It came to mind reading Kathleen's message, that were I still primarily shooting film, the 35mm and medium format SLRs would still be languishing in the dinosaur heap. Pretty much everything I have been shooting for the past many years is highly unsuited to SLR cameras. Most would be done with either the Leica or one of the medium format rangefinder cameras.
I am now rarely taking a commercial or journalistic shoot. After hundreds of thousands of shots workin' for the Man, I have finally earned the luxury of being an enthusiast. While I will consider any project that sounds interesting, it is now my goal to pursue both personal photography and a wide variety of new-media projects. SLRs do a very poor job at what I am currently pursuing. If I ever once again undertook a major commercial project, they of course would be hauled out of retirement. At this point, my photography is far too subjective to use one.
On my last major travel shoot with film, I carried three medium-format cameras - a Brooks VeriWide 100 with a 47mm SuperAngulon over a 6x10cm format - equivalent to an 18mm lens on a 35mm camera, a Plaubel Makina 67, with an incredible 80mm f2.8 Nikkor over a 6x7cm format and a GraphicXL with a 180mm Zeiss Sonnar over a 6x9cm format. No SLR at all.
These three instruments were an ideal combination. The SuperAngulon can not be beaten for architecture and epic landscapes, and on a camera that was my workhorse for decades. It does not have a rangefinder, just a viewfinder. With the incredible depth of field a 47mm lens provides, a rangefinder is not needed. One focuses by guess and by gosh, and none of my shots has ever been out of focus.
The Plaubel Makina is wonderfully self-contained, though fairly large, and is nearly as unobtrusive as a Lecia for street photography. Most people find it easy to ignore. A perfect walkin' 'round camera. The Zeiss Sonnar saw little use, but was handy when I needed to compress perspective a bit. Three cameras and three lenses covered everything ideally.
In so many ways, the CP8400 parallels them. It is as unobtrusive and self-contained as the Plaubel Makina - an even better street camera than the Leica. It has the 18mm lens of the Brooks, and is used in much the same way, but also way beyond - the difference between an f-2.6 and an f-8.0. The 18mm capability was the main reason for its acquisition. One might say the camera is the essential accessory for the 18mm lens.
For low light, the Brooks absolutely had to be on tripod and it was rarely shot hand held even in great light. As well as architecture and landscapes, the 18mm is a stunning lens for environmental portraiture. One can get within the personal space of the subject for intense intimacy, but also link them to the environment where they flourish. Sadly I sold it, desparing ever being able to justify a scanner that could handle its images. Now I have such a scanner. Ah, well...
With the 18mm off, the CP8400 has a zoom range equivalent to 24mm->85mm - covering both the Plaubel and XL with the Zeiss Sonnar. There are two more lenses, equivalent to 140->170mm and 255mm but like the Sonnar, are rarely used. There has been no transition bumps whatever to digital, and the CP8400 is the third in the line. Each has been narrowing in on providing the platform from which my goals are best being achieved. Even though now rarely shooting for publication, I feel that my content, and my interpretation and presentation of it are at the best in my life.
The articulated monitor has been another epiphany that has translated to quality of content. It renders an already unobtrusive camera, nearly invisible. When doing close people photography, the camera is just out of the direct line of site and people ignore it. Nothing is as inhibiting as being stared at through a SLR and huge lens. Totally intimidating and a killer of spontaneity. In the field, it is like using a familiar view camera - except the image is upright and unreversed.
While a CP8400 has an assist for panoramic photography using stitching software, nothing can come close to the ease of a real panoramic camera. With the afore mentioned scanner, now my WideLuxe is completely viable again, and makes a 140° panorama with a single shot, and a 360° with three.
Yes, film still has a place. However it is just one of the tools in the tool kit. After hundreds of thousands of film exposures, the new discovery factor Kathleen is enjoying has long since faded, and it is just another day on the job. Great job though. The discovery factor is alive and well and living in my web pages through digital. An affordable, large sensor mirrorless digital that can match a scan from the the Plaubel or Linhof will probably mean that the film will stay in the fridge. I would say that other than the WideLuxe which might never retire, the other medium-format rangefinder cameras still may have a few years.
larry!
http://www.larry-bolch.com/ ICQ 76620504
