I was under the causeway taking a photo back to the foreshore with the tide swirling around my feet, midges swirling around my head and, as the wind was coming up, I protected the camera from the wind with my body.
It is interesting to note that people are shifting from 8×10 film to high end digital—eg., a Phase One IQ180digital back with an 80 megapixel digital sensor. That cutting edge medium format system (645DF camera and a Schneider Kreuznach 80 mm LS f/2.8 lens) costs around $48,000. That means the former is really only accessible if you’re a pro with enough assignments to cover the cost. My old 8×10 cost $1000.
Like the Hasselblad H2D of five years ago the 645DF camera does not support filmbacks. People say let’s not talk about film anymore, let’s talk about printing papers and printers that can fix those pixels for a hundred years or more. You can put this back on a technical camera –an Alpha 12 SWA or or a full blown view camera, and it means no more taking the back on and off the camera, no more sliding backs with all their problems, no more focusing on the groundglass. That’s slow time in the field.
Many are making the switch to MF digital from 5×4 film. Digital is king. The IQ180 based system is much more compact, easier to travel with and can be shielded from wind much more effectively and the qualityis approaching 5X4.