Here are two shots from around the same time at the same location.Both are shot with the Fuji GFX. The first one uses the Contax 645 55 f/3.5 lens and the second one uses the Contax 645 35 f/3.5 with a slight crop. I am interested in which one people like better and why. They aren't the same light or the same composition obviously, but they were shot only minutes apart.
The second one. Both suffer from lack of covering DOF (or a strong subject to use OOF areas to draw attention), but the first one's strong OOF foreground hits you as soon as you enter the frame.
Sep 06, 2018 at 08:01 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
Gunzorro wrote:
The second one. Both suffer from lack of covering DOF (or a strong subject to use OOF areas to draw attention), but the first one's strong OOF foreground hits you as soon as you enter the frame.
Thanks Jim, I appreciate your honesty. I think sometimes we don't get enough feedback about what could be better about our images around here. I was going for the building and its reflection being a strong subject. I couldn't find anything in the foreground that I felt was worth focussing on so I was trying to draw attention away. I guess it just didn't work.
Gary Clennan wrote:
I prefer the second one. Have you considered a square or 4x5 vertical crop?
Thanks Gary. That is a very nice suggestion. Here is the second one with a 4 X 5 vertical crop. Perhaps still not all that great, but the crop I think does improve it quite a bit.
I prefer the second image too. Initially I liked the tones of the first one better, however Gunzorro's comments resonated with me and I realised that was the reason for my later preference.
I'm not going to be posting in this thread any more, simply because I have sold my P645D body. I'm sure I will learn to regret that sale, however I have sold a few things to get closer to affording a GFX or X1D. For now those plans are on hold at least.
I shall continue to enjoy this thread however, with perhaps some further personal posts if I re-visit old shots taken on the 645D.
Once in a while, I check out this thread and I can’t help feeling that a lot of images are just mediocre. They may be taken with a great camera, but they’re still mediocre. The camera doesn’t make the image, the light and composition do. And, granted, if those are great, your cameras will make better images than the others, but still...
(Btw, I have the same feeling about some other camera threads. Nothing personal...)
lenticular11 wrote:
I prefer the second image too. Initially I liked the tones of the first one better, however Gunzorro's comments resonated with me and I realised that was the reason for my later preference.
I'm not going to be posting in this thread any more, simply because I have sold my P645D body. I'm sure I will learn to regret that sale, however I have sold a few things to get closer to affording a GFX or X1D. For now those plans are on hold at least.
I shall continue to enjoy this thread however, with perhaps some further personal posts if I re-visit old shots taken on the 645D....Show more →
Look forward to see you come back with GFX or X1D
Steve, I think what Cary might have meant that crop the left side of 2nd image to make it either 1X1 or 5X4. I could be wrong but that is what I will try. thanks for sharing.
johnvanr wrote:
Once in a while, I check out this thread and I can’t help feeling that a lot of images are just mediocre. They may be taken with a great camera, but they’re still mediocre. The camera doesn’t make the image, the light and composition do. And, granted, if those are great, your cameras will make better images than the others, but still...
(Btw, I have the same feeling about some other camera threads. Nothing personal...)
John, of course it is the photographer together with the subject matter that makes a great shot. Keep in mind there are really only about 20 or so people who ever post in this thread. That isn't a very large group, and I think there are several of us who would really like to keep the thread going and are therefore less picky about what they post to this thread than to other threads here on FM. I know that is true for me. Of course you will see a lot more fabulous images on a thread like the Sony FE thread in which several hundred people post, than on a thread in which 20 or so people post. So no doubt part of what we are seeing here with images is a result of just huge differences in the number of people shooting in each thread. That said even if my images are mediocre, which they often are, I do think there is some very strong shots too. Just not as many or as frequent as they are on other threads.
I find the thread inspiring and appreciate seeing how this larger format performs on various subjects. I certainly wouldn't use "mediocre" to describe the efforts of the posts. They show photographers pushing the envelope of better resolution and quality. Thanks for the efforts!
I hope more people get involved in the larger format, and as more used gear comes on the market, we'll probably see more people posting. Including me, I hope.
Steve Spencer wrote:
John, of course it is the photographer together with the subject matter that makes a great shot. Keep in mind there are really only about 20 or so people who ever post in this thread. That isn't a very large group, and I think there are several of us who would really like to keep the thread going and are therefore less picky about what they post to this thread than to other threads here on FM. I know that is true for me. Of course you will see a lot more fabulous images on a thread like the Sony FE thread in which several hundred people post, than on a thread in which 20 or so people post. So no doubt part of what we are seeing here with images is a result of just huge differences in the number of people shooting in each thread. That said even if my images are mediocre, which they often are, I do think there is some very strong shots too. Just not as many or as frequent as they are on other threads....Show more →
Fair point. I also think the web isn't the best place to show off the amazing IQ and rendition that MF can bring. I know the few times I've shot with MF, the pictures were nothing to write home about, but seeing them on my monitor still wows me.
Steve Spencer wrote:
Keep in mind there are really only about 20 or so people who ever post in this thread. That isn't a very large group, and I think there are several of us who would really like to keep the thread going and are therefore less picky about what they post to this thread than to other threads here on FM.
Main problem with this thread here is its limitation to digital only. In other forums outside of FM general medium format photo threads are well attended with many images posted - but the majority of photos are film-based even to this day. A pure digital medium format photo thread will only find more participation (including "better" photos posted as discussed earlier) if the price for digital medium format becomes more affordable. Also, let's not forget that the definition of digital medium format is very loose and most often just relates to sensors a big bigger than FF. Closest to one traditional 4.5x6 medium format is the just released (and very expensive) Phase One XF IQ4 camera. The sensor/film size plays IMO a big role when discussing medium format photos.
Currently on FM, some amazing medium-format photos can be found in the general film photo thread.
retrofocus wrote:
Main problem with this thread here is its limitation to digital only. In other forums outside of FM general medium format photo threads are well attended with many images posted - but the majority of photos are film-based even to this day. A pure digital medium format photo thread will only find more participation (including "better" photos posted as discussed earlier) if the price for digital medium format becomes more affordable. Also, let's not forget that the definition of digital medium format is very loose and most often just relates to sensors a big bigger than FF. Closest to one traditional 4.5x6 medium format is the just released (and very expensive) Phase One XF IQ4 camera. The sensor/film size plays IMO a big role when discussing medium format photos.
Currently on FM, some amazing medium-format photos can be found in the general film photo thread. ...Show more →
I'd like to see film MF images added to this thread. However, I am not the op and can't change the title. Maybe PM fred?
No worries, just to make it clear, I also like the majority of photos presented here in the digital thread - I am just not often active here since I don't have a digital MF camera. Didn't want to push it to have analog photos posted here, too. Maybe I should start a film-based medium-format thread which doesn't exist here yet to my knowledge....
