any regrets from anyone moving away from Nikons etc to Hssy?
The best rule is to use what works for your specific look or genre. these comparisons break my brain. No medium format camera (even with film) will work as fast and hand hold as well as a 35mm camera. No 35mm camera has the perceived detail and resolution of a semi modern digital back.
No medium format workflow is a fast as 35mm, it's just the way it is.
The dslrs have gotten better (not just file size) but with better colors, lcd's and in the Nikons case much more accurate focus, but they all can have a place.
I believe what has hurt medium format sales, (excluding the economy) is the last round of annoucements (other than Sinar) did little to address what most people were asking for which was better lcds, higher iso, or at least more moveable iso and camera platforms and software that were out on the shelves with everything in place everything working.
But even with the new 31mpx Sinar for most of us it would require a complete platform change of back, body and lenses and given the state of the used market, dumping your phase or Hasselblad systems means your going to take quite a financial hit, for a camera that is still using the same sensor.
I have two backs, one 18mpx one 31mpx and nothing that has been announced has moved me to think about a change. Going from a 1.24 crop to a 1.04 to 1.14
crop was not an earth shattering format change, it was just another small incremental move with the same sensor technology.
When I use the backs I need them, but to lock myself down and say I must shoot everything either medium format or 35mm would not do much for my work and actually have a negative effect on my business.
Now had medium format come out with real camera to device wi-fi, or an lcd preview that matched the nikons, 800 real iso that didn't smudge the shadows or show track noise and software that was really bullet proof and multi platform I might have seen it differently.
If I was a digital tech, I'd probalby get a 50 or 60 mpx back because so many of their "customers" don't really know the difference between any digital file so they say either give me the biggest or the fastest, usually thinking they get both.
Actually I doubt if the rent by the day photographer has ever lined up a Nikon, Canon and a medium format back, shot the same scene and then looked at the image for which one has the desired look, not which one has sharper eyelash detail. At least not compared them through a year of production to really know what the difference is. All of these cameras and sensors react differently depending on the lighting, the scene, the ambient color and the movement.
If I worked everyday in a NY studio on white I'd probably only shoot medium format, but once outside of the studio, it would be damn difficult to shoot what I do with just one format of camera.
Still, use what works for you and what you believe satisfies your client demands. Also be clear that if you are a photographer and your selling technology over the art and the production that is pretty much a downward spiral as just about anybody can buy a camera.