Malcolm Dare: Medium Format why?
I actually started life as a film photographer with nothing else but a preference for the 8×10” format. A little extreme some might say, but that is the reality of it – if you are a professional commercial photographer you just have to be ready for whatever is thrown at you. And what better safeguard than a whole lot of resolution?
It’s no different in these digital days when I am commissioned for a shoot, be it a diamond ring, a bottle of wine, an exquisite meal or even a car for that matter. Inevitably, there is always an art director or a stylist at the shoot who suddenly has an epiphany when viewing the screen. “Oh, Malcolm darling, couldn’t you lift this one grape with its amazing patina and blow it up for a billboard?”
That’s a bit of an exaggeration but you get my drift. In my business I want detail, I want tonal differentiation and most of all I want it NOW (anything to be called darling). And the 51 MP from the neat little package that is the Fujifilm GFX 50S medium format does just that, now being twice as nice in the new 102 MP GFX 100 large format camera. Mix those up with exquisite Fujinon glass and I am indeed one helluva happy boy scout in the Fujifilm Camp. Keep it coming Fujifilm, for guys like me there’s no such thing as too many pixels!
Curiously, one stylist recently asked me what camera I had used for their latest shoot. As I mentioned the Fujifilm GFX 50S, she said there was a distinct quality about the images (of sparkly diamonds, and lots of them) and that the shadows were more subtle than she had ever seen from anyone. This is a well-known industry person, who for the past five years demanded nothing but perfection. And here, for the first time, she is delving into the technicalities of the image. That, ladies and gentlemen, justifies my involvement with Fujifilm’s medium format cameras: A happy client that keeps coming back for more.
REMINDER: Malcolm Dare will assist with a hands-on studio shoot where photographers can put then new 100 MP Fujifilm GFX 100 medium format mirrorless camera through its paces.
WHEN & WHERE
When: Saturday 20 July 2019
Time: 10:00 – 12:00
Where: Orms Cape Town School of Photography
62 Roeland Street | Gardens | Cape Town
Cost: R50
Book your Ticket: https://bit.ly/2G43RYR
