Has anyone got any experience/advice with regards to medium format cameras?

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Hi Guys,

I'm looking at purchasing a new camera in the next few months and I’ve hit a bit of a road bump. I’ve got a small arsenal of Canon gear now and I really like the new 5D Mk II, which is great, but since I have started to take photography quite seriously, I’ve come to the conclusion that a medium format camera is probably what I should really be using for a lot of my work. The Canon is great for action shots, night time work and when I have to travel but I’ve started doing some studio work as well and I feel I could probably really benefit from a mf.

Has anyone had any experience with them? Likes and dislikes?

I’ve got my eye on either the Mamiya 645AFD or the Hasselblad 530 cxi. These ones seem reasonable priced (albeit the digital back on either unit will close to $10k). Any other suggested models, which will accept a digital back but are reasonably priced?

I’ve been doing a fair bit of research on the matter as some of this stuff is more expensive than my car but if anyone has any first hand experience or advise on the matter, I would really love to hear it.

 

[niky]

Uhmm...

(looks at his dinky little R1 and D40)...

No?

The Hassy is industry standard, though, isn't it? So you know what you're getting when you get that...

And I wasn't aware that "reasonably priced" and "medium format" ever went into the same sentence... ...Good luck with your purchase though, I am green (and unfortunately, not the money-kind) with envy.

 

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The Hassy is industry standard, though, isn't it? So you know what you're getting when you get that...

Yeah that’s the general consensus, although I’ve been reading a lot of positive reviews on the Mamiya.

And I wasn't aware that "reasonably priced" and "medium format" ever went into the same sentence... ...

Touché

 

[BayConRong]

I agree with Niky

out of idle curiosity what is a "medium format" and are there "high" and "low format"?

 

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I agree with Niky

out of idle curiosity what is a "medium format" and are there "high" and "low format"?

A very crude explanation would be that medium format cameras accept a considerably larger sized film than a standard 35mm film SLR or considerably larger sensor size in Digital cameras...Wiki article here

35mm SLR's would I guess be considered "low format" although nobody actually would call it that. There are also large format cameras... more wiki goodness to be found here on the topic

If your married like me and condemned to watch stupid shows like America's next top model with your wife, take a closer look at the camera the fashion photographers are using, they are generally medium format cameras.