Member-only story
Why You’ll Be Shooting Medium Format Soon
WHEN THE BEST IS IN REACH
In the grand scheme of consumerism, and in the right conditions, there is a saying that the middle usually dies. People either want the best, or they are fine with the most convenient. Something that offers a half-measure of each is less interesting. Eventually people stop wanting to pay twice the ticket price for a seat that isn’t as good as the best one. It’s just human nature. So, it’s coach or first, MP3 or album, drip coffee or single-origin espresso. The only thing that stops anyone from simply jumping over the middle option every time is the price of the best option. But sometimes, and not always, the best option becomes affordable — and then the entire consumer behavior changes. This happened with nice TVs.
And it’s about to happen to cameras.
For the last decade, we’ve been comparing good to better. Mobile photography has been dominating the “good” category, unseating point-and-shoot cameras (though they are putting up a good fight!). And “better” has been dominated by 35mm full-frame cameras, which unseated cropped sensor cameras. But “best?” Well, that has been un-reachable realm of medium format. Unreachable mostly because of cost and lack of convenience. Difficult and demanding machines not nearly flexible or dynamic enough for much else besides studio and landscape…
