First Gig!

[tnguyen600]

So I just got hired for my first paid event tonight and I'm mucho excited. It doesn't pay much but its for charity and it'll be with the mayor and all the major players in the city. My contact said that he wants the photos shot in medium format.

Noob question but what does that mean? Thanks

[Chet]

Digital medium format

Digital photography came to the medium format world with the development of digital camera backs, which can be fitted to many system cameras. Digital backs are a type of camera back that have electronic sensors in them, effectively converting a camera into a digital camera. These backs are used predominantly by professional photographers. As with film, due to the increased size of the imaging chip (up to twice that of a 35 mm film frame, and thus as much as 40 times the size of the chip in a typical pocket point-and-shoot camera) they deliver more pixels and have lower noise. Features like fan cooling also improve the image quality of studio models.

This market began in 1992 when Leaf Systems Inc. released their first digital camera back, named, fittingly enough, the "DCB". By the late 1990s, there were a number of companies producing backs of various types.

In the 2000s, the number of vendors of both high-end medium format camera systems and digital backs began to decrease. The power of digital SLRs cut into the sale of film-based medium format systems, while the tremendous development expenses for medium format digital systems meant that not all vendors could profitably compete. Contax and Bronica ceased production of cameras, Kodak stopped making their DCS series of backs, and camera and back manufacturers began to integrate.

Camera maker Hasselblad merged with digital imaging firm Imacon and partnered with Fuji to design and produce a new line of digital-friendly medium format cameras, the H-Series. Since the manufacturer will sell digital backs integrated with the camera, other makers of digital backs are far less likely to be able to sell backs for this camera, and this partnership is the clear market leader.

Camera maker Mamiya has developed the Mamiya ZD back, but also announced a partnership with back maker Phase One. Camera maker Sinar was taken over in stages by the digital cameraback manufacturer and developer Jenoptik and partnered with Rollei for the development of the Hy6 medium format camera systems.

The Leaf Aptus 75S digital back offers 33MP resolution, with shooting speed of 50 frames a minute. In early 2006 Hasselblad (H2D and H3D) and Phase One (P45) released a 39 megapixel back, the highest resolution single-shot digital backs to date. Phase One continues to dominate the high end non-interpolated imaging with the largest market share. Line up of scan backs like the PowerPhase FX+ through to the latest P45+ which also has live image focusing.

[tnguyen600]

ohhhhh......

[tnguyen600]

medium format...film?

[Chet]

They have Medium format digital backs for cameras like Hasselblad. Medium format is typically used in commercial photography. The sensor in medium format camera's is larger than in 35mm DSLR's. If they (your customer) are using the output in advertising, it can usually be blown up to a much larger size.

[tnguyen600]

hrmm thanks for the input. Digital back = $37K

ugh what should I tell the customer?

[tnguyen600]

nvm about the digital backs. I really dont know what he meant by medium format but he said that no CD would be needed or editing. Just taking photos. He would do everything thru FTP transfer which I don't know how he'll do since we'll be on site.

[Concretin Nik]

Probably meant they didn't need photos to blow up for billboards, but wanted something good enough for print, not just 72dpi online images...

[The Moose]

Yeah, I think he might have just meant that they didn't need to be huge resolutions. Shoot RAW or large JPEG, whichever one you prefer, and hand over the photos. If you're too worried about it, just ask.

[tnguyen600]

I used medium fine jpeg. I was going to give it to him on a cd but he wanted them via ftp. I never used ftp before. Anyone care to explain?

[Karl Johnston]

I think maybe you should give it a miss and try something smaller..it sounds like an important event, and you don`t want to get a bad rep by taking on too much more than you can handle without fully knowing what you`re doing (no offense, but it`s common knowledge; I wouldn`t undertake a client who wanted a shoot done in medium format...I just dont have that kind of equipment or knowledge of digital medium format nor film...)

Granted he most likely meant medium sized image..how about giving them a call, take a pen out and a notebook and write down all the information about specifications they want (what size, what usage are they wanting, a CD of digital images or a print? what kind of paper, what size of paper, when is it due, where do you drop it, how much are they paying, etc.)

No shame in saying you can`t do it; I`ve been asked to do 5000 copy CD producing from the jackets to the design to the materials to the disks to the burning....I said I couldn`t do that. I would do 100, but thats it.

A job like that would`ve banged me out about 8000$ (ballpark) in profit ...but you know..that`s a ****load of work, pardon my language, and I just don`t have the time to commit to one client like that.

That said and out of the way, if you do feel comfortable with it and think you can handle it: Try giving him a 300 dpi 2500 pixel wide jpeg saved at "12"
Burn to CD and get paid for the CD. Thats the quick and dirty way to do this, I think.

I`d be kind of lost if i were asked about shooting a session in medium format ...:lol: wooo...John Harrington would be the guy to call for that...guy has like 120 k in freaking equipment.

[tnguyen600]

Thanks, the event was last night and it went great. When he said medium format, he meant the jpeg. I asked if he wanted it via CD but he said no, FTP would be fine and easier for everyone.

I just never used FTP before.

[DDCSD]

You need to get his server information. He should provide you with a domain, username and password for you to upload the files to.

I use the FireFTP add-on for the Firefox browser for my FTP uploads.

[tnguyen600]

The fireFTP....are there any issues with using that? I think I may just do that

[DDCSD]

I've never had any issues using it.

[HMetal]

I'm glad I read this thread. I just checked it out and FireFTP is a nice little plugin. Thanks for mentioning it, Derek

[Mocows]

You can also use FileZilla if FireFTP doesn't work out. I find FileZilla has a nice layout and is easy to use as it saves previous connections.

[embdude]

you don't really need any fancy FTP software on a win XP machine...

1. Open a Windows Explorer, not Internet Explorer (fastest way is open "My
Computer")
2. At the address bar, type in "ftp://*****.com"
3. It should pop out a login credential checking. then use your login info
(username & password) to login
4. It will lead you to the folder
5. Simply use copy-n-paste like what you do on your computer.

[Chris]

you don't really need any fancy FTP software on a win XP machine...

1. Open a Windows Explorer, not Internet Explorer (fastest way is open "My
Computer")
2. At the address bar, type in "ftp://*****.com"
3. It should pop out a login credential checking. then use your login info
(username & password) to login
4. It will lead you to the folder
5. Simply use copy-n-paste like what you do on your computer.

Yep, that's what I do. Couldn't be easier.

[HMetal]

You can also use FileZilla if FireFTP doesn't work out. I find FileZilla has a nice layout and is easy to use as it saves previous connections.

I was using Filezilla to FTP files to my website. I typically use the FTP function of DirectoryOpus, the Windows Explorer replacement file manager which amongst other features, treats FTP sites like any other folder, appearing like a local folder in an explorer-like Window.

However, fireftp allows me to do it all within Firefox instead of open an additional app. It's a nice little plugin to have available if you are just browing and see a typo or a bad link and need to quickly publish a replacement file, even if you don't use it for FTP sites all the time. :)

[tnguyen600]

I used FireFox FTP to give him the photos....It took roughly 2-3 hours to transfer 300 photos. Is this typical?

[Mocows]

I used FireFox FTP to give him the photos....It took roughly 2-3 hours to transfer 300 photos. Is this typical?

Depends on your upload speed and his download speed. Seems about right though.

[Lightworks Imaging]

Wait a second. This client is expecting medium format images and you are going to send medium JPEG's? Am I confused, or is there some variety of misunderstanding, either between the client and the photographer, or more likely between the OP and myself. I'm just wondering how a guy could even confuse those two... And FTP works great. Easier than a CD.

[DDCSD]

There was a mis-communication, the client meant medium resolution jpg's. Most people have no idea what a medium format camera is.

[tnguyen600]

Yeah, when the client told me he wanted medium format I thought hrmm I dont do film. So I told him that I do not do film and he went off saying that i knew that I didn't do film, yet he said medium format. He really meant medium resolution.