Since I make photographs i mostly used full frame cameras starting in 1980.
The Nikon FE; a wonderful camera that still works today.
In those days i shot mostly BW and slides. BW I developed and printed myself.
subjects were my friends, holidays ( slides) and pop concerts.
If i would go back in time i would have changed the format to 66 for many photographs because of the more beautiful tones and detail. Also I used Rodinal as a developer that has many good qualities but a very coarse grain. I used to say every grain is perfectly placed, but the grains were very coarse! On a 30cm print you had all the information.
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Now - 2026 -I use a Nikon Z8 ( stayed with Nikon)
a lot has changed, but the physical limits of optics and exposure remain.
With this camera i can make 3m wide prints with enormous amounts of detail if i use the pixelshift function.
It is a clear example of todays sensors and lens quality.
I like to hike some weeks in the Alps and always carried that big Nikon FF with me...to discover Nikon that these 'holiday pictures' do not need to be that large, so I renewed interest in a lighter system.
I already had bought a small - now discontinued - Nikon1 J5 camera , and because it was discontinued the prices of second hand lenses were not high. ( they used to be too high i think)
The Nikon 1 system has a small 13.2 x 8.8mm sensor. Asa starts at 160 and becomes grainy at asa 800.
Thanks to AI noise reduction it still is able to be used at even 1600 asa. I did not like the lens quality the Nikon1 system came with, to discover that there are some pearls. The Nikon 6.7 -11mm (18-30mmFF) lens is a terrible good wide angle lens even used wide open. Other marvel is the 70-300 mm lens (190-810mm FF and 600 gram). not only the optics of this lens are great, but also the VR that makes handheld photographing with 810mm (FF) easy. another OK lens is the 18,5 mm standard lens (80 gram) . The very expensive f/1.2 32mm lens - a portrait lens - is a bit of a disappointment since it is very good but only at f/2.5 or smaller. for objects near and Macro with small macro ring it works very well. A complete system at 1.5 KG
Since the Nikon J5 ( that has the best Nikon1 sensor) does not have a viewfinder... I use a loop magnetically connected; a must for especially the telelens.
below 2 landscape photographs from the Italian Alps made with the Nikon1 6,7-11 lens.
nr1 is a view inside the Brenta-Dolomites.
nr2 is situated on the other side of the valley looking back to the position of photo 1 in the distance.
completely different styles of mountains due tot the difference in type of stones.
1 dolomites landscape- a metamorphic type of limestone with no surface water for it causes water to disappear from the surface into the cracks to reappear again in streams in the valleys below. because of this only few plants can survive here.
2 Granite landscape- a landscape that has a lot of surface water for the granite is not absorbing any of it; vegetation has a swallow soil, but enough water.
I printed both 1 meter wide and they look gorgeous.
I am sure the Olympus / Fuji system is a better choice for a small size sensor system if you would buy one now and are capable of producing even better results
then the mobile phone...
i just was entering this museum to see meters wide assigned iPhone 17 pro Max photographs made by the duo Inez van Lamsweerde en Vinoodh Matadin. ( they have made very interesting photographs BTW)
I was amazed by the quality.
For sure a mobile phone is not the best choice for many types of photographs, but ...
https://www.kunstmuseum.nl/nl/tentoonstellingen/can-love-be-photograph
