A Weekend with the Phase One IQ260

I am in a bit of a luxurious position when it comes to camera equipment. I personally own a Canon 6D camera and an assortment of lenses, though I don’t own any medium format equipment personally. But I don’t really have to, since on any given day, I have 40-50 different digital backs, ranging from vintage to the very latest, in our inventory to shoot with on a variety of cameras and lenses of all sorts. Pretty much anytime I want. 🙂

Despite that, most of my shooting with medium format gear is for testing purposes so that I understand the good, the bad, and the ugly, in detail and real world use, of every product that we sell. It’s not very often I shoot medium format for artistic reasons or pleasure.

I shoot most of the time with my Canon because I’ve not considered myself a destination shooter. I’m more of a spontaneous, stumble across it shooter. I like shooting street scenes at night, I like shooting nature, wildlife, and fauna. I don’t shoot a lot of images quickly, but I shoot in conditions that can change rapidly. I’m in the moment, and I rarely want to even be aware of what I am doing (examples below).

 

 

 

This past weekend I decided to change that approach – with the Phase One IQ260. There are so many amazing examples of beautiful scenery that have been photographed with medium format digital backs. Unfortunately, I rarely find I have the time to travel to scenic locations and as a result, find most of my picture taking in my own backyard, or my own neighborhood.

At the rear of our neighborhood, there is a little protected wildlife refuge, small, and not particularly scenic. However, that fits in well with how I photograph nature. Rather than show classic beauty, I attempt to show the organic-ness (to overuse that overused word) of nature. I just find beauty in dirt, just in the bark, just in the actual color of a frond or petal.

So shooting high resolution, high detail medium format digital with a technical camera represents something of a departure from my normal mode. In using a Phase One IQ260 Digital Back with a Cambo WRS Technical Camera and Rodenstock 32mm HR Lens, I found that I had to slow myself down, and for me, that means learning to trust that what I stumbled upon can be captured in the manner I choose to, even if it means slowing down and methodically taking the photograph. The scene will still be there, the light will still be there. I have to remember that. Below are my results.