[Leica] First time behind the (thumb)wheel of an M8 (5 photos)

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> Aha, an opportunity for 2 OT posts at once. The last time I used my Mamiya 
> 7
> was on my Icelandic holiday the summer of 2005. It had been my
> hiking/landscape camera of choice for a long time. I took it and, my then
> fairly new, Canon EOS 1Ds mk2. I took a few pictures which were from the 
> same
> viewpoint on the same tripod with both cameras, just for interest's sake. I
> had to scan the film when I got home, of course, but the scanned images 
> from
> the Mamiya 7, mainly using the 43mm lens, were only a bit technically 
> superior
> to the Canon shots using the less than stellar 16-35mm zoom. I was 
> astonished.
> The M9, or Nikon D3x with the 14-24 zoom is much better than the Canon for
> landscapes. The Mamiya was still a good choice for hiking, if you haven't 
> got
> a M8 or M9.
> For the slow B&W film Richard, I am sure it is still superior, as long as 
> you
> have a rigid tripod.
> Frank
> 


I agree with Frank. And if I went landscape tomorrow I'd sell all my gear
and get a D3x with the 14-24 zoom as my first new lens.
24 MP FX, 5 FPS, $8,000.
Medium format film shot on a solid tripod with the slowest film developed
carefully in acutance developers like Beutlers or Pyro could active better a
better final image. But at a huge cost of weight and convenience and
cumbersome slow expensive workflo and cost of expendables like film and
chemicals and the time to deal with them. You'd be bringing home a very
small fraction of shots. Even if you are rich the act of pressing a shutter
button and having it cost you a buck and a half will affect the way you
shoot.*
The best landscapes being shot today are being done digitally.
The landscape shooters were only very slightly slower to go from film to
digital than everybody else.
With the new super  full frame cameras like the D3x 24 MP not quite
achieving the results medium format digital would. A digital back on a
modular camera or view camera a slightly even bigger sensor. And Zeiss or
Schneider glass.
Mamiya glass is so wonderfully above average.  So marvelously adequate.
Makes me want to walk miles and climb high hills to get just the right shot.

[Rabs]
Mark William Rabiner
* as we know a digital capture costs a very small fraction of a penny hard
disk prices what they are.
Not a buck and a half.