danperez

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

-Daniel Perez

I am seriously considering purchasing an Arca-Swiss Discovery and have been

doing my homework on other models. I?ve also been watching the used market but

nothing of particular interest has cropped up.

My question has to do with the Discoveries potential upgradeability. I have

downloaded the catalog for Arca-Swiss and notice that it reads ?The economy

priced Discovery allows you to extend your system with the components of the

already established Arca-Swiss camera program.? However it is not really clear

on how far once can expand or upgrade this system.

Does this mean that if I decide later on down the road that I want the features

of an AS F-Metric with orbix that I can simply order the front and rear function

carriers with that feature and swap out the old ones? If that is the case, then

I will make the plunge!

Even thought the modular parts for the Discovery are named as though they are

specific to that model, there does not seem to be any difference between the

format frames of the Discovery and the other 4x5 models.

Any input and/or clarification would be helpful.

Thanks,

-Dan

Thanks for all your input. The answer was so simple that I overlooked it. I just wasn't paying much attention I guess, but it does make perfect sense that a 6x6 can be brought down to a 645 format, but not the other way around. I guess I will be in the market for a 6x6 very soon. I like what I've read so far about the Hasselblad's and maybe I can find one used that will fit my budget and intent.

I am not so much interested in automation as I am sharpness. My Mamiya w/ the standard 80mm 2.8 is relatively sharp, although I know there are other camera/lens combinations which are sharper.

Again, I appreciate all the expertise.

-Daniel

I am new to medium format photography and would like to know if there exists a

6x6 back available for the 645AF, or an insert that will convert it to that size?

If not, what camera should I pursue for that format?

Thanks for your responses,

-Dan

Sometimes it also pays to ask. When I was in Cuba I would ask people if I could take a picture of them. Often there was no problem. Other times I would take pictures without asking when I knew that if the subject noticed me it wouldn't be the same.

In some cases depending on where you are it might be appropriate to give a dollar or two after you have taken your picture. For example, in Cuba one can find women dressed in very colorful clothes who will pose for $5-6, which is a lot of money to the average Cuban. I always stayed away from those types because they have an insincere or unauthentic feel to them, as they are only trying to extract tourist dollars. Whereas, an old man waiting at a bus stop with a pineapple in his hand is much more authentic and after I took the shot I gave him 1 dollar which can buy him a lot of food.

Also, on some occasions I have started out taking a picture without the subject noticing me, but while I was snapping away, the subject made eye contact with me or somehow realized that I was taking their picture. In those cases, rather than running off I walked right up to them and showed them their image on my LCD display. One such image was of a young couple sitting on an old wall overlooking the ocean. It was getting close to sun down and the girl's boyfriend was playing his guitar. I took several shots as the sun went down and silhouetted them against the night sky. As soon as I was done I walked over to them and showed them the picture and they both loved it.

In some cases, though you want to be as discrete as possible because people will "show off" and that takes away from the feel of the image in my view. Children for example will tend to show off if they know they are being photographed.

So I guess the method is to know your subject and your surroundings. If you can do that you can anticipate certain reactions. For example, if you?re taking pictures of children playing in the streets, you can bet that once they?re aware of your presence they will show off a little, smile and so forth so you should plan your approach in a way which is discrete. Taking a picture of a group of people protesting may lead to unintended problems, so you might want to let the subject or subjects know.

If you are traveling you should be able to express some empathy and it will help if you have a general knowledge of the people, places and histories of the country you are visiting and of the subjects you are trying to capture on film or digital media.

If there is one thing I have found it is that people are annoyed by the ignorant traveler, who is merely there to have a good time and is unaware of the struggles, hardships, and realties, of those around them. If you take the time to do a little reading on your subject or the country you are visiting, not only will it open new photographic possibilities, but in those cases where you get into conversations with locals, they will be impressed by the fact that you have an understanding of the current topics, and relieved that they don?t have to waste too much of their time explaining things you could have easily read about prior to your trip. This can lead to much more sophisticated conversations and even better photographic opportunities.