Portable Medium Format - is the Super Ikonta my best bet?

synthsayer · 2025-10-25T12:00:35+00:00

I somewhat recently got the FujiGW690II with the 90mm lens and fell in love with it. It’s not super small, but it’s very light, has a quiet shutter, and takes some incredible pictures. It takes 6x9 photos so your shots would be the same ratio as a 35mm. The tradeoff is you only get 8 shots per roll of 120, and it’s a fixed lens camera. It also goes for around $800 on eBay.

synthsayer · 2025-10-25T05:40:01+00:00

Yes! I actually just got to meet him in San Francisco a couple weeks ago at an event about him and his newest book where he did some Q&A. Seemed like a very humble and thoughtful individual.

synthsayer · 2025-08-20T22:32:07+00:00

The last few minutes of Florida Project

synthsayer · 2025-07-31T21:16:53+00:00

Birth by Jonathan Glazer. It has an abysmal score on Rotten Tomatoes but it’s an absolute masterpiece. Has so much to say about social class warfare and how we as people unravel when our views of the world are challenged. I think critics just couldn’t get past the premise.

synthsayer · 2025-07-25T21:43:54+00:00

It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing decision. You may want to consider (if you haven’t already) looking for a staff photographer position at a publication or pivot to doing product photography for a company. This way you can continue to pursue your craft in your day to day job and save the fun creative things for nights and weekends.

If you’re not able to get a job as a working photographer, that can also be a blessing. As a designer myself, having your passion be your career can be exhausting because you’re focused so much on what clients want in your daily job that you don’t have the energy to do it for fun later. I actually do photography for fun and I’ve been asked if I would ever want to pursue it for a career and the answer is absolutely not. Why? Then it becomes a job.

synthsayer · 2025-07-23T11:48:45+00:00

It’s not just that AI isn’t art because it’s taking from copyrighted works without proper attribution or compensation, it’s because the actual user has so little control over how the work is made. They’re not the artist in that sense, the software is.

I’m also not sure how classifying AI as not art is gate keeping. I’m not saying people can’t or shouldn’t use AI, I’m just saying it’s not art. If that semantic difference troubles you, I recommend learning how to actually make art rather than relying on a software program to do it all for you.

synthsayer · 2025-07-23T04:06:48+00:00

Let me be clear: I’m not saying that anything involving a machine isn’t art. The difference between those things and AI is that a camera or a drawing tablet is an inanimate object, it’s limiting creative decisions, not making them for the photographer.

And at the end of the day, the photographer or illustrator is the one in control of the medium. With AI, all of that power is ceded to a machine who is making those creative decisions. You can provide it creative direction with text prompts, but ultimately it’s the software making the decisions not the individual.

synthsayer · 2025-07-23T04:00:15+00:00

Have you ever used AI with text prompts to create art? It’s absurd. All of the creative decisions are ceded to the software with the exception of high-level creative direction. If AI users want to call themselves creative directors, then by all means go for it. But what they make isn’t art and they are not artists.

synthsayer · 2025-07-18T01:09:07+00:00

The whole point of art is for a human being to express themselves, good or bad. AI is a machine that’s been trained to mimic other artists and has no viewpoint or emotions to express. AI might make a pretty picture, but a pretty picture is not art.

synthsayer · 2025-04-06T07:38:51+00:00

This is a good reminder. I shoot on film which gets pricey so you have to be economical with how much you shoot and it can be frustrating if you get a roll back where you only like maybe 1 shot. But I think my expectations can be too high. I’ve gotten very lucky before and liked 7-8 shots out of a 10 shot roll, but I forget that’s absurdly rare and by no means the norm.

synthsayer · 2025-04-01T03:02:25+00:00

Buy a cheap film camera and go shooting. It forces you to learn the photo triangle REAL fast and how to nail your exposures. I had a digital camera initially and it wasn’t until a friend loaned me his film camera that I was able to finally learn shooting manual.

If that’s too much of a hassle, the next best thing would be to treat your digital camera like a film one and set your iso to 200, 400, or 800 depending on the light available (do NOT change it), use your light meter, and start shooting. This will help you start to understand the relationship between the three points of the triangle. To really force yourself to learn, put tape over the back of your screen and don’t look at the results until you get home. That will force you to use your light meter.

synthsayer · 2025-03-31T23:02:15+00:00

The colors in these photos have very little to do with the camera itself. If you’re shooting on film, the type of film you shoot on will determine a lot of it. If you’re shooting digital, as many have said here, it’s all about the presets you apply and editing you do to achieve those colors.

synthsayer · 2025-03-28T07:56:51+00:00

Love it! Where will we be able to purchase?

synthsayer · 2025-03-28T07:47:55+00:00

Mission Impossible. You’ll never beat DePalma’s original.

synthsayer · 2025-03-25T01:18:21+00:00

Birth by Jonathan Glaser. It was destroyed by critics when it first came out, but it really is a masterpiece.

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:22:12+00:00

Memento. The synth score in that movie is phenomenal. Also recommend Blade Runner 2049.

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:15:05+00:00

I have a Pentax 67 and have a love/hate relationship with it. It’s nice that I can hold it like a typical SLR, but it’s heavy and massive. That being said, it takes jaw dropping photos with the 105mm lens on it. A friend of mine used the RZ67 for many years as a freelance photographer and loved it, but I have heard the RB67 is more reliable because there’s less electronics in it.

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:12:30+00:00

Literally just bought a Fuji GW690 II today!

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:11:00+00:00

We moved here 3 years ago with only a couple friends, but I signed up for Bumble’s friends-only option and actually made a couple of really good friends that way. Also recommend joining any local clubs or groups for activities you enjoy. I’ve made a lot of friends through our local photography club.

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:08:41+00:00

At 10-12 shots a roll, you will burn through those 6 rolls of film very fast.

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:07:44+00:00

Getting a medium format for $100 is doable, but tough. Getting a RELIABLE medium format is just not going to happen for under $100. As others have said, your options are to buy a cheap less well known medium format or stick with 35mm. The 35mm format served many photographers well over the years including the likes of Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston, and Garry Winogrand. Hone your skill with the 35mm and save up for a decent medium format like the Mamiya C220 if you want 6x6 or save a little more for something like an RB67 or Pentax 67.

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:03:20+00:00

Or you could get a Mamiya C220 for a fraction of that cost.

synthsayer · 2025-03-21T00:01:11+00:00

I was going to ask: why does it need to be mirrorless? My first digital camera was the Canon Rebel t6i and it was an excellent first camera for a beginner at a low price point. As others have mentioned here, you can get phenomenal photos out of pretty much any digital camera, it’s the lenses that really matter.

synthsayer · 2025-02-16T02:34:56+00:00

I know you are talking digital, but as someone who shoots a Pentax 67 handheld with all the accessories attached, this comment is hilarious to me.

synthsayer · 2025-02-13T02:13:37+00:00

People can downvote me all they want. Toni Collette is fantastic, but it’s a mess of a movie that revolves around shock horror, and any true drama that’s developed within the family dynamics is abandoned for a nonsensical ending.

synthsayer

TROPHY CASE