Zack Arias: Sensor Size & Medium Format

This clip from the CreativeLive course, Studio Lighting, Arias talks about the gear a professional photographer will want to use and how options have evolved over the years.

[ivardahl-larsen]

Today is 2013 and watching this with all due respect Zack, it is hillarious. Knowing how you have spoken so avidly about Fuji these days and the X Pro cameras. I agree though with the Fujis. Cheers.

[MrLuisgaio]

So you skipped to the end of the video? Did you miss the part e mentioned about the sharpness and details medium format brings in comparison to full-frame? Its all theres, and he didnt say "35mm sucks", he expressed his opinion in a narrative way. He´s entitled to his opinion, either you acept it or not.

im crop user... so wuts better? ASP-C or FULL FRAME?

[atitg]

I think he is genuinely in love with his fuji's, but its funny when you watch his new video "crop or crap". Its a 360.ü

[yudontsay]

Okey I may have a very stupid question, I have learned so much the last 2 years within photography, but one thing I have never learned is quality in DX vs FX. I know that if a FX camera is used with DX lens you only get the centre part from lense in the image, but I do alot of portrait with my D3200, using the standard lense or even 35mm one, with decent results and happy people asking me to take more for them all the time! :) But when it comes to image quality, I know glass is important, but does the format itself have anything to say DX vs FX wise?

[RogerHyam]

Back in the 1990's I used to shoot medium format Velvia mainly because it sold better on a light box not because people "needed" medium format. It cost a fortune when 35mm would have done fine. I missed loads of shots because I had a camera the size of several house bricks and ridiculously shallow depth of field for what I was doing. Yes there is the issue of lens performance. You can have a rubbish lens on a large negative (sensor) and get away with a lot but we live in a different world now. Both optics and sensors are better. I can shoot a f1.2 wide open on a crop sensor and it is fine!

I learnt from my lessons of 20+ years ago and didn't go full frame when they became affordable to me (now as an amateur). My Nikon gear went on ebay and I bought into Fujifilm X.

The way I see it ... back at the end of the last century the split was medium format / 35mm with special applications on 5x4. The split is now FF / crop with special applications on medium format digital. It will take a while to shake down but there is no reason why a press photographer, for example, should lump around a FF digital camera any more. It would be like someone in the 1980's doing press photography on a Mamiya 645 - simply pointless. Not that Nikon want you to think this.

But someone like Zack who does this hard core commercial photography will probably use the whole range of digital gear. He can rave about medium format and crop sensor cameras because they are different tools for different jobs. It is not contradictory. Bigger is better - unless it isn't appropriate.

God that was a long pointless rant on photography. Must stop doing this.

[MatthewGorveatte]

i never really understood it either, until i found out about, 16-bit vs 14-bit and how even full frame looks cutoff, take a look at any medium format video cameras that they use for films like 70mm film to digital scans for main wide shots, and panavison 70mm video camera. or how anamorphic looks more like medium format less cut off, or I alwasy thought low fstop was the best untill i found that their is no low f stop in large format like there is in full frame, hunting over 1.2

[BloatedSensations]

@BloatedSensations I'm merely stating that my experience has been similar to what Arias expresses as being his own experience. I've shot full-frame for about a year now, and now that I have, I can't ever go back to APS-C and be satisfied with it.

[CEEPMDEE]

Today he shoots Fuji xT-1 and a few other Fuji cameras (ALL CROP SENSOR cameras)

[BloatedSensations]

@ptlofts I'm well aware of that. And, that's unfortunate. I didn't have the money either for a long time. I scrimped and saved for over two years to be able to buy one. That doesn't change my opinion, however. Many fewer people can afford a Lamborghini - doesn't change the fact that if you ever get to drive one, you'll be disappointed the next time you get behind the wheel of a Toyota.

[alambuzz]

Hi Zack,

I have been following you reviews for years now and you're the reason I I piked up my Fujifilm X Pro1 back in 2012.

I am thinking of upgrading myself to a midformat system. Please do a review on Voigtlander BESSA III 667 and its counterpart Fujifilm Fujifilm GF670. 


Thank you :)

[piperpilot]

Well of course full frame is better, but deciding on whether or not to get one all depends on what you use your camera for. If you're a professional shooting in all sorts of lighting conditions, especially low light where high ISO performance is needed, then of course a full frame camera is what you would want to own. Or for example, If you're taking portraits in a studio where the lighting is controlled or outdoors during the day, then a a camera with an APS-C sensor will do just fine.

[deanaustin]

Youre right eight years ago. I'm buying the Fuji gfx

[BloatedSensations]

Can't agree more with him regarding full-frame. I shot 35mm film for 15 years before picking up my first D-SLR. It was an APS-C, and I could never get used to it - I always hated it. I shot with it for 3 years, then bought a full-frame. Now I can never go back. I still have an APS-C as a backup body, and every time I pick up, I freakin' hate it. It's a $1, 000.00 camera, and looking through that tiny viewfinder it feels like a cheap, crappy toy compared to my full-frame.

[terrywbreedlove]

He went back to crop sensor. He shoots and loves the fuji X cameras

[TheGiantAngryRobot]

you can get a used 5d for less than the price of a new t3i

[Taylorkaraoke]

His Fuji X experience made him review/correct that statement :) jijijiji

[sixyears]

Alot has changed in 6 years since this video has been posted. APS-C is a major player now and is on par or better with some of the older Full Frame DSLRs. there are even new med format cameras for around 6, 000 dollars. Many Serious photographers enthusiast to pro shoot on a crop camera. But one this is still true here, Bigger is still better.

[Maxsdiscos]

"35mm sucks" - not really the words of a Professional particularly, is it?

Perhaps the guy could explain in more depth why 'medium format' is better, and whether the average person with an untrained eye could notice the difference.

[Smokinram]

Then along came the D800E and beat up all of the large format bodies...In time new Hasselblads and whatevers will out do it, but the difference will be anorexic and the price will be huge...and for what? Crappy low light performance. They have their place, but that place is a lot smaller now than it used to be.