*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV and YT episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com
Why would you use a medium format camera over a normal DSLR medium format cameras? Renowned photographer David Bergman is back on AdoramaTV with the new show called “Ask David Bergman”. In this episode Mr. Bergman discusses pros and cons of using medium format camera vs DSLR.
Mr. Bergman shares: “If you have a camera that has a sensor that’s 24 x 36, that’s considered full-frame. Anything with a bigger sensor or film than that is going to be considered medium format.. so this camera for example, everything on this camera is modular. So I can take off this back, this is a digital back, I can take off the finder at the top. I can take off the lens…”
“This is a film back, and you can see on this film back that’s the size of the film… I’ve got it covered up because obviously the film would be exposed, but this is 60 x 60 centimeters a lot bigger than 30. 24 x 36, that is the size of the film. Now I wish they made a digital back that was that size.Unfortunately they don’t, but what I have on here is an old Leaf Aptus 65 … it’s 33 x 44 so it’s cropped in a little bit from the 6×6 that this camera can normally shoot, but these things are very very old… “
“People have been shooting medium format for a long time… this digital back is 15 years old.. the camera is about 50 years old.. right? They’ve been making Hasselblad’s since the 60’s…probably earlier than that, but that’s when they really became popular, and well-known, any commercial photographer worth their salt was shooting medium format in the studio back in the day. Now what are the advantages of shooting medium format? Well traditionally we always said that a bigger sensor size had more dynamic range, and more resolution, much better sort of.. noise in the shadows, and because of the bigger sensor it was able to collect more light from the same scene on that sensor, and just handled it much much better. The thing is now in today’s world, it’s really not that much of a difference anymore. The modern DSLR cameras the Canon 5DSR or 5DS for example is 50 megapixels, so that’s the same size as a lot of popular medium format digital backs…”
“And as far as dynamic range, it’s vastly improved now on full frame cameras. So it’s really not so much of an issue but why would you shoot one of these? Well really at the end of the day, it’s just a lot of fun! This camera like I said it’s very old, everything’s manual on this camera, there’s no light meter in here, there’s no autofocus, it doesn’t shoot video, it doesn’t do any of that.”
“So for example when I’m out here today with Erica who looks lovely. What I have to do with a camera like this is I have to slow down. I really have to take my time and compose the image carefully. It’s impossible to make a bad picture of Erica, but it really makes me take my time. So I’m looking down here in this viewfinder. The first thing I have to do is actually I have to use a little magnifier, so that I can focus my image because I have to manually focus everything.”
“Now she’s in focus, now exposure wise I have to figure out my exposure..not through the camera… there’s no auto exposure, there’s nothing. So I either have to use a light meter, an external light meter, or there are apps you can use on your phone that’ll get you close. Because I’m shooting a digital back, I’ve already shot a few frames, so I kind of know what my exposure is already. But I had to take the time to do that, and then when I’m actually shooting I feel like a French fashion photographer.”
“So really at the end of the day… is medium format for everybody? No absolutely not. It is a niche product. Most photographers will never have a need to shoot this. For me.. personally I just love it, I.. there’s a look to it, the depth of field is different, because of the crop factor you actually have to get in closer with the same focal length, so it changes the depth of field. Now it’s not gonna replace my Canons? There’s no way. I’m still using that for all my daily shooting the stuff I’m getting paid for – the real jobs, but it’s super fun to come out here.”
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