David,
I fell asleep last night before I got around to calling you---7 inches of snow on the ground, no meaningful photography going on (for the most part) and a strange lassitude has fallen over me. I'm off this week; the kids have had 2 more snow days---they won't finish the school year until July at this rate---but they're off to school this morning, the wife's sleeping in and the dog's outside, so other than the slosh and hum of the dishwasher, the house is quiet. I'm stoked on 48 oz of french-press Italian-roast Starbucks homebrew, so the existential musings begin. As usual, brevity isn't my strong suit. But as victims go, you're a good one. You don't scream much, and seem to be willing to take your punishment, so here goes.... :)
At the crossroads. I'm at the point in my "career" (do I have a career?) where process is second nature and I can concentrate on seeing and shooting. It's slow and laborious, developing and scanning film, but I like what I get, very much. Part of that satisfaction stems, I'm sure, from the psychology of expectations. Film is already as good as it's ever going to get, so I don't expect more and more, and I'm satisfied. I know that a scanned Portra or Ektar negative will give me a stunning digital print as large as I'm likely to make for the forseeable future, so I never get caught up in the buy-->obsolete-->upgrade-->obsolete futile cycle that IS digital. I've figured out the scanning and printing part so that I think I'm on the shoulder of that learning curve, and it's very comfortable.
Could I get the same or better with digital? I really don't know. And looking back, I probably haven't really tried hard enough to find out. If I was convinced I could, and could afford the kit needed to do so, I'd probably make the switch for good. Not sure my D300 is there, though honestly I haven't really shot it enough day in and day out to find out. I haven't really pushed it, 'cause after that "OMG!" failed to materialize in a short period of time, I kinda put it aside. Like a heroin addict seeking the most potent stuff, I went back to my analog "dealer" 'cause he always hooks me up right. Would I be there with a D3x? Dunno. A Phase P-Whatever back? Not going to find that out at $five figures, either. I am definitely interested in whatever Nikon comes up with as the D700 analog to the D3x---D700x perhaps? At 24+MP that might get me in the ballpark. I know resolution isn't everything; it's more about tonal transitions (where I think digital is most lacking compared to film) and ability to capture texture, detail, and rich color. Maybe this will be worth investigating further.
I like film. I like the tactile experience of handling and processing it. It works for me now; but as for making any significant investment in film-only gear? Good question. It probably makes no logical sense whatsoever to keep shooting color film. At some point it's going away (color film dies, the jobo dies, or send-away processing goes from ridiculous to prohibitive)---and I'll have to switch to digital to do the work I'm doing now, or something like it. I think I shoot B&W decently, and do it still for some things. But color seems to be where I see the best, and shoot the best; and digital is the future of color photography, no question (unlike for B&W, where digital remains a wan imposter---I've never seen a digital B&W print I'd look twice at, and I"ve made some good ones myself. They suck when laid side by side with a middling silver gelatin print.)
The Contax gear (bought in fall '04, all used, from someone dumping it atop the crest of the digital tsunami) was a bet that a MF back would be the answer; and that MF backs worth having would be sub-stratospheric in price in a few years. I went all-in with lenses and gewgaws! So much so that I was buying stuff left and right, and hiding it from the wife! Seriously, I was acting like a guy with a gambling addiction who'd mortgaged the house at the track. Back then, I still had the wild-eyed notion that I was ditching the medical career, and would be shooting commercial / editorial / what have you. (Amazing, the power of fantasy to drive decisions that should be the province of reason only!) I was a Michael Reichmann acolyte in those days, and he was big on the Contax, soooo.... I got hold of a used ProBack for it (16MP) a year or so later, and shot a lot with it; but, again, that "Oh My God!" factor was never really there, or else I just didn't try hard enough to find it. As you say, digital looks different, and I didn't look hard enough past "different" to find "good" therein. It looked to me just too....slick, shiny, artificially smooth and "clean". Hard to put into words
Six years later, sense has returned, I know I'm a part-time fine-art photographer and that's all I'm ever likely to do with photography, and that's fine. And the Contax is not the right gear for that purpose. A 645 negative, while exceptional, isn't large enough to make the hassle of film worth the trouble, compared to 6x6, 6x7 or 4x5. And I don't need a full MF SLR system to do what I do. Heck, most of my portfolio work was shot with the Mamiya 7. Could I have accomplished that with the D300? I'm doubtful it'd look the same to me---but maybe I need to find out. Would it still look good, even if different, somehow? Would my reviewers have looked at the prints from my D300 or D700x or 1D Mark LXXVII or Phase P45/65/175 with jaws agape, as a few did? Who knows? THAT's the OMG factor I want to see myself, and elicit in viewers of the work I do. That's MY crack-pipe.
So the Contax gear is listed on
craigslist, as well as
APUG and
Luminous Landscape. I've already had a couple inquiries and one that seems more serious. I got the lights and softbox set up last night and photographed everything because I have a feeling it's destined for the 'bay if this doesn't work out. I haven't recently sold anything there, and in the past had little trouble with cheats and frauds, but we'll see. Makes me swallow hard to think what I paid for it all, and what it's likely to fetch now. The RZ stuff I got in trade for my ProBack and my other Contax outfit is soon to follow. I suspect the unwisdom of that trade will become manifest when I try to unload that albatross.
So let's say I come up with a chunk of cash, say $8-10k (I hope and pray.) I think I'm going to keep the Mamiya 7 kit I have and shoot it until I no longer have film. I think I have maybe $2k in that system, and I won't take a hammering selling it someday. I'm also going to start using the D300 more for everyday shooting, to get an idea whether I can get close to what I need with digital. If I am close with the D300, then I'd feel more confident about that path for the future. I also have a 4x5 field camera that sees little use. I also don't have a lot in that, and it can't depreciate much farther, so I'll hang onto it. As long as B&W film is available I can unload a 4x5.
So I have a film rangefinder that is my workhorse for the urban-landcape stuff, and a DSLR. What would I need a Hassy or other MF SLR for? Portraiture. I have an itch in that direction, but no firm ideas yet. This could be done digitally, however. At least a Hassy kit would have some longevity, and if I have to have MF film kit, it's the way to go. I can sell it in the future without much depreciation, I'd think. I was looking at
this one. Thoughts? I had one locked at KEH, but it's gone now. Rather buy from them than from china.
Thought about an M9 also. That plus a couple of lenses would dispose of whatever cash I raise quite handily! Not sure where it would fit into the armamentarium, though?
Tired yet? me too. I know you have other things to do that read and reply to this stuff. So if it needs to be a phone call, a single sentence or two, or nothing at all, that's cool.
Thanks for letting me bend your ear.
