Medium Format: good snapshot survey of where this challenged market is at:
(from Olivier Laurent at BJP)
Current state of the challenged Medium Format market
(2 posts) (2 voices)-
NewPhotoDigest
Key MasterPosted 2 years ago # -
You have to ask what the future of Medium Format is, and why there will always be work that we will prefer to use MF for.
In the continual arms race to stay ahead of DSLRs in quality and resolution, all but the latest and greatest MF backs lose, and MF systems cost about twice as much as comparable DSLR systems.
The market for MF is now far too small to achieve the economies of scale that might narrow that price gap, or widen the quality and resolution advantage. Like film, MF's user base has been decimated.
Traditionally MF has had some differentiating advantages - such as sync speeds - and there are styles of working that it is the ideal companion for. But all professionals also use DSLRs now, and can learn to work in the same styles with those.
For many photographers MF is the thing to use because it differentiates them from the ruck of the DSLR horde. It's something a little more special, and impresses clients. Cost isn't as much of an issue for kit that's often rented shoot-by-shoot: it effectively goes on the client's bill.
Posted 2 years ago #
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