LenMarriott

Amir, Oops, I missed part of your post. I see the ball is rolling:) Best, LM.

Amir, Why don't you start the ball rolling & see how far it goes? Best, LM.

Giles, The N S C switch allows you to fire frame after frame with the mirror locked up (C, continuous) or one frame (S, single) or mirror return (not locked up) after every shot (N normal). In S the switch resets itself to N, normal, after one shot, in C you must do it manually when finished shooting. To get the lens off, if it's the same as the Ai, make sure the shutter is cocked then depress the slide switch on the upper front left side of the body while twisting the lens counter clockwise (viewed from the back). Best, LM.

Richard, Looks like He chose to use you. :) Best, LM.

Bronica SQ-Ai (Japanese Hasselblad, so it qualifies) Test for flash sync by looking through the body with back removed & multiple exposure mode selected. Replace back & forget to change mode. Results in 2 spoiled frames if in mid roll or 1 if starting new roll.

Kieth is correct I believe. This attitude can be carried over to the arguement in favour of using a higher speed film (with usually grainier image) to overcome blur due to subject or camera movement when using a slower film (usually a less grainy image). What's more important to you at the time, fine grain or sharp image? Best, LM.

Art Haykin, "Russian shutters a 'bear' to repair.......... Love it. Best, LM.

Lou, Keep the 60. It's great for those times when the 80 is just a bit too long & the 50 too wide. (sounds simplistic but it's also a great backup if your 80 should ever fail) Best, LM.

Mike Dixon, surely you're referring to equipment upgrades & not visual upgrades? The quality of one's vision is what I was referring to & I'm sure we're all wanting to improve that. If you don't have it a larger format won't help. You just end up with larger poor images. The original question was 'Why so few MF posts?' We all just got off track a bit. Best, LM.

Summary of Reasons for Few MF posts:

 

-Takes extra time & effort to scan MF. (so show less but show something)

-MF photographers shoot less. (as above)

-MF scanners cost more. (scan prints)

-MF quality higher than 35mm. (show us)

-MF shooters more advanced than 35mm shooters.(show us)

-People like to talk about photography more than to photograph.(Busted!)

-Scans from small prints suck.(The content will show, no one expects high quality from print scan)

-David Daniel argues that for the screen there is no excuse.

 

My own views are that MF does little to improve the image quality other than that inherent in the larger negative or transparencey. It could be argued that the extra weight of most MF equipment requires more use of the tripod & therefore a more disipined approach is taken in photographing. Still, a great (mediocre) shot in 35mm will be a great (mediocre) shot in MF. The only difference is in the image quality once it gets beyond a certain size (8 x 10 for instance) I only asked this question because I often went looking for samples of work of those MF users that seemed to know what they were talking about & found very little posted. It's been enlightening, thanks to all. Best, LM.

I haven't done a scientific study and I realize there are a smaller

proportion of photographers using Medium Format but 90% of the times

that I go to check out the portfolio of a MF user I see "0 posts".

I'm thinking it's because it's harder to scan MF than 35mm. Anyone

else wonder about this? Best, Len Marriott.

Don't do it. These are stormy waters you're sailing into. You can't do justice to the photos without experience in wedding photography & that should come by working with an experienced pro to learn the ropes. Then you should be eased into the job starting with small low budget weddings & gradually work into the big jobs. No architect ever started his career building skyscrapers. Beg off NOW if you can. You asked for advice & this is mine. If you chose otherwise may the Force be with you. Best, LM.

Removing the batteries for extended periods of non-use would do no harm & possibly prevent corrosion in the battery holder.