Ah well. it is the same discussion as ever and really quite irrelevant. As soon as the Canons or the Nikon of this world really can deliver the same joy that I experience when I see my medium format files (certainly multishot files) I will gladly use nothing else.
Maybe, I should focus more on retouching. It seems this market will be growing much larger at the expense of good photography.
it is the same discussion that has gone on for 5 years and for some reason the message just doesn't seem to be getting through to the people that make these cameras. medium format is great if everything is smooth, easy and usually still. if that is their intended market then they're fine and should just keep it going.
the thing is if you shoot people, once you put a medium format back on a "film" camera like the contax, it changes. The small but useable viewfinder gets cropped, the shooting speed drops and the responsiveness sometimes is dead on quick and other times dead slow, probably depending on the computer, the software, the ram, the digital tech, barometric pressure, etc. etc. I find myself using the p21 more than the p30 just because it was more responsive and faster, but at some point you begin to ask yourself why.
there is a reason that when you view an annie video she is shooting a canon and zoom. You push the button and it fires, you turn off the strobes and you can shoot in twilight, you shoot somebody running and it will actually focus on them.
medium format has dug a huge hole and climbed in. first they started that silly business model of buy today, get your upgrade in a week, month or year, and once it is delivered get ready to open your wallet again because the newest upgrade is announced the moment your handed the box. everything in medium format is priced and sold like buying a buick (and we all know what's happened to them), with time stamped specials and dealers with specific sales zones that make no sense in an internet world.
In the last few years, mf has found ways to lock down their systems and even marginalize the format further. you needed an actuary to write a schematic to understand what back works on what camera.
medium format made the mistake of trying to sell these camera backs like lcd televsions where every year or so a new bigger one comes out. the problem is lcd tv's go down in price not up and any photographer can only absorb so much money and time.
I think we all know if the leaf afi II or 7 or whatever it's called, really had clean high iso, had a great lcd, (great not semi good), had real wireless that didn't require a computer and had a clear and definate delivery date of lenses, finders, rotating backs and didn't cost $45,000 for a full kit, there would be a lot more of them sold, even in today's time. if it was built, sold and delivered as the camera of a lifetime then it's worth the money, but does anyone believe any digital camera you buy is going to last even 1/20th of your career. same holds true for all the makers, but they are always late on something vital, usually software, which is beyond belief considering these things live off their software to function properly.
the crazy thing is a lot of people, myself included, would love just a full frame 645 camera that went to high iso, fired when the button is pushed, didn't require waiting for firmware, software upgrades and fixes and most of all didn't come with a system of first announce all the upgrades, secondly deliver the camera with only 2/3's of the promised upgrades or accessories and to add insult to injury before all the bugs are worked out try to sell the buyer a new camera and/or back at a $15,000 bump, which will have all the upgrades and usability promised in the previous version.
now the mf makers are all offering discounts, trade ins, different pricing schemes and while they're busy reshuffling the balance sheets and making strategic alliances here comes Canon with a 21 mpx camera that shoots stills and video for $3,000, 1/10th of the price of a new medium format back, 1/15th of the price if you buy lenses and build a complete system.
think about that one for a moment and wonder why nobody on the sale section is buying used medium format backs at even 1/2 of the original retail price.
then think about this (go to the movie on the far right) and tell me where the world of images is going.
http://journeys.louisvuitton.com/vuitton.h...n_US&shop=1