Fred, I enjoy reading your posts and find you a very colourful guy (take that as a compliment). I always have a chuckle over your postings and one man crusade to continually put down of all things MFD and even funnier, your (almost) total obsession with the Fuji GX680 (we're due a GX680 plug from you soon its page3 already ) and now the Nikon D800.
However, I don't know why you're so fixated about the D800 having to be as good as MFD or why you are even that bothered. I don't shoot test cards for fun, and I often will use more than my best 85mm 1.4G lens to create pictures. I just don't think you get my point that we all see different things in our photography that make us use the kit we do and its not always just about pixel peeping IMO.
Don't get me wrong...I am genuinely interested in your work..... and where you find MFD to be more flexible.
Regarding what you refered to as my "crusade".... well it's not about MFD, it's about young and new photographers buying the right gear.
Because of my online presence and the fact that I shoot fashion and portraits with many different formats and shoot the A-List I get loads of emails
from new and young photograhers running their shopping lists by me. Far to often these guy and girls have been convinced that they have get Hasselblad or Phase One if they want to be taken seriously. I hate to see this because I loved teaching and I love to see the new up and coming photographers get going on the right footing. Lets call it balancing out things..... veteran photographer published in A list fashion mags with clients like L'Oreal, Wella, walter Thompson...yad yada bla bla
countering over zealous marketing due to declining sales.
You mentioned with a bit of friendly sarcasm that you don't take photos of test cards for fun..... well I don't either.
I or my assistant does it for work. It is part of the pre production process. Making sure the gear is up
to snuff. While my fees are quite 'healthy' the value of the time of many of my portrait subjects is very expensive.
Many make $20m per movie. With 3 or 4 a year that puts them into really large value per day.
Gear has to be spot on and checked regularly.
Going back to MFD .. I have owned it used it and rented all sorts. Also given it plenty of praise, still do if yo think about it.
I find the D800 to be a brilliant camera...... that produces brilliant images.... I have also said even right here in this thread that the Hasselbad produces just as brilliant images. That sounds like a compliment to me
. It's the prices that are 'offensive'
Time to go kitesufing down at my favorite spot.....
Here's a thought... you should here my discussions about bad safety record with kitesurfing companies and responsible marketing.....