
Usually acquiring a new camera means - at least to me - reading product tests, browsing photographer's forums, talking with fellow photographers, studying brochures, fighting trepidation in view of the prices, sleeping over it (one, two, several times), and finally buying the object of desire (often with a guilty conscience). You can see: my wife and me are no impulse buyers. With books perhaps, but definitely not with technical devices.
The idea of investing into an analog camera first came to my wife, and here and then we pressed our noses against the windows of camera dealers, looking for a nice analog second-hand camera. We soon agreed upon 35mm cameras that they are nice, but that medium format would be even nicer. We looked at second-hand market prices and decided to wait a while.
Until last week. It wasn't just luck, it was pure fluke that we've won this auction. At a price that you don't want to know, it was close to theft. And then there was this shift lens, second-hand of course, at a third of the market price. A shift lens that is so important if you want to get serious about architecture photography.
We did it. Mamiya RZ67, Sekor-Z 110mm lens, Sekor-Z 70mm shift lens. We will have to learn a lot, but as soon as we will have some representable shots, you will be the first to know.
My (old) coffee-table book of selected postings.
More MadScientist: eclecticimaging.tumblr.com, the guy behind this blog
@Linerberry: Great that you're back again, LB! This camera is indeed quite exciting, I'm very curious about the shots it produces.
@David: You bet! :o)
@E.B: That's a term I had to look up! :-D Merci beaucoup, E.B.!
@Japanalia: Me too, me too! :-D
@Ronnie 2¢: I hope that digital backs will be affordable in a few years (they are still well beyond $10.000). Imagine a digital camera with a really HUGE sensor and with the old lenses... Could revive the market for analogue quality cameras again.
@MARIANA: I hope you don't mind my untidy desk! :-)
@António Pires: Thanks, António! I'll give it a slow start, this beast needs practice. :)
@Tracey: Oh yes! :-D
@Ted: The shift lens (hopefully) solves the problem with converging lines that you can often see in architecture shots. The much bigger 'sensor area' (it's not a sensor, of course, but just let us assume that the size of the negative and the sensor in a digital camera are basically the same) will help a lot when I want to zoom into the photo without loss of quality. Just compare the size of an APS-C sensor that you can find in common crop cameras with the size of a medium format negative. See here. With this camera I hope to get much more detailed shots, and the shift lens is something I've been wanting for a long time. Sure, going the analogue way requires more work until you're able to hold a reprint in your hands, but this opportunity was just too good to let it go!
@Steven: Thanks, Steven! No Christmas (at least no Christmas presents) this year - I'm broke now! :-D
@JoeB: Give me at least two weeks, I'll be off for a few days next week. (I'm curious, too! :-)
@akarui: Digital backs are also available. Who knows, in a few years...
@Ted: If my shots look bad I won't blame the camera! :-D
@justme: Me tooi! I will have to learn a lot!
@Twelvebit: I'm really curious how it feels to use a quarter of an hour for just one shot. :) Okay, there _is_ one disadvantage: this beast is heavy. Really heavy. 4 kg (8.8 lbs) is the weight of what you can see here.
@Laurie: I'm very excited about this purchase, it was so beneficial that we couldn't deny it. :) This will be a different kind of taking photos and I consider it being a new set of photographic grammar rules that will extend my visual language. Well, perhaps less sophisticated ;)