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Response to talk me into or out of this...

from a dale (adale66@excite.com)
Why not spend only $300.00 or so for a bare bones 35mm camera system? I'll leave choice of name brand up to you - hint - you don't need motordrive, you don't need autofocus, you don't need auto exposure. On the one hand you say you want the system that "seems professional to me" on the other hand you sayI still don't make any money at this...but who cares? Obviously, you do. Why do you want to "seem professional" when you aren't? Remember this: the only people who care about what brand of camera you use are other photographers and who wants to bother trying to impress them? I have NEVER heard an art director or photo buyer ask "Did a Hasselblad take this picture? It looks too sharp to be Bronica..." or other such nonsense.

If you want good cameras for cheap, look at Nikkormats, look at Pentax manual focus, look at Yashica manual focus, look at Minolta. If you have friends in photo, get the same body as them and try swapping lenses so you can try before you buy. Forget high price 80-200 f2.8 zooms until you DO start making money at this. Maybe try for a 50mm and an 80mm or 100mm - all primes. Substitute a crappy variable aperture zoom at your own peril. In a few years, if you DO start making money at this, you can buy that expensive F4. In the meantime, buy a used Minolta SRT and write "F4" on it with majic marker and say "wheep-wheep-wheep" as you advance film with your thumb.

As fas as trading in your 6x7 camera AGAIN for sometning else goes, well, if you have an interest in doing people photography professionally than you NEED to be working on your portfolio. Pentax 6x7 is not a camera I am familiar with but I don't think that WHICH camera makes much difference -- again, only other photographers are going to ask which camera took which pictures. But if you want to show potential clients nice prints and big transparencies (no body looks at 35mm unless you make them) you shouldcontinue to work with some sort of medium format camera. Any trade to another system is going to represent a big $$$ loss. In your place I would have probably gone for an interchangeable back camera so I could use a Polaroid back .... but switching now means a big $$$ loss. Unless you can find someone to take the P67 off your hands at a more than fair price I'd make do with what you have.

Obviously, no one can really answer this but me, but here am I anyways...

Okay but you got my opinion anyway

(posted 8750 days ago)

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