Sometimes gear grows on you. And sometimes a piece of equipment’s effectiveness is less about specs and more about combinations.

There are good arguments for photographers walking away from full frame/FX and APS-C/DX, instead going for medium format and Micro Four Thirds (MFT). This may be where cameras are heading in the future anyway.

Have you ever wanted to shoot medium format but don’t know where to start? Have you been wanting to try shooting film but 35mm doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough? The RB is here to help.

Hasselblad's X1D and X1D II 50C medium format mirrorless cameras have achieved some popularity for being incredibly portable while still offering extremely high levels of image quality. An updated body is expected fairly soon, and it looks like Hasselblad is planning some major upgrades to the camera.

Fujifilm revolutionized the world of medium format a few years ago by introducing a line of cameras and lenses that offered all the benefits of the larger sensor size at prices that significantly undercut traditional medium format prices and even competed with upper-level full frame prices. The company is showing no sign of stopping, with more cameras and lenses to come next week, along with new X Series gear as well.

Fujifilm has been quietly dominating the rather niche market of reasonably priced medium format cameras. However, their rumored newest addition is either going to the perfect option in that sector, or it's going to narrowly miss that target.

Yes, it’s true. A medium format point and shoot camera actually exists. I wasn’t really into it at first, but have completely fallen in love with it after a few outings. It may well be the only camera I never sell.

Some photographers like that soft, ethereal feel as they specifically seek out types of plastic to stick in front of the lens, or even go so far as to buy defocus control lenses and LensBabies that will allow them to distort an otherwise true image. That has its value. But this isn’t for that. This is the new go-to guide for absolutely everything to know about how to get your images to be tack sharp. Get ready to dive in: this is a no-questions-left-behind study on sharpness.

Fujifilm has been compared to Leica for quite some time. In most cases, it's been comparisons between Fujifilm X-mount cameras and Leica M series and Q series cameras. Many of these comparisons tend to focus on color; however, the sensor size advantage remained on the side of Leica. So, how does a full frame Leica fare against a medium format Fujifilm camera?

Phase One announced a couple of new medium-format digital backs this year, the Trichromatic and the Achromatic. The latter is available for a whopping $63,000 in a kit with the XF body, and for that price it only shoots in black and white. At least that’s the way many seem to consider it. However, it’s much more than that. It captures black and white images like no other camera, and for the photographers that like black and white shooting film, this gorgeous beast offers a very similar workflow. See how it works and performs in this video.

In the film world, it doesn’t take long before you start to get hooked on the idea of shooting medium format. Why, you ask? By this time, no reason whatsoever.

This past week I've been sleep deprived, socially inactive, and holding a camera in my hands for more than I ever have in my entire life. You see, this past week I've been working with PRO EDU to film my first tutorial series to go on sale at the Fstoppers store this summer. Though learning a lot about my own work and process, I think I learned the most when I used a rented PhaseOne IQ250 system for one of my shoots.

We’ve all been there — forking out for a personal project to make what you envisioned for your images a reality. But fine art photographer Nicky Hamilton takes that one step further — he spent months building these incredible sets for his photos.

Fujifilm has already rewired the paradigm of medium format by making it more affordable and accessible than ever, and it looks like they have no intentions of slowing down.

Since the days of film, medium format has been far from reach for many photographers. Even working professionals can have trouble justifying the high price point of these systems: when used, they can be $8,000-10,000. Medium format film bodies, while cheap now, were always several thousand away from even the most exorbitantly priced 35mm bodies. Factor in the inconvenient size of just about every medium format camera ever, and it's easy to put the idea of working with these monsters far from mind.

The Fujifilm GFX 100S takes the company's flagship medium format monster and shrinks both its size and price almost by half with very little sacrifice of features. With this and the company's other GFX cameras, we are now seeing medium format prices well into the realm of full frame. What does that mean for the future of photography?

While these two cameras are different in a whole host of ways, they have similar strengths insofar as they're both concerned with high resolution and for pixel peepers, it's an interesting comparison. However, what's more interesting — to me at least — is a real-world, artistic comparison; which produces more pleasing results?

With the current advancement of imaging technology in digital photography, the significance of format has evolved dramatically to a point where it no longer matters as much compared to the early film days. However, due to physical hardware limitations, it is still essential for us as photographers to recognize that the decision on selecting the imaging format should always align with our creative intent to help achieve the desired result.

What photographer hasn't thought about getting into medium format photography? This comparison provides some useful side-by-side work for you to make your own comparisons.

Let us venture back in time for a minute. 35mm film was always considered small. In fact, it was developed in the early 1900s as a means to make high-volume shooting and consumer photography possible. If you were a working professional, you were shooting at least medium format (6x4.5-6x19 cm) or even more likely, large format, like 4”x5” or 8x10”. The idea is that the larger the format, the more detail you can see. As we fast forward to digital, full-frame is the ideal format for many working pros in a variety of genres. While full-frame can be expensive and yields incredible image quality, there is something more.

Some people shoot full frame lenses on crop sensor cameras. More people should shoot medium format lenses on full frame cameras.

As one might expect (though perhaps not quite so soon after the H5D-50c announcement), Hasselblad has taken to Instagram to announce the H5D-200c MS, a 200-megapixel, multi-shot variant of the H5D-50c. The camera, which can still produce normal 50-megapixel stills at 6200 x 8272 pixels, also ads 4- and 6-shot capabilities for applications such as fine art reproduction, product photography, and more. At its highest resolution, the 200c MS produces massive and glory-clenching 600MB, 16-bit TIFF files.

The cameras in phones have come a long way, but can they stack up against the best of the best? When they both have over 100 megapixels, do they compare?

According to PhotoRumors, the Pentax 645z medium format digital camera is coming April 14th and will be absolutely loaded. The replacement to the 645d will feature a 52.99Mp CMOS sensor like the new offerings from PhaseOne and Hasselblad, shoot ISO 100-204,800, and shoot full HD video and 4K in "interval mode". In addition, the 645z is rumored to not have an AA filter (like the D800E, D7100) for better sharpness, live view with contrast AF and focus peaking, and a new 27-point (25 cross type) AF system.

Scientists at the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands have stitched together 528 photographs of one of Rembrandt’s most famous works to create an image that weighs in just shy of 45 gigapixels. You can now visit their website to zoom in far enough to see beyond even the brushstrokes.

Medium format cameras can produce wildly impressive results, but they generally come at wildly high prices. Fuji may be about to change all that, as it seems they're preparing to release a medium format camera at a full frame price.

Medium format systems are widely known as being the best, producing the most detailed and technically superior images. The lenses are supposedly the best available too, such as the 40mm from Rodenstock which is praised for its amazing performance. If you want the best in image quality, the widest dynamic range, and the deepest depth of field with the least amount of diffraction, then medium format is the answer... or is it? Is this simply perception? If you repeat something enough does it become fact? How many people who believe this to be true have actually tried and compared the best from medium format to the best available from full frame?

For those interested in a extremely compact medium format camera that shoots the most iconic format, 6x6, the Zeiss Super Ikonta 534/16 is here for you.

The iconic Windows XP wallpaper "Bliss" is widely considered to be the world's most viewed image. Though most of us are familiar with the beautiful image that has graced our computers at one point or another, not many are familiar with the story of how it came to be, and fewer yet that it is in fact a real image captured on film! Photographer Charles O'Rear shares with us the story behind how he created the image with nothing more than his Mamiya RZ67 and a roll of Fuji Film.

Despite heavily investing in new cameras over the last couple years, it is the still excellent Nikon D850, purchased two years ago, which has suddenly become brand new to me.