not and will not use a darkroom, and B&W work along with colour is lab-processed.

Progression and diversity (and natural go-to use) of systems depends a lot on experience, not a twinkle of desire for this camera over that. The 67 is a system camera, so you can stay where you are with one lens or build it up. Then there is 4x5; this requires considerably more dexterity and patience in use (and mastery of separate metering e.g. multispot metering for narrow ranging colour work), while the Pentax 67 or 645 is very straightforward, either/both lending themselves very well to spontaneity. As my photography was built up in the 35mm environment and was the sole means by which I generated income as a professional for so many years, it is not a format I have casually dismissed in favour of tugging at the forelocks of the larger, more "fashionable" and arty-farty formats, 4x5 among them -- I still use 35mm and produce work from 35mm. Over Easter I used my trusty, heavy 24-year old Canon EOS 1N and TS-E lenses while the P67 languished in the back of the car (only by dint of the fact that I didn't have a roll of 120 Velvia for it!).

A digital camera does not a professional photographer make.
Digital still requires a solid foundation and understanding in traditional photographic practice such as aesthetics, conceptualisation and visual arrangement, an understanding of metering processes and modalities and especially a thorough knowledge of one's chosen 'signature' subject in order to bring it through successfully to the camera. Really, I am not one to be entertained by the high levels of automation in digital cameras and then have the 'photographer' come along and tell me "I took this photo, isn't it great!?" when it was the camera doing all the thinking for him! And no, I do not own a digital camera.

[jtkratzer]

Silent Street, thanks for the reply. I started with an entry-level ZX-30 as a gift from my parents prior to my first study abroad trip to Germany. I’ve been a Pentaxian since. I only went digital after a long break from film and photography in general. Picked up a K-5 after the birth of my second child. I’ve slowly migrated back to film after figuring out how much time and effort digital takes after you click the shutter to edit, manage, organize, etc what can quickly amount to thousands of images that are rarely, if ever seen after transferring to a hard drive.

I just need to do a better job of keeping a camera with me at all times. I fully understand the camera doesn’t make the photographer. I really enjoy the look and ability to print things larger than photo album size. 35mm is handy and was what I used today while my kids were doing some Easter activities. I posed them for a shot with the 645n on a frame of Portra 400 as it’s been several months since I took a nice portrait of them with the intent of printing/framing. I just don’t see myself using digital as a primary again for the foreseeable future.

[Jellygeist]

The 6x7 was the second film camera I ever used as an adult (I was born in 1990 so I remember the tail end of the film days), and the first I bought with my own money. It's a great system with some weird quirks, but I love it and I think you'll love it, too. Only getting 10 frames per shot is worth it if you make all 10 frames interesting.

Just watch out if you have an alarm system installed. The shutter sound is liable to set it off. It's very satisfying, though.

[Jonathan Mac]

I use a 645 (the original model) and would get a 67 in a heartbeat if I ever found one in decent condition that I could afford.

On the upside for the 645, it's not light, but it's sufficiently light that it's possible to travel with it sometimes. The lenses are superb, especially the 55mm and 75mm.

[jtkratzer]

The 6x7 was the second film camera I ever used as an adult (I was born in 1990 so I remember the tail end of the film days), and the first I bought with my own money. It's a great system with some weird quirks, but I love it and I think you'll love it, too. Only getting 10 frames per shot is worth it if you make all 10 frames interesting.

Just watch out if you have an alarm system installed. The shutter sound is liable to set it off. It's very satisfying, though.

I was born in 82. I remember and elementary school overnight field trip and taking a P&S 35mm camera and a ZX-30 was my first SLR for an exchange trip to Germany. I got sucked into the digital world with an Optio S in college and eventually made my way to a K-5. Film didn’t come back for me until my inlaws fave me their ME Super they bought to take baby pictures of my wife when she was born in 1983. It was sort of a slow transition, but I can’t tell you the last time I shot the K-5iis.

I use a 645 (the original model) and would get a 67 in a heartbeat if I ever found one in decent condition that I could afford.

On the upside for the 645, it's not light, but it's sufficiently light that it's possible to travel with it sometimes. The lenses are superb, especially the 55mm and 75mm.

I have trips coming up to the Dominican Republic, Disney, and Germany in the next 15 months or so. If I’m going to haul anything bigger than 35mm on any of them, I need to pick up something better than I currently have to carry. Honestly, Disney will likely happen with an autofocus 35mm and a lens or two. It’s going to be about the kiddos more than anything else. DR and Germany will be a kid-free trip.

[leekil]

The medium format question comes down to your personal trade-off between negative size and weight to carry around. I have a Pentax 645 and use it infrequently mostly due to the size & weight -- but I do use it on occasion. Depending on your photography style, I would expect that you would still want to keep the 35mm even if you got a 645 or 67 for the times when you wouldn't want to carry the larger camera. On the other hand, I also have a Fuji GA645i, and that was reviewed as "the ultimate travel camera". It is a 645 fixed-lens autofocus camera, with the standard exposure modes (P, Av, Tv, M).

[tuco]

I don't have a 645 yet and it's the last on the list of getting each camera projection onto 120 roll. You can see I have a 6x6, 6x7, 6x9 and 6x17 in my signature and I shoot them all. I'll skip the 6x8 but I'll get a 645 eventually. So I say, yes, there is room for both!

[jtkratzer]

The medium format question comes down to your personal trade-off between negative size and weight to carry around. I have a Pentax 645 and use it infrequently mostly due to the size & weight -- but I do use it on occasion. Depending on your photography style, I would expect that you would still want to keep the 35mm even if you got a 645 or 67 for the times when you wouldn't want to carry the larger camera. On the other hand, I also have a Fuji GA645i, and that was reviewed as "the ultimate travel camera". It is a 645 fixed-lens autofocus camera, with the standard exposure modes (P, Av, Tv, M).

Yep, small autofocus 35mm works for a lot of the stuff that likely won't end up as large prints. I have some 35mm stuff I'll never let go. The Fuji Rangefinder looks interesting. No fussing around with different lenses and a compact package.

[rdenney]

Ansel Adams responded to the frequent question, How large a camera should you use? with the now-famous, "As big as I can carry."

He owned Leicas, early Zeiss-Ikon SLR's, Contaxes, a full Hasselblad kit of which is was quite proud, and large-format equipment up to 8x10. His off-the-cuff photo of Georgia O'Keeffe was made using the Leica (just the part on the left, from a defunct blog post from who-knows-where, but Copyright the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust), grain and all:




And one of his better-known images in Yosemite (Moonand Half Dome) was made using his Hasselblad.


(Ansel Adams Gallery image)

Though Adams is associated with 8x10 view cameras, he photographed in a range of formats. Photos of him making photos for Fiat Lux, for example (a book cataloguing the UC system), show him using a Sinar 4x5 camera and a Hasseblad. Pictures of his darkroom show three enlargers of different sizes. Convenience sometimes counts, and the 645 cameras are much more convenient to use than the 6x7 cameras, particularly in Pentax's case.

I will probably not shoot 645 film very much any more, as I have not for several years anyway. But 645 digital will be a standard medium for me, even though I'm not selling my Canon kit. But the Pentax 6x7 is almost a religious experience for me, as much a delight to the eye and hand as a machine as it is to the image. I will always make photos, at least at some level, with that system, just as I do with my Sinar. For me, it won't be "better" than 645 digital, but just different. Up to maybe 10 years ago, the 645N and NII were a fast-handling, hand-held cameras for commercial work (or personal work that goes down like commercial work), while the 6x7 was more for simple pleasure.

6x7 is the smallest film format that allows me to make 16x20 prints with an sense of endless detail, which is the standard to which I want to more consistently attain, when I'm photographing with the intent of making prints.

But it is quite often heavier than the heaviest camera I can carry.

Rick "noting that Adams didn't like printing that O'Keeffe picture larger than 8x10" Denney

[Blasst]

Ansel Adams responded to the frequent question, How large a camera should you use? with the now-famous, "As big as I can carry."

He owned Leicas, early Zeiss-Ikon SLR's, Contaxes, a full Hasselblad kit of which is was quite proud, and large-format equipment up to 8x10. His off-the-cuff photo of Georgia O'Keeffe was made using the Leica (just the part on the left, from a defunct blog post from who-knows-where, but Copyright the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust), grain and all:




And one of his better-known images in Yosemite (Moonand Half Dome) was made using his Hasselblad.


(Ansel Adams Gallery image)

Thanks for sharing those photos, I like the one with Georgia O’Keeffe on the motorcycle and I believe it was taken by Maria Chabot

Georgia O?Keeffe hitching a ride to Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch, 1944. The painter, Maurice Grosser, visited his friend O?Keeffe?s ranch in 1944. Maria Ch? | Pinteres?

[Eyewanders]

I put together a decent Pentax 645n kit and was pretty blown away with the results compared to 35mm. I found a deal I couldn’t pass up for a 6x7 MLU with SMC 105/2.5...I keep leaning towards the larger negatives. I absolutely could see myself trying 4x5 down the road, after my five and eight year olds are perhaps graduated or earlier if they want to tag along and participate.

For those with experience with both camera systems (medium formats), is there room in the stable for both or do you find yourself with 35mm and one of the two? At a time when I’d like to thin the herd of my 35mm stuff (mostly due to getting loads of stuff I don’t want, need or use from sellers who won’t break up a package), I don’t want to just keep adding and as a result, use a number of items even more infrequently. I’m just curious at this point, as I have yet to even put my hands on the 6x7. I asked the seller to send it directly to Eric for some TLC.

Pentax 645n kit includes (all manual A lenses) - 35, 55, 75 and 150.

REALLY, just curious what your progression and experience has been and where you ended. I don’t think I knew MF existed until I joined this forum a number of years ago.

There's absolutely room for both because they can share (67) glass and they have different stengths. The last film wedding I shot I used a the 67 and 645Nii in conjunction with a 35mm for the late night bit-tipsy party that came later at reception. Without waxing on, yes, very much so. They are quite complimentary.