Why Medium Format?

Choosing a camera system has profound effects on many aspects of your photo career that go far beyond mere differences in mega pixels or file format. Every aspect of your craft, including the quality of your work, the fees you can charge and the flexibility of assignments you enjoy, rests on your choice of a camera system. Dual format cameras provide a perfect balance of film or digital capture flexibility that no other camera system can equal.

Size Matters Bigger is indeed better! There is simply no denying that as you increase your film or digital sensor size, so increases the quality of your image. Larger film or sensors result in better color and tone, less noise, and greater detail. The bigger format (6x4.5) is nearly 3x larger than 35mm SLRs and 4x or more larger than most D-SLR cameras. The superior image quality is visible not only to you but also to your client and ultimately those who will view your images. In addition, the large viewfinder is an excellent visual workspace for composing images.

Modular Design – Greater Versatility Dual format cameras allow you to configure them to meet your own shooting styles or needs. You may choose different viewfinders, film, instant or digital imaging backs. The interchangeability of these image capture backs provides the flexibilty you need to meet the demands of your clients. Today’s dual format camera systems offer you the flexibilty to address your clients’ ever changing needs with one camera system.

Film Format		Digital Format
6x7cm: An image area 4.5 times greater than 35mm, with a detailed negative large enough to view with the naked eye. The “ideal format” based upon the traditional 8x10 proportion, matching page layout and printing papers. 6x4.5cm: At 2.7 times larger than 35mm, the 645 provides a dramatic increase in quality while allowing for a compact camera design that rivals the size and handling of a 35mm SLR.		Bigger is Better: Similar to film formats, larger sensors offer higher Resolution, greater dynamic range, more color depth and bigger pixels as compared to smaller sensors.

Digital Ready As tomorrow’s professionals, today’s photo students will be expected to know and understand digital imaging. Mamiya’s lens selection and interchangeable backs make these cameras the perfect platforms for the digital backs of today and tomorrow. If film is the capture media of choice, then these dual format cameras offer large film formats that provide for perfect scanning. More color, tone and resolution can be captured from film scanning these large formats resulting in better quality images as compared to smaller D-SLR cameras.