Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well done again Nathan, and a very enjoyable end to the 2006 year. I will be interested to see where the "big" RF fits in your photographic world in the next year or two. I have decided to stay with b/w film because I still love working in the darkroom. As I begin to re-organize my photographic "life", I have stayed with Leica because for me it is cheaper to use the lenses I own rather than start again, and by going with the Leica alternatives, I keep film options. Thus trading in the R7 on the DMR/R9, and going with the M8, takes me into the digital world and still allows me to use film if I travel to Nepal etc. The point of this, is your choice of the RF medium format. I have stayed with my Hasselblad (as I already own the lenses), updating my older 2000 series to a 205. I have no idea if this is a good decision, but I am learning that by using smaller formats for so long, I have lost some of my "feel" for the bigger negative. Firstly, there is the slower nature of the camera, the noise, the limited number of frames, but the big learning curve has to do with the DOF of the standard lens, which like a portrait lens of the 35mm is shallow. So I look at your efforts and see some of my struggle as well: there seems to be a small format brain behind some of the images: Image one is a bit of a "standard" image, but it loses out IMO against the same image taken with say a 28mm lens, because the small DOF leaves the moorings out of focus too quickly. This is despite the feeling of wide angle distortion, which most of us would equate with large DOF. It would have been more obvious with the foreground OOF. Image two is a fine snap shot with a central subject: I always find if I have been 'away' from RF's for too long, that the central position of the focus patch leads me to place too much in the centre of the frame, and I have to re-train myself to focus first then frame. Again, does this subject "warrant" medium format? Image three is exactly my problem at the moment. This is a street life image taken with an open aperture no doubt, where the focus hits the statue, but seems just off by the person and background, leaving a very 'soft' effect. Nothing wrong, but not perhaps what we would have seen from you before. Image four we have seen before with 35mm, using quite wide angles. Here the larger format seems to have worked for a very straight forward landscape Image five works for me: static moody subject, which is "naturally" soft because of the mist. I find the nearby lamp a bit dominant, but the subject matter lends itself to the camera and the fit shows ( at least I think so) Image six is a little bit of humor to record: not really warranting the format: Image seven works well despite the subject being more rapid fire street photography, proving of course that you "can" use the Bronica for decisive moment images, but ----- Image eight has a nice feel but lacks a "subject" Image nine works for the same reasons at the rail yard: more static type image with "graphic" form as its "subject". I'm not sure you would be thinking the way I have. I'm in a very "introspective" phase, trying to work out useful work flows and fitting in my new digital options into what was really a very happy existence that did not want the change. Digital to me 12 months ago had replaced my snap shot camera, it has now replaced my higher end colour cameras and perhaps it "should" replace my b/w work as well. I shall remain stubborn for a while, but unless there is an improvement with the 6 x 6 I should probably retreat to 35mm b/w work as well, where I feel "safer". Cheers On 14/01/2007, at 8:25, Nathan Wajsman wrote: > So, now I have completed the 6th year of doing PAWs. During that > time, I, like many others here, have moved on to digital > photography. But since Leica is a rangefinder, and since this is a > Leica list, I have chosen to finish 2006 with a set of images shot > with a rangefinder, on film. Not Leica, but my "new" 645 Bronica. > The images are from 3 countries, and they are all here: > http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws/?page_id=62 > > As always, comments and critique are very appreciated, and next > week we move on to 2007. > > Nathan > > -- > Nathan Wajsman > Almere, The Netherlands > > Opportunistic Image Acquisition > > General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com and http:// > www.greatpix.eu > Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws > Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com > > Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman > http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507 > Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com > > Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog > > > SUPPORT FREEDOM OF SPEECH, BUY DANISH PRODUCTS! > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information