Shooting Stock With Medium Format??

[Henry Goh]

At this moment still using the Hasselblad 'V' system with a Phase P20, but have just ordered a P30+ in Contax fitting and have re-aquired my Contax outfit which i sold off regretably after having constant film flatness and battery issues. These issues aside i think the Contax was and still is a great platform, and given that the battery problems were related mostly to winding my 220 film and film flatness is not a digital problem i am more than happy to re-aquaint myself.

Regards, Gary.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=102720\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Gary, going OT...

How do you find the performance you get from using a P20 with V system?  Would you say that V system lenses are not as capable when compared to the newer and more modern H lenses?  Would these lenses be able to resolve sufficiently if used with higher MP backs? (your guess, please)

Thanks.

Henry

[Gary Yeowell]

Gary, going OT...

How do you find the performance you get from using a P20 with V system?  Would you say that V system lenses are not as capable when compared to the newer and more modern H lenses?  Would these lenses be able to resolve sufficiently if used with higher MP backs? (your guess, please)

Thanks.

Henry
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=102724\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Henry,

Without a shadow of a doubt the 'V' lenses are more than adequate for both the P20 & P25. Whether they are up to P45 i don't know as i have not tried one. Of the 'H' lenses i have tried there is not a single one that was better than my 'V' lenses, however it is fair to say that i own some of the 'V' system best glass: 40CFEIF (latest)/ 60CFI/100CFI/180CFI. Considering i am happy to shoot with the Contax on a P30+ i would say the 'V' lenses will be fine, again none of my Contax lenses were better, some worse, than the Hassy. The only issues i have had with the 'V' glass is some fringing wide open with the 40 & 100 but i think most glass in certain instances exhibits this when carefully checked at 100%.

Regards, Gary.

[Henry Goh]

Henry,

Without a shadow of a doubt the 'V' lenses are more than adequate for both the P20 & P25. Whether they are up to P45 i don't know as i have not tried one. Of the 'H' lenses i have tried there is not a single one that was better than my 'V' lenses, however it is fair to say that i own some of the 'V' system best glass: 40CFEIF (latest)/ 60CFI/100CFI/180CFI. Considering i am happy to shoot with the Contax on a P30+ i would say the 'V' lenses will be fine, again none of my Contax lenses were better, some worse, than the Hassy. The only issues i have had with the 'V' glass is some fringing wide open with the 40 & 100 but i think most glass in certain instances exhibits this when carefully checked at 100%.

Regards, Gary.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=102727\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thank you Gary.

That is very useful information for me as I still have 3 Hasselblad V bodies and 4 lenses.  I have been trying to find information/images to evaluate if I should keep them and buy a back to fit or to sell them off and buy a new platform all together.

Henry

[Gary Yeowell]

Thank you Gary.

That is very useful information for me as I still have 3 Hasselblad V bodies and 4 lenses.  I have been trying to find information/images to evaluate if I should keep them and buy a back to fit or to sell them off and buy a new platform all together.

Henry
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=102728\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Henry,

The 'V' system is still very capable and i would be happy to carry on with it, however some of the integration and ease of use as well as the format itself has made me re-evaluate, and the Contax being a system i am very happy with was for me the obvious choice.

I would not sell your Hassy system on the basis of inadequacies in lenses,  on other grounds maybe, but only you can decide.  

Regards, Gary.

[Camdavidson]

Hi everyone. Thank you for your responses so far.

the larger file sizes gives one photograph an advantage over others,
Hi, I'm a full time stock shooter & have been for the past 10 years, I shoot Canon 1ds MKll.
My images are with Getty, Masterfile & Corbis. - The Large file sizes has almost no real advantage,
in fact Getty will not even accept files that are larger than 52MB - Corbis goes alittle higher.

One big advanage fro the MF back is you wind up with a 100MB + size. Thus you are able
to crop in & be much looser when shooting - giving you that 50MB later. I'm on the fence
right now in buying a MF - just waiting on Phase & the H3.

~ steve
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=102634\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Getty now accepts larger files from Medium Format backs.  I own a Phase P30 and my editor confirmed that she wants me to submit the full-rez image from the camera.  Not sure if the 48-52    mb was a max size.  But for now, you can submit a full rez image that is larger than 52mb - after March 1 - all images have to be submitted as jpegs after conversion with the Getty Pre-Flight software.  The Pre-Flight software takes the TIFF file and checks the file against a set of parameters and then converts the file to jpeg.  The files that clients license from Getty are delivered as jpegs.

[marc gerritsen]

Sofar found no advantage in shooting mfd in terms of stock.
My agent's initial requirements were at least a 50 mb tif
Now I am supplying them with a 100+mb file.
Some editors have submitted some crops after realizing how big the files were.
I think there is still some education needed to make the right people aware of
these advantages

cheers
Marc

[Mort54]

Thanks again everyone for the follow-on comments, and for the very interesting side discussion on Hasselblad V and Contax 645 systems. On that side note, does anyone know if new Contax 645 systems can still be found? I've done a cursory search and so far have only found used systems. Also, I understand that while the Contax 645 body has ceased production, the lenses for it are still in production. Can anyone confirm this about the lenses?

As a follow-up to some of the replies to my initial post, my main interest in MF is for fine art landscapes sold thru local galleries. I view stock as a supplemental source of income. Landscapes represent some stock submittals, but not my primary submittals. Primary stock submittals include hometown St. Louis landmarks and events for local consumption and urban, rural and Americana scenes for general stock. While my primary interest in MF is for fine art work, I expect I'd use it as well for a lot of the stock imagery - hence my question.

Hans.

[marcwilson]

Hans,

It completely depends on the size of print you are going to want to make.
The long and short of it is that if you do not wish to print over 16x12 inches then a top dslr will give you great quality even with lightjet / lambda prints for your landscape images..if you want to print anything bigger then, and this is of course my opinion based on making large lightjet prints from both dslr and medium format 645 / 66 / 67 etc, you may well be not satisfied with the quality from a dslr and therefore need to shoot with mf film or mf digital for larger prints..but even there depending on the digital back you get you may still prefer the look for large prints from 67 etc film.
But mf film is not that flexible for stock so...
It certainly is  a pain to have to take two systems with you but I feel the best kit combination in that case is something like  mamiya 7 for your landscape work and a dslr for your stock work..the mamiya 7 is of such a size  / weight that you can afford to carry both it and a dslr together.
Of course having two cameras is not the best situation but it will give you both the digital stock option and top large print image quality for your landscape work.

You simply can not afford to compromise on image quality if you wish to sell prints and if landscape is you subject then more than likely you will want to print large..24x20  and 40x30 inches etc and for that 67 film will give you the quality you need.

I actually currently shoot with both dslr for stock and ebony with 612 and 69 roll film for print sale work..anything I happen to shoot with the dslr that i also wish to sell as a print i simply do not sell at a size larger than 16x12 inches but then I come from the background of film and large prints and so have high standards to keep up to. To do so even with a mfdb would require, I feel, one of the very high resolution backs and that is not finacially an option for me right now so I have not bothered to go half way there and so currently shoot with the two kits where possible (although with my dslr of choice being a 1ds that is not allways possible!)...there are of course times I only have the dslr with me and I threfore miss out on the odd large print shot but there you go.

Marc