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Joy in Virginia!

thejoyultimatum

New Member
Hi, I'm Joy and if I can't find delight in something...I probably won't be doing it :) That being said I am looking for delight in engaging with a community of enthusiasts and pros. I'm a pretty private person and this is my first real attempt at online socializing so we shall see how it goes. I purchased a Hasselblad x1dii last fall and only started using it outside of personal work this summer. It is persnickety and some-timey and sometime just freezes and dies for no reason....but I have not met anything else that produces images like it. It's a difficult marriage but one I'm trying to make work.

Photographer for 13 years professionally. Started out in weddings, then portraits, then non-profit work, now fine art and a hybrid of portrait and non profit work. Mostly 35mm digital slr (Nikon/Canon), some mirrorless, some film but medium format equipment (Rollieflex & Hasselblad) can really irritate me sometimes...but the image quality brings me back. Love so good <3

Looking forward to see how others have made this marriage work.
 
Hello Joy and welcome to the Forum! There probably are some similarities between marriage and medium format digital photography: when it's great it's great but when things go awry, you have to work at it... I only have some old Hasselblad gear (H2 with the CF-22MS back) and their Ixpress 528C back on a Contax 645 but I'm also Fuji's magnificent GFX kit which to me is medium format digital nirvana. The 'Blad I use for portraiture and the Contax is for ultra-high resolution recording (typically art, sculptures and rare documents/artefacts for insurance companies) whereas the Fuji kit is for everyday fun and it's had versatility added by being able to use the Contax 645 Zeiss glass in AF mode. Your 'Blad is certainly capable of producing some stunning images and is surely worth the perseverance. Hopefully, you might share the occasional one with us.

It's a great time to enjoy medium format photography - and film work is even more exciting now that 220 is once again available (never thought I'd be able to say that again!). For me, the lovely thing about medium format work, whether film or digital, is that each photo becomes an occasion; it behoves one to take more care with the basics of light, texture and composition that with the smaller formats. That said, I have fun shooting with film from Minox up to 6x9 but I always feel that the larger the exposed area, whether film or sensor, the more consideration one gives to the elements of the photo.

I took my first photos in 1957 but marvel at the capabilities of today's cameras and lenses; however, at the end of the day, the basics of photography haven't really changed in the last 65 years...
 
Thank you both for the warm greetings!

You packed a lot of info in your post biggles3 that I will be researching further! Contax 645 Zeiss glass in AF mode on a Fuji GFX? I've never heard of such wizardry :) I have been interested in the Fuji GFX. I am in a position where I'm sort of redo-ing my whole kit. Mirrorless anything hasn't impressed me fully yet so I still have some dslrs I am holding on to. But you have mentioned digital nirvana and I. want. to. go. to. there. Thank you for sharing a bit of your story with me.

boojum! the x2d is goals! I plan to transition but I truly am waiting to ensure that this next one doesn't have the weird HB camera prima donna issues my x1dii has. You are one vote from an actual user (not YouTube tester) that I have heard. Thank you for sharing.

Okay! Feeling welcome in the shallows :)
 
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