William Robb writes: > I don't know who you were quoting Mike, but the person being > quoted is wrong (my opinion only). 6x6 is a different format > from 6x4.5, with different shooting requirements. > If you shoot 6x6, and make rectangular prints, you have chosen > the wrong format to shoot with. > I know a couple of people with Hasselblads who have taken the > time to learn how to use the square format to it's best > advantage, and they make beautiful large, square prints.
I think you are right on target here. I've observed that from my own experiences. I used to have a 6x6 MF camera before I started using 35mm gear. I happened to stumble across my MF negatives last fall. When I look at them I see photography that is quite different from the photos which I make in the rectangular 35mm format. There is framing and composition in the square format which I _just wouldn't try_ in 35mm. I would do something else instead. That "something else" is often incompatible with a resulting square crop, or would not contain the right elements to make into a good square photo later. I just don't know how to say it well, but the framing and composition comes out _different_ in the square format. Not better, different. Sometimes I think the square composition is better than any composition I would have done with a rectangular 35mm camera. Other times a 35mm wide composition may have been better ... however cropping with MF isn't as bad as 35mm cropping. Going through my 6x6 negatives was one reason that I started to push hard for MF gear again, instead of just thinking about it in abstract terms and holding off purchasing it. As I've mentiond earlier, I was looking to get a 6x6 body. I noticed the Pentax 6x7 due to the mystical brotherhood, and discovered the affordability of the components. 6x7 is not _that_ different from 6x6, unlike the much wider 35mm. If I really want to shoot square format with the 6x7 I don't really loose all that much; I could always insert some framing material between the finder and the body to aid square framing. The only downside is that you still get 10 shots per roll. :) Bolo -- Josef T. Burger - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
