sorry to resurrect this thread I just got a GX680 system and am very impressed with it. the thing is totally solid and has excellent build quality. lenses are surprisingly cheap, and due to the large negatives the thin depth of field look should work very well. my first roll is at the developer now and i can't wait to get it back. in my purchasing fervor i ordered a IIIs instead of the III, oh well, it was a good deal with lenses, and i was able to find another III body for reasonable price. the movement should be fun to experiment with, mimicking some of the large format classical portrait look, which is what i'm after. 120 film is convenient to use, and prism finder is easy to compose in. i could also take the viewfinder off, and focus with dark cloth and a 10x loupe if needed, but so far that doesn't seem to be necessary. 6x8 film is 5.55x bigger than 35mm negatives, which is what i'm really excited about. the 6x8 format is just more natural for me to compose with than hasselblad's 6x6, although hasselblad i can actually carry and shoot street with, but i figure i will only shoot medium format in very controlled environments.
banpreso wrote:
sorry to resurrect this thread I just got a GX680 system and am very impressed with it. the thing is totally solid and has excellent build quality. lenses are surprisingly cheap, and due to the large negatives the thin depth of field look should work very well. my first roll is at the developer now and i can't wait to get it back. in my purchasing fervor i ordered a IIIs instead of the III, oh well, it was a good deal with lenses, and i was able to find another III body for reasonable price. the movement should be fun to experiment with, mimicking some of the large format classical portrait look, which is what i'm after. 120 film is convenient to use, and prism finder is easy to compose in. i could also take the viewfinder off, and focus with dark cloth and a 10x loupe if needed, but so far that doesn't seem to be necessary. 6x8 film is 5.55x bigger than 35mm negatives, which is what i'm really excited about. the 6x8 format is just more natural for me to compose with than hasselblad's 6x6, although hasselblad i can actually carry and shoot street with, but i figure i will only shoot medium format in very controlled environments. ...Show more →
Great camera, but surely a beast to work with off the tripod! I've seen one of these camera sin the store and could not believe at how low it was priced. The lenses too were just incredible values. I remember back in the film days this gear commanded a high price.
Once you start shooting film you should really process your own black and white pictures. It is REALLY easy and enormously satisfying. There's a thread in this forum called "post your recent film shots" which is pretty active. You are warmly invited to join that thread!
thanks! and great point and doing b&w film myself. i will look into that. i also thought about getting an epson v700, but feel really ripped off for paying $600 for a piece of tech that is almost 10 years old
Look into a strap for this camera... seriously. I have the cradle/strap combination which is really nice with the waist level finder. Sure it is heavy, but it is a fun challenge to use.
thanks! haha you must have a iron neck of a tree trunk! if i want to bring a medium format outdoors i'll take my hasselblad. GX680 pairs well with my silk tripod with pan/tilt head. it's a heavy combo but seems very sturdy. hopefully i can get some samples up soon, have an epson v700 incoming
banpreso wrote:
thanks! and great point and doing b&w film myself. i will look into that. i also thought about getting an epson v700, but feel really ripped off for paying $600 for a piece of tech that is almost 10 years old
Look at the Epson V 600 for about $ 200. They're almost as good and not as finicky as the V 700 series for focus.
Hi there,
sorry to hijack this old thread, but I was wondering if any member would have an old nicad battery pack laying around... I am trying to make an adapter from an old pack and it would be very usefull...
I just got a GX680 system and am very impressed with it. the thing is totally solid and has excellent build quality. lenses are surprisingly cheap, and due to the large negatives the thin depth of field look should work very well. my first roll is at the developer now and i can't wait to get it back. in my purchasing fervor i ordered a IIIs instead of the III, oh well, it was a good deal with lenses, and i was able to find another III body for reasonable price. the movement should be fun to experiment with, mimicking some of the large format classical portrait look, which is what i'm after. 120 film is convenient to use, and prism finder is easy to compose in. i could also take the viewfinder off, and focus with dark cloth and a 10x loupe if needed, but so far that doesn't seem to be necessary. 6x8 film is 5.55x bigger than 35mm negatives, which is what i'm really excited about. the 6x8 format is just more natural for me to compose with than hasselblad's 6x6, although hasselblad i can actually carry and shoot street with, but i figure i will only shoot medium format in very controlled environments. 