After many years of analog capture (much of it dating back to darkroom days with chemistry and progressing into drum scanned 4x5" film to create the best digital file at the time) we have become a 100% digital capture studio as of 2010.
It was an enormous step both financially and logistically, and in all respects it has been a welcomed change. It was a long road to figure out what system could match the working methods and quality of my beloved 4x5" view camera. This was the hallmark camera format that Ansel Adams and every architectural photographer of the past used to create their work. The quality of this format is astounding, producing 1.5 GB of information said to be contained in a 4x5" transparency. Perhaps even more important than just the sheer amount of information, is how that information is delivered to that film. The optics (the #1 formative component in image quality) are exceptional. Also with the perspective controls and symmetrical lens design of large format lenses (almost all) you get a striking image with a true rendering of form that can allow the artist to represent their subject honestly. The deep concentration needed to work in this format can also have a magical effect on the aesthetic end of the spectrum as well. Simply, when exercised correctly, I feel there is no other camera system for me, to produce images at the highest level.
After a few years of using 4x5" and 35mm digital side by side I was fed up. The 4x5" was an astounding quality but the workflow and cost of the image was impractical. I was fortunate enough too to have a good working relationship with FUJIFILM, and worked with them in testing their films and producing images for their advertising. In the final five years of shooting analog, I never bought a piece of 4x5" film. At $5+ per frame, it helped monumentally in continuing the usage of said 4x5". Even with the free film, it was costing me around $100 to produce a final finished image. Then came the task of finding a good lab for processing and scanning the film. So I settled on Chrome in DC to process my film and West Coast Imaging in Oakhurst, CA to drum scan it! Yes, the film came to me from Japan, got processed in DC, and got drum scanned in California. Aside from being ridiculous, this process was too caustic on the environment with all the shipping and chemicals. This sums me up though, anything for the best image.
So why not get a Nikon or Canon and some tilt-shift lenses and be done with it? Quality, would be my answer. Perhaps if I didn't have a large format background and hadn't seen what was possible, then I would be happy with the 35mm digital image. I am not knocking 35mm, I think it is the best option for 99.8% percent of photographers. I own the latest bodies and use them for very long lens work that simply isn't available to do on a technical camera. For anything not long lens, the quality is night and day. I have been very fortunate to work with some great design professionals and organizations and their years of hard work and message deserves the highest attention and representation.
So what is my current camera platform? I am shooting everything on a Phase One P45+ Medium Format Digital Back on a technical camera with all digital view camera lenses. The lenses are "traditional" style view camera lenses but have been furthered refined for better resolution and color rendering required by the modern digital sensor. In simple terms, after having seen a lot of files, from a lot of different imaging platforms, these lenses are astounding. These ARE the best lenses I have ever used. To have these lenses focus that light onto a Phase One digital back is a true pleasure. The quality of the platform is astounding.
So this is how our studio is producing images at the moment. Who, what, when, and where to come in future posts!
