Las Vegas is endless for photographic possibilities. People, all kinds, types, sizes, from all over. That's just on the Strip. Shooting at night on the Strip is a tour de force of color. Try shooting the fountains at the Bellagio with a long shutter.
My cameras include a Hasselblad 503CW, Rolleiflex 3.5 F Zenotar and a Pentax 6x4.5 autofocus. The lenses for the Hassey are 80 F 2.8 C, late model and 50 F 4 CF. I have three viewfinders for it: the standard waist level, a 90 degree and a metered 45 degree finders.
Hey been shooting medium format for years, for both commercial and pleasure. The caveat is all film, no digital format.
I use a Canon 800PF scanner. Excellent job with both 35 and 2 1/4. Holders supplied for 35 and all mounted medium format. It will do 4x5 but not shooting that medium I'm unable to say anything.
Never heard anyone saying what great cameras Bronica turned out. Problems. Pentax or Mamiya for 6x4.5 work.
Film vs digital. One is electronically produced and electronically manipulated. The other is chemical based. One has no feeling other than discussing pixels and noise. Film has types, ASA's or ISO's, latitude, liquid developers. Feel has a feeling; digital has not.
I have some Canon digital, collecting dust. I still use 35 mm for film, my medium format, film, is what I shoot with when I want the feeling that only Fuji 50 or 100 can deliver. I have a large selection of Kodachrome.
When I was shooting for money most of my work was done with 35mm, film and digital. I also used all three medium format image sizes. When I look at the prices of digital Hasselblad and Leica, I just shake my head. Planned obsolescence has been the working theory of Japanese industry for years. Digital imaging is a prefect example. New technology every six months. No I'll stick with my film cameras and let my Canon digitals collect dust.
I used a Pentax 6x7 for a number of years. Loved the transparencies on a contact sheet. But as time went one and I got older, I found the weight of the body, hand grip, lens and lenses in a shoulder bag, tripod, got to be a little too much. I never did studio work. Now I use my Hassy, a Pentax 6x4.5 auto and my Roleiflex F 3.5 Zenotar.
I love medium format and have done so for years. Yes a lot of my images are from 35mm, but I use the medium 4x4 and 6x7 and 6x4.5 when I really get serious. A contact sheet of any of the three put next to a 35mm contact sheet, no contest. Now of course I'm talking film.
Thanks. Looking forward to shooting my first roll of film. I have been making images the 70’s using many different makes. Naturally I heard about Hasselblad, but I never seemed to be able to justify the cost. Circumstances change now I have a ‘blad.
Thanks for the tip, unfortunately my 503cw doesn’t have a release lock. Good news, my second back arrived yesterday. Now I have two for comparison. Put it on and it worked fine, for a couple of minutes. After trying one thing or another, being total neophyte, I finally succeeded. Chalk this experience up to “operator error”, duh and double duh.
Again, thanks for all the advice. Based on what everyone has said, I just finished checking everything again. Now that I know what might the problem area(s), I feel certain that it is the back. Back off, crank and shutter cycle through. Back on, lock up. Looking at the exposed gear on the right side of the back, which should engage the gear for the winding crank, it appears to be frozen, no play at all. So I agree that the problem lies with the back. Is this rather common for the back to lock up? I checked Hasselblad USA and they will repair it with a fast turn around. They list V items they won’t repair due to no parts.
Thanks to you both. I've been thinking it's the back. Why else would the crank work when the back is removed? Have another back on order, when it comes in will try it and see.