The above portrait of Sal is made with a real 6x6 Camera (Mamiya C330s) - but there are another way how to bring medium format photography into the digital world, with help of a fullframe (24x36 mm sensor) camera.
In my case, a Canon EOS R based type of camera. With help of a special "displaced / by design shifted" adapter, 4 images are made by rotating the adapter by 90 degrees each. Then a 6x6 type of image can be created with help of stitching.
2.5x larger
The result will be 2.5x larger than the original digital 24x36 mm sensor. Equivalent to what you would get using a 46x46 mm image sensor with a real medium format lens. (In the old days with analog film the 4x4 format was called "baby medium format").
So, it is not truly covering 6x6 (56x56 mm), but the closest thing you can get to medium format when using a mirrorless fullframe camera. The adapter eliminates the distortion of perspective because all 4 frames are taken through the same angle and lens.
With the Vertex adapter - you simply rotate the camera around the lens axis by 90 degrees between each frame - the perspective will be exactly the same (which also makes stitching easier). So, you are literally using that medium format lens "as it is".
The EOS R results into 75 MP, and the EOS R6 gives 50 MP. The equivalent crop factor with the big Pentax 6x7 lenses will be... well, a little cropped as you are not using the entire image circle these lenses cover.
I personally will use Pentax 6x7lenses together with a Rhinocam Vertex adapter, on either Canon EOS R or the EOS R6 camera. I do not have Hasselblad, Bronica or Mamiya 645 lenses. And only 2 lenses for the Pentax 645 system. The huge Mamiya RZ 67 Sekor lenses are not supported.
Therefore Pentax 6x7 lenses became the most natural choice for me.
$350 turns into 5000 SEK
The adapter was pretty expensive. The Swedish Krona has become more like a bottomless pit, weaker than ever before, where 12,50 SEK is equivalent to 1 Euro.
It used to be 8.5 SEK...
So, this $350 adapter (with tax), costs now 5000 SEK. It is an absurdly expensive price for a piece of metal. 2700 SEK would been adequate... and it would have had that price when the Swedish Krona was stable around 8,5 SEK for 1 Euro.
Perhaps it is worth it - perhaps it is not. Either way, we shall see in the next weeks and months. Let's have fun with it. I hope so.
