Medium Format Movement

My very expensive Hasselblad equipment is currently being used as exhibition fodder in my glass-fronted kit cupboard as I’m just not willing to use it to shoot nosebag jobs in estate agency. It’s like being an Uber driver and having a Bentley in the garage - you’re not going to risk taking it out to pick some arseholes up from a nightclub.

The H system lenses/tilt-shift converter I bought, along with the H to X system lens converter work sort of ok, but there’s no autofocus possible, and they’re bloody massive so I don’t use them at all. Just before my Greek holiday I reluctantly purchased a new Hasselblad XCD 28mm lens which is now permanently attached to my X1Dii 50c body, and the quality of the files is immense. I’d like to try one of the two Laowa shift lenses, but I’m not quite ready to commit just yet.

I’d love to expand my range of lenses, but it’s simply not feasible until at least my initial outlay is paid off in full or some well-compensated work comes my way which utilises the medium format gear. Selling some gear would be nice, but I have a whole room full of equipment which cost me a small fortune, will never be used again, and is currently close to worthless - it’s a crying shame honestly. The X system lenses are ridiculously expensive, and watching people on Youtube pissing about taking pictures of their cat while sporting an X2Dii 100c body and three lenses with a total value of £20K makes me want to scream. Where do they get the money?

Anyway, I’m determined to make the most of the equipment, but I’m currently lacking the motivation to make it happen. Maybe doing some personal work during the quiet winter months - landscapes or whatever - will give me some inspiration. In the meantime I’ve got error messages indicating that the expensive SD memory cards I’m using just aren’t fast enough for the 108MB raw files. That’ll be another £200 please.