Post
by acorker » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:49 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
>>Alan, where are you going for processing ?<<
Hi Joanna,
I guess I was referring to the overall cost really, in general terms, both financially and chronologically.
Usually I'll travel a long way for images, so I'll take a bracketed spread per scene to ensure I nail it, especially where receprocity failure can make things slightly more tricky. In addition I'll take a few batches during different lighting conditions e.g. during sunrise. So one 'shot' will easily end up costing me ~£50+:
- The polaroid proofs to get exposure, composition and focus bang on
- The bracketing
- The time spent scanning and 'candidates' when I get back
(I'm a perfectionist, and nothing irritates me more than travelling 800 miles round trip to Scotland to come back without an adequate rendering of a particuar the scene I was standing in front of - especially if I've hung around for 2 days to wait for good weather/light. You hear of so many top LF photographers moaning they didn't quite nail this or that and have to return.)
I see the overall cost at a very rough £5.00 per click. I have no problem doing my own E6 processing; I used to do all my old MF processing when I used to do weddings on MF. However, now, I'm usually working long weeks so my personal time becomes exponentially more prescious to me - so my optimised E6 processing takes ~30 minute for 5 sheets is a non-starter + taking over the kitchen for a week never goes down well.
While yea, many would say I could spend more time with the exposure meter (I use a good Sekonic 1-degree spot). I've tried that, but concluded that my subjects - typically darker landscapes early in the morning - coupled to the narrow Velvia exposure latitude and tricky receprocity issues meant I would often 'miss the moment' as I was busy taking meter readings, or scratching my head during the magic 5-10 minute window per day.
I ultimately found that I tended to get better results spending time in composition and focus before the sunrise, then sit and wait for the perfect lighting, take a quick spot reading every couple of minutes, dial in a few stops down and bracket to a stop or so above to ensure I nailed it perfectly. LF exposures are quite long, so you don't get that many out even 'machine gunning' them off.
In time, I hope mid-range Medium Format backs come down in price, such as ~25 megapixel Phase 1's, but really I'd also need to get a couple of Rodenstock or Schneider digital LF lenses to take full benefit. In the meantime, I'll probably stick with high-end 35mm digital. Things are happening in the MF market as technology advances, such as 50MP Hassleblad and 60.5MP Phase 1 sensors pushing prices down lower down the range - but most photographers, such as myself, are still priced out of that market.
From another perspective, I would go to Scotland for a week, spend £350 on accomodation, petrol, food etc., but another £400+ on film/dev costs with a modest 80-100 slides - not to mention the time sorting them out and scanning when I got back. (I see so much in Scotland that I tend to go a bit mad, justifying the trip by capturing many scenes).
By contrast, if something is in my own back yard then I can afford to go out and take 1 or two exposures per scene. No great issue going back the next week if I missed it.
Once I've got 20 megapixels behind my Canon L primes, I'm 'OK'. But as everybody in this forum knows, LF really is tops for landscapes and I hope to return to it one day, as I know I'll miss it greatly. I've considered ways to use my current Schneider lenses on a Canon body, such as a Horsman LD, but you don't get the wide-angles for obvious reasons.
By contrast taking a typical Scotland trip as an example, if I were to take digital SLRs instead (or an MF digital back), all I'd wasted would be 'electricity' to charge the batteries - not £100's in film/time. The effective saving would also buy back my free-time, as I'd just have to drop my shots into Apple Lightroom and sort them out. I'd wager I'd pay for the 1DS III in 8 such trips - ar fewer trips if you factor in long-distance travel, flights and so forth for more exotic locations.
PS. When using Canon landscape lenses such as the 24mm f3.5 T/S, nailing the tilt is still tricky in low light, even with the angle-finder magnification. I've found that taking a Canon CP-330 battery operated dye-sub 7x4" printer is a bonus as I can get digital proofs in situ. Surreal to see some guy in the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain at 5am with a brolly attached to the tripod taking proofs on a dye-sub printer slung under his tripod - but it saves having to go back again! The dye-sub film-packs are ~£0.35p a pop and I can buy them in any high-street Jessops, and they don't go off when you turn your back, which is what stale Polaroid film does. Oh yea, they've stopped making the Polaroid film now haven't they?
All,
I was rather tired when I wrote the original, hence a couple of typos. I got it from Robert White, not While. oops
Regards,
Al.[/quote]
-Al
