Cheating!

[Juanito200]

Well, I have to come clean with all of you.... Despite only a year with my Sony a200, I am now following in the footsteps of Gov. Mark Sanford, Jesse James, and of course Tiger Woods. I am now cheating on my Sony. I didn't mean for this to happen, but my brother in law introduced me to her, and it was love at first sight. She is betrothed to him, but I can 'use her as long as I want'. She's a bit bigger, older, and doesn't AF, but she still looks as good as she did years ago. I don't know how long this affair will last, but it should be loads of fun. Of course like all mistresses, I will have to spend some money on her, film, developing... But here she is.... A beautiful Pentax 645...
P.S. any tips would be appreciated. John

[Greg Beetham]

I sympathize, it's almost impossible to resist the sirens call of a camera such as that.
Greg

[bakubo]

Some very nice film gear can be bought now for fantastic prices. In Tokyo a few months ago I saw lots of great stuff at used camera shops. Some of the medium format stuff that I used to see new and used in Tokyo in the 1990s for high prices can be bought now for prices that are often 1/10 of what they were going for then.

[Juanito200]

Good point bakubo.. I looked up what a used kit like his goes for, and it is quite reasonable.. I love the feel of the MF lenses, and they are built like a tank. I've just put in my first roll of film in it. I plan to do some portraits of the kids this weekend, we'll see how they turn out...
My next purchase will probably a Tamron 17-50, and a better DSLR body.. My wife wants a new car, so I may get none of the above!!! John

[Birma]

Mmm. She looks high maintenance John .

(I really like my Tamron 17-50/2.8, as Kevin does, so I'm sure you'll enjoy and make good use of one. Which digital body are you looking at? A550? A7xx? A850?)

[Juanito200]

Greg- this will definately be a welcomed diversion from digital. I think that having to pay for the film/developing will really make me focus on composure/exposure etc. Maybe my skills will improve as a result... (I can always dream!).
Birma- She definately looks high maintenance to me too....Both in upkeep and usage... But luckily I only have 20 bucks invested so far, so not too bad. If I really enjoy shooting medium format, I'm gonna be in trouble.
As far as upgrading my a200, I am looking at the a700 (if I can find one when I am ready to buy), or the a7xx.... We'll see. I'm telling everybody that I want cash and AMEX gift cards for my birthday for camera gear upgrades. Perhaps I should ask every Photoclub Alpha member for $2USD.. I could get it sooner then!!!

[bakubo]

I think that having to pay for the film/developing will really make me focus on composure/exposure etc.

Well, something else to consider is you could concentrate on using B&W film with it and then develop the film yourself. You don't need a full darkroom just to develop B&W 120 film. It would be fairly cheap. After you have the negatives then making prints would require an enlarger, etc. so a lot more expense, trouble, and some sort of darkroom would be required. A really good alternative is to just scan your negatives and then do what you want with them on the computer. A MF scanner is expensive, but lots of flatbed scanners can scan negatives and do a fairly good job on your 120 negatives.

[Greg Beetham]

I was thinking the same thing Henry, B&W would be a great way to familiarize oneself with the camera, but I was also thinking when it comes to doing portraits with a film camera you really need a flash meter for light/flash setup, or alternatively use the A200 as a substitute 'polaroid back' and when the composure/exposure is good (ISO set to the film speed in the 645), replace the A200 with the 645...only one little problem I can see is the older type of flash that would work well with the 645 (say an old Metz 45 or two) might not function very well with the A200, although I got mine working with my A100 using the 'popular slave' trigger without any great problems except the 'popular slave' must have visual line of sight to the triggering flash on the camera, you need a long extension sync cord so you can sneak the trigger out in front somewhere. An alternative is to swivel the flash head on the camera flash so it's pointing at one of the triggers mounted on the Metz flash bracket which then sets off both flashes.
Greg

[bakubo]

It would also work well for B&W landscapes, architecture, outdoor portraits, etc. and then you don't have to worry about flash.

[Greg Beetham]

Yes of course, I was just looking at the portrait aspect first, where you can control everything, lighting arrangement etc. (John mentioned he was going to do some portraits of the family), out in the field the camera meter will have to suffice, but that also means getting to know how your camera behaves with metering etc. how center weighted is the center weighted average metering, how much area does the spot metering cover and so on. Probably the best way is too take a notebook (initially) and jot down the metering mode used and the exposure settings for each frame so you have something to refer back to later on, because there will be the occasional flub, and unless you can trace the reason why that happened the learning curve is going to be longish...I think.
Greg

[Juanito200]

Greg and bakubo- Good ideas. I plan to do some outdoor portraits, as I have no flash for that camera, and I probably won't invest in this system too much.
I do have some space in the attic I could easily turn into a darkroom...Hmmmm I may look into that...
He has a Gossen Luna-Star F2 light meter in the bag as well, so maybe that will help with proper metering.
I do have some old spreadsheets I made back when I shot film to record the settings of my shots. I am sooo glad for digital.
I may just scan my negatives, as that will be cheaper than having the one place in town to develop/print them do so.... As for today the skies have cleared, and I've got some film in my bag burning a hole in it....
John

[David Kilpatrick]

Of course, all the Pentax MF 645 lenses can be used on custom made tilt/shift adpators on Alpha. If you happen to have the 35mm there, it's an exceptional TS lens for full frame Alpha. Longer lenses are useful with just a plain mount as well. Not that easy to find the adaptors though.

David

[Juanito200]

Thanks for the tip DK... That is avery tempting proposition... I suppose you mean the Mirex adapter? I did a little search and came up with that.
It seems that the 35mm Pentax lens is not so common. (and probably more expensive) I haven't seen one for sale yet.. Thanks John