Aside from having the right gear for the right job or situation, most photographers would agree that the thing they covet the most is the elusive “perfect backpack”. The perfect size, weight, form, function and fit, all combined into one. Is that asking too much? Yet, manufacturers continue to offer up different products with different gimmicks, each touting it is the perfect solution, borrowing elements from each other’s product lines. I admit, I am a backpack junkie. I’ve lost count over how many backpacks I have owned and used over the years. But maybe I’m not really a pack junkie but just not satisfied with what I have.
Read MoreUsing Legacy Medium Format Lenses with a 21st Century Technical Camera
The great majority of my favorite landscape images have been taken at the wider end of the spectrum of focal lengths. Since moving to a technical camera a few years ago, my wide-angle lens of choice is the Rodenstock 32HR. It provides a field of view of roughly what a 21mm lens would provide using a 35mm format. If I need to create an even wider view, then I will use the shift feature available on my Cambo WRS and stitch accordingly. But landscape photography doesn’t always live up close and low to your subject. Sometimes, I want to be able “extract” a small segment of a much broader landscape scene. The lenses generally designed for a technical camera, such as the Cambo WRS and others, are generally limited in their longer focal lengths. Those longer focal lengths generally are tapped out at 180mm. Because of this limitation, I was interested in finding a way to utilize legacy (i.e. film) MF telephoto lenses (with large image circles) so that I could extract small segments of a landscape scene while still utilizing the full size of the Phase One IQ280 sensor.
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