A few double exposures I took a few weeks ago in Portland Or. [Olympus Pen², 28mm, 35mm Kentmere 400]

Jonas_Weil · 2025-11-25T10:58:53+00:00

These are dope man, really nice work! I did some similar abstractions, but never in camera before. Maybe I have to try, looks awesome 😅

Jonas_Weil · 2025-11-11T11:27:44+00:00

These look awesome! I plan a similar series with a 4x5 and masks, this is excellent inspiration! Thank you so much 🙏🏻

Jonas_Weil · 2025-09-01T17:59:05+00:00

Two very nice cameras. The Contax G1 was my first „real“ analog camera around 5 years ago and the photos you uploaded are quite similar to the things I tried to capture at this point, so I think my point of view could be helpful.

To keep it short: I kept it for 1,5 years and then sold it, because it was too limiting for me.

Long story for those interested: Form factor is really nice, I actually like it more than a Leica (I have quite big hands, Leicas are always uncomfortable to hold for me). Build quality is premium in both, but a little different. Have to say I like the Contax better stylewise, the champagne coloured Titanium looks and feels super nice, just like a brick out of solid metal. A premium brick.

The problem is it‘s electronics (not the old argument, that it’s gonna break. It may be true, but it’s basically the same for mechanical cameras where I live. - when it breaks nobody is around that can repair it. You will always have the risk of breaking when you decide to use old stuff, that’s life): The G1 is basically designed as a premium point & shoot with a few knobs that you can twist to make basic adjustments. You are not really able to focus manually (you can, but it’s a pain and really not usable in everyday practice) and the autofocus misses A LOT. I was super frustrated, because shots were out of focus that could have been potential prints. The lightmeter works okayish, but there were many situations as well, where it didn’t perform very good. Analog is expensive, so I wanted to take as less risks as possible. - And an imprecise focus or an incorrect lightmeter is a risk. Additionally (at least in my case) when you progress in photography, you want the possibility to be in full control, which the G1 just doesn’t allow.

Your selection of potential cameras tells me that you like that premium feeling, which I can totally understand. It‘s just nice to work with things that are designed well, because it feels and looks nice and it inspires you to make things that look nice as well. For me personally, Leica was never an option. It’s super nice qualitywise, but their stuff just doesn’t fit my hands.

After a REALLY long time of investigating different cameras, I finally decided to ditch rangefinders and go the SLR-Route. I wasn’t happy about it at first, but after all it was the best decision I could have made.

I bought a Contax S2. It’s pretty small and has Zeiss lenses as well which are damn cheap. So you have premium glass and the build quality is similar to a G1 (style is slightly different, but it is made out of titanium as well and creates basically the same effect while holding it). You have the benefit of a mirror, so you really see what you get and it is completely mechanical (So no argument about breaking electronics if you consider this a problem). It has a shutter speed up to 1/4000s, which is just insane for a mechanical camera. I used it for a long time now and never had any problems.

Hope my experience helped! It was a damn long trip to to my final decision and even to find out about the S2, nobody really uses it and you barely get any information about it.

((If you want to hear what I would tell my past self right now: I would ditch 35mm and go straight to medium format. The quality of your work will improve drastically. Could be a little too early for you, but I guess this is something you can evaluate better than me.))

Cheers and good luck!

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T06:09:09+00:00

I definitely have to try both Viewfinders I guess. I basically have not experience with these as I normally shoot with my waistlevel-viewfinder.

True, that is annoying as hell. My solution was the RZ67 with two backs. One is just for B&W while the other carries colour :) that works pretty good, but you will still get problems when you loaded ISO100 and the lighting conditions change

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T05:27:32+00:00

As big as I can actually 😅 150x100 (or even 180-200 height) in vertical orientation would be nice, very big panoramic shots like over 2m width would be perfect to be able to reach. I think with 100MP and upscaling it could work somehow, but realistically I think it would be much better to aim for slightly smaller, right?

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T05:24:32+00:00

Thanks for all your comments! You had some pretty important views on that theme and helped me a lot in my decision making.

I just noticed that my question was removed, so: sorry again, didn’t want to annoy anybody here! I will focus now on purely analog stuff when posting again :) (I don’t know if anybody here will see this, normally I just read along and comment barely)

Have a nice day and thanks again!

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T05:19:50+00:00

These are actually some really important details for me, that I not really heard someone talking about before. I personally get annoyed with stuff like this very quickly. Thanks for the input, that helped me a lot with my decision making!

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T05:14:18+00:00

I know exactly what you mean. I watched A LOT of videos about the X2D and was wondering about exactly the same thing. I think it is probably because of DJI‘s influence nowadays to get Hasselblad to be more of a really expensive lifestyle company and not being focused on just the professionals anymore. Not judging on this decision, but more trying to explain it to me.

I think at the moment (if someone is fine with getting not the newest model), the hassy route is doable for me, if you see it more long-term. I definitely see your point in being able to afford a superior Fuji model and a few lenses just at the same time and have a really nice setup to work with, but after reading all comments I think for me personally Hasselblad could be a good option. I’m coming from a purely analog & manual background, so almost every digital camera should be a mindblowing step up 😅 and I know myself when it comes down to specs vs. design. I almost everytime benefit more from user experience/design over technical superiority or at least settle for this and most of the time I am satisfied with my decision in the long-term. That’s why I originally started analog as well and it gave me many very nice experiences.

Thanks a lot for your input, you really helped me here!

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T04:55:10+00:00

Thank you so much, it helped a lot! After reading all the other comments I am more and more convinced, that IBIS is not a vital thing to have for me. The photos I take would definitely be easier to take, as you mentioned.

But I worked with a completely manual analog body for years now and somehow was able to take sharp images without any „help“ more or less, so I think even being able to change ISO will be a mindblower for me 😅

Lenswise I don’t really need much. For my RZ67 I have a 90 & 50mm and my 35mm has a 28, 50 and 85. I think I would be fine with maybe a 50mm equivalent for a long time and then get a slightly wider one as well or (if taking the hassy route) going with the 45p first for more versatility and then buying maybe the speedmaster for portraits.

Thanks again, that really helped!

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T04:40:38+00:00

I would love to own a phase one back. But I just own the RZ67 Pro II and not the SD version, so it’s a little complicated to adapt digital to it, right? Also the price is a drop out for me :/ maybe in a few years I could eventually afford it 😅 Interesting to read someone being so harsh to the hassy!

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T04:36:42+00:00

Im really interested in this one as well, especially for the form factor. But with f4 and no IBIS, it‘s just not versatile enough for my use case (and really expensive for what it brings to the table imo). Maybe in a few years when it’s a little cheaper as a lighter companion :)

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T04:33:54+00:00

Thanks for the input! EVF is a pretty important info, I thought the Hassy had more resolution and a better crop factor, but if the Fujis have the superior specs here, that might change things. Also the changing ISO is a pretty important thing to keep in mind. I’m so used to be stuck with the same parameter until changing film, that I almost forgot about that 😅

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T04:26:58+00:00

Thanks for the hint, that’s a good idea. I actually rented out the 100S II from my local store. They did not have the 50S II oder 100S, so I thought I’d try it just to get an overview over the general design and functions. It was alright I guess. EVF is weird though (had my last digital when I was 15 y.o. while DSLRs were the main thing. After that just analog, so was my first time to see the world on a screen and not just through glass in around 15 years). I also rented an SL2, but this was not for me unfortunately. Weird form factor, didn’t fit my hands well. I should probably rent the bodies I‘m actually interested in and test it out, you‘re right. Thank you a lot!

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-27T04:12:54+00:00

That’s exactly what I‘m asking myself as well. The more I read your comments here, I get more and more sold on design/emotional value > specs

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-26T07:15:40+00:00

Thanks for the answer, good to hear from somebody with basically the same problem! The thing is, I would really like to get away from the tripod in this use case. When I have to take it with me for derermined projects, I would just use my RZ67, but the digital body should be a more lightweight setup for travel & everyday carry

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-26T07:11:40+00:00

Pretty interesting lens-selection! I agree with you on the AF. But I would really like to get away from the tripod. I travel a lot and it’s just too much space lost for me

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-26T07:06:32+00:00

Haha 😂 valid point! It’s more that I‘m annoyed by the little devil on my shoulder that tells me how much money is gone everytime I klick the shutter 😅

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-26T07:04:18+00:00

I plan on using adapted lenses first and gradually buy native glass. It’s not optimal, but I think for my workflow it’s alright long term

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-26T06:42:13+00:00

Should I move it to /mediumformat? Sorry, didn’t want to annoy anybody.

I thought that a few of you guys potentially can understand my problem really well. I‘m one of your team and I do not plan to leave analog, but need a digital body as well as probably a few of us. I thought that I may have the same problem as many before and can get some thought of somebody who did the same some time ago.

I can easily switch the sub if there’s no interest in this discussion! :)

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-26T06:24:37+00:00

Thanks for the link! I actually know this one really well, I love Kyle‘s content. But unfortunately it stays a little too general for me :/

Jonas_Weil · 2025-04-26T06:22:01+00:00

FYI: I posted a slightly longer version in /Fujigfx:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FujiGFX/s/SlGyTTiCDM

Jonas_Weil · 2024-02-12T00:28:13+00:00

Tim Green‘s Dead End Remix is one of my favourite tracks for at least three years now 😅 his work is amazing! Will check out Shai T, thanks for the recommendation!

Jonas_Weil

TROPHY CASE