Bipod

I loved 35 mm format, but never used it exclusively. I can never remember a time
when there weren't medium format cameras in the house.

In the 1960s, there were sill zillions of inexpensive used medium format cameras around:
all the cameras made in the 1930s though mid-1950s! We were awash in used
medium format cameras.

35 mm became dominant because the film was cheap to develop. Most 35 mm enthusiasts
didn't have darkrooms. But it never dominated professional photography.

At the hight of the Japanese 35 mm film camera boom in the 1970s, Ansel Adams was
shooting a Hasselblad 6 x 6 cm medium format-- he said he could no longer lift his 8 x 10".
He aslo owned a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta B 6 x 6 cm. -- a folder made from the 1930s though
1950--which he used for commerical work (mainly in color). He also owned a 35 mm
Contax, which he used to make a portrait of Georgia O'Keefe..

I still shoot a lot of 35 mm -- but not color. And I don't shoot B&W digital
(because I can't afford a Leica M9 Monochrome, and decolorized color sensor
images are lower-res). Digital color is great color! But digital B&W made
from color sensors is decidedly inferior to medium or slow speed B&W film.

Cameras are subject to the same optical limitations as ever. What's changed is
the Massive Misdirection crated by marketers and the tech lobby. Apples
spends hundreds of millions of dollars promoting it iPhone, and telling it makes
all cameras obsolete.

What's obsolete is the truth. Truth is bad for business.

Bipod

Today, nothing can possibly be true unless it can be expressed as a "sound byte".

"Four legs good, two legs bad!"

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Bipod, you're a cranky old dude, but I agree with much that you say. I still shoot 6x6 BW and Color film, on a Rollei, Hassy, and Super Ikonta. I also shoot 4x5 on occasion, and am about to buy a 4x5 digital back adaptor, which will combine four digital images into one shot. We'll see how that work out. I still have 35mm gear, which I shoot less frequently, but for my daily shooting, I use a DX Nikon D7100. As I'm no longer selling images, I'm happy with the results, especially with a little post processing. Not everyone can afford to drop several thousand dollars on a full frame digital rig, or afford the cost of processing today.

I'm not a pro, although in the "film years" I shot both as a photojournalist and a part time wedding and architectural photographer.

With decent glass, the DX system serves my needs today, and I print up to 16x20 with acceptable image quality to me. As you said, different people have different needs, now, as in the past. Digital is affordable, but it's not the same quality, for sure.

Andy

Retina Loc: Near Charleston,SC

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!"