Joys of medium format cameras

We all love the tale of David vs Goliath, where the underdog trumps the favourite against all odds. The truth in life is - size does matter. The bigger is usually the better option. Try driving a Mini on the road with Landrovers and Hummers all around you, or get into a gun fight armed with a pistol against a sub-machine gun - you get the picture.

In photography, the smaller cameras are more agile, as in all our examples. But in terms of sheer power, nothing quite beats a larger format camera, ceteris paribus. The larger the film area (or sensor size), the cleaner the image and the better the enlargements will be. Traditionally, a lot of commercial images used for billboards or posters are shot on medium or large format cameras, and even with today's pow-wow 35mm DSLRs excellent image quality, some of the professionals still opt for medium format cameras to deliver that extra edge, especially in controlled environment shooting where speed is not of essence.

Apart from sheer quality, one of the fun aspects of shooting medium format cameras is the joy of handling something mechanical. Unlike the DSLRs, the majority of medium format cameras still shoot on film (since digital backs are still prohibitively expensive for the hobbyists). That only adds to the joy of loading film (assuming you come from the film-era like me), which is a more tactile approach than loading a CF card into my DSLR. Furthermore, a lot of the medium format cameras are mechanical machines that click and clunk, quite unlike the zip and whirl of the electronic cameras today.

Need more convincing to try medium format cameras? Well... how about the fact that a lot of medium format gears are very affordable now compared to a decade ago, and you can get a good camera and lens for less than 500 bucks? And once you have a taste of the heavenly experience of viewing a medium format slide on a light-box, you'd want to run out to get a few more rolls of film!

So be sure to discover more about medium format cameras here at http://www.nelsontan.com/articlespage/mediumformat01.html

Have fun!

Pentax - Terminator, or terminated?

Just like the Terminator movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger always returns with “I’ll be back”. So just when almost everyone has written off Pentax, they’re back with (gasp!) a medium format digital camera!

I suspect many readers are not familiar with Pentax’s history, so here’s a short jaunt down memory lane. Pentax was a big brand in the past, and it had glorious cameras including iconic medium-format ones such as the Pentax 645 and Pentax 67. Pentax then has a history of doing things differently, because while most brands designed their cameras to have interchangeable film backs, Pentax alone decided that users should not be allowed to change films.

As made evident by history, this decision did not resonate well with photographers. So I’m befuddled when Pentax decided to wade into the medium format digital camera market – which is highly saturated, extremely competitive and limited in size. What aghast me even more – is the decision to incorporate a non-interchangeable digital back! There are a few arguments against such an arrangement – you can’t clean the sensor easily unlike interchangeable digital backs. The Pentax 645D has ultrasonic dust cleaning function, but we all know some spots cannot be removed that easily. Secondly, you cannot upgrade the sensor without throwing away the entire camera. Or if the camera jams on you during a shoot, you cannot change the back onto another working camera body. And finally, you cannot use the expensive digital sensor on another camera (such as another brand or even on a large format camera), which most of the other interchangeable digital backs allow you to do so.

So why on earth did Pentax come to this decision to design a non-interchangeable back? I suspect pride and ego contributes greatly to this folly, although I think they rather call it heritage and consistency.  Pentax also claims that the P645D is extremely durable and dependable with this body construction, as well as offering superior weather sealing. Nice, but I’d rather have the flexibility of having interchangeable backs. I guess they’ll be selling a lot of the P645Ds to National Geographic then.

The Pentax 645D features a 40MP medium format digital sensor, and it also accepts the legacy Pentax P645 lenses (might as well… I suspect existing P645 users are the only ones who will buy this camera… and they number in the hundreds). I usually like to root for the underdog, but this is one puppy that’s not a top dog for sure.

Mamiya launches fastest medium format DSLR

Mamiya has just launched the Mamiya DM40 – basically the world’s fastest large-sensor digital medium-format camera. With a resolution of 40MP and 0.8 seconds per frame (up to 60 frames per minute!), the Mamiya DM40 is perfect for fast medium format digital shooters. For photographers more accustomed to 35mm DSLRs, 40 megapixel seems astounding and 0.8 second per frames sound incredible slow. But coming from the world of medium format cameras, this is blazing fast.

So if you’re a fashion photographer, the Mamiya DM40 is the perfect camera for you then. Make sure you equip your photo studio with the excellent Profoto 8A to ensure that your studio flash can keep up with your camera!

Pentax counts down for digital medium format launch

Just like a phoenix, Pentax is attempting to reinvent itself and rise from the ashes again. The venerable imaging brand had been struggling in the past decade, never really being able to put up a good fight against the likes of Canon and Nikon (or Sony for that matter). Pentax fans say that the recent crop of Pentax DSLR has great performance or bang for the buck, but I'd say that Pentax would need better marketing to take off from the dumps (regardless of the product).

Pentax is one company that is willing to take risk and boldly go where no other brands have gone before, although I'm not sure if that's out of sheer desperation. Just look at the colourful Pentax K-x DSLR - I'd bet Canon and Nikon will never do anything that brave! I'm not too sure what that does for the sales though - perhaps the Japanese domestic market love it, but I sure would like to stick with the more conventional colours.

Now Pentax is gearing up to launch the elusive Pentax 645D - a medium format digital camera. It ain't gonna be easy going up against Canon/Nikon/Sony in the 35mm DSLR market, so Pentax has also leveraged on its medium format cameras to open up a new market for itself in the digital arena. It sure takes a lot of guts, because Pentax is going into a market where other Japanese brands such as Contax and (original) Mamiya have collapsed.

The medium format (MF) market is a tough one, especially for digital cameras. Digital MF cameras are very expensive (if makes a flagship Canon/Nikon look like a toy in price), and the market is not exactly growing very quickly. With Hasselblad and Mamiya dominating the market with their comprehensive lenses and system accessories, as well as Imacon and Leaf digital backs respectively, it takes a brave brand (Leica S2 comes to mind as well) to swagger into the waters of digital medium format. Let's hope Pentax has something exciting for us, because I'd hate to see another established brand go under.