Jaron Berman |
October 26th, 2007 05:41 PM |
There is definitely something romantic about the style of film capture for stills. I shot my mentor's wedding two weeks ago, almost entirely digital. Surrounded by former mentors and colleagues, all of whom knew basically everything there is to know about the gear we all use, I still managed to shock them a bit. I pulled out my speed graphic and shot some type 55 and some fujipan acros. Half the fun is surprising a photographer with something they haven't seen in a long time or perhaps ever. And especially for those people, it's just plain more fun to ham it up for something as antiquated as a graflex! It's certainly less threatening than a 1D, although when the laymen asked what it is, I could hear about 4 people describing it as, "an attachment that snaps onto the Canon body, it's digital still but it looks traditional." haha. (Note that there is such a device, made by Cambo)
In the end, after proper processing and drum scanning, it's an expensive toy. The images look phenominal, and certainly have their own unique quality, but I know for a fact I could have produced similar, excellent shots in those situations using digital capture, right down to the DOF. It's more organic, and scanning the negs to full rebate is more "real" than applying a "film edge border" to a digital file.... but it's certainly more of a novelty than anything. Were I shooting landscapes for 40x50 prints, there would be no question in my mind which system I'd use. But, for anything below 20", it's become a matter of personal taste and efficiency. eh, novelty's fun every now and then!
oh, and btw - Bowhaus here in LA does a phenominal and relatively inexpensive job of drum scans.
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