b.ingraham@shaw.ca wrote in news:1121521911.880181.163210
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

It already is, for those who are professional photographers and have any
kind of revenue. From this point of view, going directly to digital
medium format might be the best choice, and a Hasselblad H1D or the new
digital Mamiya (it may not be in stores yet) might be worthy of serious
consideration.

A Mamiya 67 on the other hand might not be a good choice from the
viewpoint of going to digital in the near future.

Just suits the shots I take. I generally find the square format to be a
little deadening. The 6x7 format gives you the option of using a landscape
or portrait format - which often adds a dynamic aspect to the image -
without it being pronounced. Of course, you also have the option of
cropping to a square format for those pictures where that might work (and
Mamiya does a 6x6 back if you want to save film). The image size of the 6x7
allows a lot of flexibility on those lines without sacrificing quality.

The rotating back is wonderful. You can switch from landscape to portrait in
a blink, without all that messing around you have to do with 35mm, as the
body stays where it is.

Frankly, I love working with the Mamiya: I've been shooting for over 30
years now (since I was a teenager). Picked up a degree in photography along
the way, where I shot everything from 35mm half-frame to 10x8in, worked
briefly with an advertising photographer who shot 14x11in and have worked
as a pro, to a greater or lesser extent (a chunk of my living is made as a
journalist), since graduating. The Mamiya RZ is the camera that I've most
enjoyed using. It's big and bulky enough that it demands a slow and often
contemplative method of working. I don't use the metering prism - I shoot
with the waist-level finder and a handheld meter and I really enjoy the
very deliberate process it demands, which makes you think about the
picture. That said, I've occasionally shot hand-held, mostly studio
portraits using flash, but the odd landscape where I didn't have time to
set up a tripod. It's not as hard as you might think, in spite of the
camera's bulk.

There are digital backs available, all of which require that you sacrifice
your first-born in order to afford them. Not being psychic, I don't know if
the prices of such backs will fall. To be honest, where I want digital
(mainly magazine editorial work), then the 6MP I'm currently getting from
my D-SLR are good enough. I don't do advertising work where the client
wants supersite posters, so I don't think I'd ever invest in MF digital. I
shoot medium format because I like the quality of the image I get from
film. However, I did invest in a Nikon Coolscan LS-9000 which can scan
images up to 6x9 at 4000dpi. So all my best MF images are digitised. Takes
extra time and effort, but that gives you the best of both worlds (and
given the image size, you could get away with a less-expensive scanner: in
fact, I tend to scan MF images at around 2000dpi, because that still
produces an 80-100Mb file).

Through my professional career, I used both. I liked the large 6x7
negative. But the RB is strictly a studio camera and the big Pentax I
didn't care for with weddings or in the studio.
So when it came to an all-around, use-it-for-everything camera...I kept
coming back to Hasselblad.

Good point about the leaf shutters. This is less of a problem with the later
RZ lenses, compared to the RB lenses, because they're electronically timed.
But I would always buy lenses from a reputable dealer offering warranties
if buying secondhand.

Of course, one advantage of Mamiya over Hasselblad is the extra
affordability of *new* lenses. A quick check at Robert White shows a Mamiya
RZ 150mm f/3.5 costs £604 new. A Hasselblad CFi 150mm f/4 costs £1407.

Bullshit. They last forever.....

Get a better job, moron!

Support your local pro lab....

Cough......

In other words, you're cheap. Go f.ck your cat....