I invite you to come and visit us in Zürich, and we will show you what it means in practical terms and that it is not a question of marketing.
Best regards
Thierry
Thierry, when I am lucky enough to visit, I would be delighted to take you up on your offer.
Graham, sorry for getting you and your camera confused. I have used technical camera, but since it was a film one, I did not want to mention it and open up a can of worms.
I guess what I may be reacting to is this monster that MFD is somehow extremely difficult, unless you set your camera on a steel pier with a shutter speed of 1/250 at f/11 and at the base ISO. You just have to wait for the sun to give enough light to take the image. I have not found for photographers that have mastered the photographic process, both professional and amateur, that it is really that difficult a leap. Perhaps LCCs and the effects of lens cast may be "hardest" thing about the process. But shooting MFD is no superhuman task, which I find it seems to be portrayed.
And there have always been different flavors of photographers. Some are very detail oriented and others are looser in their process and work. Both ends of the spectrum produce fine images--we can disagree on aesthetics, but we are in the realm for personal taste at that point. MFD is fine for all photographers and I would encourage an skilled photographer to pursue MFD if the interest is there and trust they will have the skills to get what they need. I have not found shooting MFD any different from any format I have shot--from 16mm to 8x10. And I have been printing much of my work all the way up to 4x12 feet.
There was a thread recently about using an Alpa for handheld portraiture in the field. Many folks really did not like the idea of that. Having done similar work, I thought it was quite a valid way of shooting. (I am sure I could do that with an Alpa off-the-shelf with no shimming
) Because of cost, MFD has gone where the money is, mostly commercial work which has a very specific approach to photography with a definite technical bent--I know I am painting with a broad brush. I guess I am an advocate of seeing MFD hit areas of photography that have been underrepresented. I think want may put some folks off is this perception that it is somehow different and really hard.
I will get off my soapbox.
Peace...