RNF: Two Pics Lead To Some Gear Epiphanies.
Recently I took a legend out for a stroll.
Needed to clear my head to aid me in dealing with life doing some hard core lifing as of recent. All will be well. Taking care of my offspring.
Those with adult children will understand. Will be fine in the end but for now “it is what it is” will have to suffice.
Back to the task ay hand.
Background.
Often I will bring a digital camera along with me when shooting film. This is for a number of reasons.
I might run upon a situation ill suited to film. Not enough light. Things moving too fast. May just want a picture but I do not feel it is worthy of burning an exposure of film.
Another reason is that I may finish a roll of film and then I do not feel there is enough there… there to justify starting a new roll of film. And if you are like me (Lord I hope not.) an unfinished roll of film sits in the back of your mind chanting, “We need to finish the roll. We need to finish the roll. <repeat>…”. So to head that off a pivot to digital is called for.
With such a storied analog image capturing device one might think that I would pair it with a high spec or storied provenance digital accomplice. But nope. A simple many years old MFT camera known more for video than stills…
…and a pancake lens that does not even support continuos focus with stills for reasons I have yet to identify.
Why would I do such a thing? One might think it is not fair. But. This pairing more than held its own and did this.
The sharpness. The depth of field. The colors. The accuracy of the AF. I could ask for no more. Truth be told in my opinion the storied and beloved by me Hasselblad did no better. Heresy? Not really. Fact. Look at these two images taken that same night. First the analog legend.
Now the devoid of provenance little companion taken a bit later.
Are there differences? None having to do with the capabilities of the tool used. More to do with intentionality than capability. With the precious I hand metered, set the exposure on the camera, and then slowed down to frame in the occasionally brain breaking, for me anyway, left is right and right is left waist level viewfinder. Did I remove the dark slide? Did I remember to wind on after the last pic? Along with the occasional thought, “Why are you being so cavalier and carrying this thing in hand? Where is the strap?”. That and the square 6×6 frame is where the more intentional framing with more of the foreground in the pic comes from. Not the lens or sensor’s capabilities. Then there is the B&W film locking you in to monochrome and ISO. The framing, crop, color or lack thereof could theoretically replicated.
Am I saying the Hasselblad is overrated or not worth the price? Hush your mouth with such ridiculous things I imagine you saying. There is a lot to be said about the experience of shooting, and in certain conditions, an analog medium format contraption can deliver a unique look that is hard to replicate elsewhere. For example, this is a pic with my dearly departed Father center of frame from my very first roll of film through the Hasselblad years ago.
Previously relegated to the nice, but I will never be able to afford one it nearly literally fell into my lap thanks to the kindness of a friend. So it was strictly on the sour grapes “Surely it cannot be that special.” unobtanium list before that. Courtesy of a major case of serendipity the Hasselblad strolled into my life. The short version is he wanted me to have it. That pic above changed everything. In an immediate “the more you know” reappraisal, my opinion changed to me being perfectly prepared to pay the original asking price now that I saw first hand what it could do.
As much as makes no sense the Hasselblad was my first ever roll of film through any medium format film camera. That is like getting your learner’s permit in a Ferrari… sorry Sweden… as much as I loved my Father’s (And later mine, until my better half sent it to the vehicular great beyond before it’s time.) 740 Turbo that I talked him into and he loved…
…nothing else quite measured up to the Hasselblad. Koenigsegg maybe?… Where was I? Right… First medium format experience. Wanting more of the analog 6×6 experience but not the drop/fall/swipe/grow legs risk I also picked up a Yaschica MAT LM…
…as a more pedestrian offering and it killed it also…
…which proved that a similar look could be had for much less spend…
I got severely off track there. Let me take another swipe at getting back to the task at hand.
To that last monochromatic mumblings point above I recently started stepping out of my RAW file loving comfort zone by using a B&W JPEG profile with my humble little GF1. And it absolutely crushed it. And not even with that 20mm f/1.7 but the even less expensive and slower aperture having 14mm f/2.5.
As a result on my next outing, all I carried with me was the GF1 and 14mm.
No media darling or low cost analog device. No digital modern AF powerhouse or instathreadface darling. Nope. Gear first released well over 10 years ago. 2009 for the GF1 and 2010 for my first generation 14mm f/2.5. No EVF. No IBIS. Fixed screen. All of the things I would say I definitely needed. But evidently, I do not. I definitely need it for portraits, right? And a hotshoe flash? Well, need is strong. The pic below was with the GF1, 20mm f/1.7, and the built in pop up flash.
So… the epiphanies. Some things I already believed, but they have been given greater significance. Some things I have heard and read stated by others. Occasionally followed by me rolling my eyes.
What you do with a camera matters more than the camera you choose.
- In many more cases than I would like to admit full frame truly is a nicety, not a necessity for a lot of work,…
- A friend who is in the process of building a MFT kit asked if he should transition to full frame… No, was my swift response. I instead suggested a few low cost/high performing lenses, an inexpensive flash (TT350O to be specific.), and that he instead focus on learning the ins and outs of on and off camera lighting. He further asked if MFT could be used for professional work, and I forwarded him photos taken on my first ever paid gig where I did just that. Bottom line, there is nothing wrong with moving to full frame, but do not do it thinking you have no choice.
- …especially for day to day purposes.
- A phrase I coined many years ago in my day profession, Engineering and then IT, is “using a sledgehammer to drive in a thumbtack.” That is how I feel when using my photo session gear for day to day purposes. So crushingly competent that it almost sucks all of the fun out of proceedings. Others will not likely agree with that last sentence, and that is OK. It is an off affliction.
- Older Panasonic gear contrast only MFT AF is nowhere near as bad as I thought it was if you use the right lens.
- When using the GF1 and 20mm f/1.7 I thought the relatively low moving object hit rate had to do with the dated non phase detect AF tech. Welp, the 14mm f/2.5 corrected that. It pretty much has not missed a pic yet. A bit surprised by this is I am honest.
Let me be clear. Am I saying that storied film cameras and latest and greatest digital offerings are not necessary?
Nope.
In some specific use cases they are the only options to get the results you are looking for. But most of the time they are options, not necessities.
This is nothing but good news for all.
Folks with spendy gear can take a break from the stress and worry about drop risks and gear walking off with nefarious assistance.
Folks wanting compact gear should rejoice because many of these older MFT solutions are positively tiny. Even the ones that do pack IBIS and an EVF…
…while still being very affordable on the used market. In all honesty if I were looking for a compact interchangeable lens camera I would get cameras like the GX7 and other older, but still competent MFT third solutions. Not only are they way more affordable they are also readily available on the used market. No waiting lists.
Want a wide to normal zoom,….
…a long zoom,…
…or a portrait lens? All are available for a reasonable sum on the used market.
And these are just one way to go. There are wonderful higher end and Olympus options available also. Why have I not mentioned other more traditional APS-C crop solutions from other manufacturers? A few reasons. Often times APS-C saves little on size and cost. Additionally between Olympus, Panasonic,and third party lens manufacturers few other mounts offer so many low cost/high quality options.
The one downside I did have in the past, graininess in low light situations, has been addressed to my satisfaction with Lightroom AI Denoise. I first used it on images from older full frame sensors, then APS-C, and have found that is a bit of a miracle worker with MFT images as well. This pic below I would not have likely posted had I not had LR AI Denoise at my disposal.
As good as or a replacement for modern full frame low noise images? No.
Serviceable for 90% of case for me? Yes.
Welp that is about it for now.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 