E-20 for portrait studio

I'm a professional portrait photographer (more than 20 years) and would like to know if the E-20 is capable of producing professional quality portraits up to 16x20 in size. I've shot an Mamaiya RB67 for almost 30 years.

Hi Keith,

I would have to say YES!

A lot depends on the original, but I have some A3's that were sent to me as a gift from Jono S, and they are from the E-10! All of them would go to 16x20 easily.

We are still a long way from reaching the resolution of film, and then the argument of Okay, 35mm film is 10 megs res, so whats 2-1/4? It will drive ya nuts.

Best advice I can offer is to buy one from a company that has a return policy, take some shots, send them to your lab, and make the judgement for yourself..

Side note, 30 years is a long time for any camera, kinda speaks of some quality on that model.

Keithpho said:

I'm a professional portrait photographer (more than 20 years) and
would like to know if the E-20 is capable of producing professional
quality portraits up to 16x20 in size. I've shot an Mamaiya RB67
for almost 30 years.

Click to expand...

Keithpho said:

I'm a professional portrait photographer (more than 20 years) and
would like to know if the E-20 is capable of producing professional
quality portraits up to 16x20 in size. I've shot an Mamaiya RB67
for almost 30 years.

Click to expand...

Keithpho,

In my opinion you should be able to obtain excellent results with the E-20.

I shoot in the studio with a couple of E-10s and I get stunning photographs from my lab up to 10 x 15 (that is the largest my lab is capable of at the present time). With this in mind, I know that 11 x 14 will also be just as stunning and am looking forward to producing some 16 x 20s from my E-10 files.

I know that many people complain about the write times of the Exx cameras, particularly the 20, but I don't find that to be an issue, especially in the studio.

George
http://www.pbase.com/law

Keithpho said:

I'm a professional portrait photographer (more than 20 years) and
would like to know if the E-20 is capable of producing professional
quality portraits up to 16x20 in size. I've shot an Mamaiya RB67
for almost 30 years.

Click to expand...

I am considering a Mamaiya 645 Autofocus with a digital back. The Exx is fine for a replacement for 35mm. This new camera has autofocus and is designed for the professional. It also can be leased for 300 bucks a month.
I know my M645 1000s is 25 years old and and parts are still available for it.

Mamaiya tends to better serve the professional. I think the camera produces an 18 meg file. It also accepts a 120/220 back. Just a thought.

I like my E-10, but it does have certain drawbacks.

Charles L. Mims

Keithpho said:

I'm a professional portrait photographer (more than 20 years) and
would like to know if the E-20 is capable of producing professional
quality portraits up to 16x20 in size. I've shot an Mamaiya RB67
for almost 30 years.

Click to expand...

http://www.pbase.com/image/1372099

I did this photo with the E-20 and my client purchased a 16x20 as well as a variety of other sizes. She was impressed as well as I. The E-20 has been a perfect camera for studio portraiture. I had used Bronica ETR-S's for the past 19 years and I don't miss anything quality wise using the E-20.
Go for it!!!!

HI,

The E10 is a great camera for portraiture. 20x16s are no problem. I print them all the time on my Epson 7500. Neither of these shots were made in the studio. One at a wedding reception and one at the baby's christening taken on a restaurant table using available light on both.

Buffer size has never been a problem for me at all.

Cheers,

Richard

Keithpho said:

I'm a professional portrait photographer (more than 20 years) and
would like to know if the E-20 is capable of producing professional
quality portraits up to 16x20 in size. I've shot an Mamaiya RB67
for almost 30 years.

Click to expand...

Just another opinion for you to mull over. I think you may be able to use the E-20 as a replacement for most portrait clients, but I'll suggest a couple instances where it will probably fall short. For one, when compared to a nice scanned file from a 6x7 cm piece of film. Before I go further, I'll just mention that I do use an E-20 and E-10 in my studio and have not shot a portrait on film for well over a year. My film cameras are Mamiya 645 Pro TL models and they have been virtually idled since the E-10/20's arrived.

If you shoot mainly individuals, couples, and small groups, the E cameras are very capable. With the help of an interpolation program like Genuine Fractals to bump up the file size, I routinely have made nice looking portraits from 11x14 through 24x30 size that I display in my studio right next to film images shot on 2 1/4 film. Cannot tell a difference. However on larger groups of people (which may or may not be a concern to you) the number of pixels making up each individuals face may simply not have enough fine detail to hold up well at 16x20 size and beyond. I have made group shots to 8x10 size with the E-20 that I believe hold up well compared with 35 mm film, but do not contain as much fine detail information as a piece of 120 film, especially 6x7 cm.

Secondly, I have learned to live with the E-20's slowish write times and I think that depending on your style of shooting during a portrait session, the camera may be adequate. I often find myself having to wait until the camera "catches up" during my portrait sessions before shooting can resume or the last captured images can be reviewed. This means slowing down the pace of things even more which just depends on how you like to work if it will suit you or not. I wish the camera were faster...much faster, but I have learned to work with it until something better comes along that I feel provides as much bang for the buck. Until then, both E cameras comprise the bulk of my professional shooting routine.

Hope this helps you decide,

TomJ

Keithpho said:

I'm a professional portrait photographer (more than 20 years) and
would like to know if the E-20 is capable of producing professional
quality portraits up to 16x20 in size. I've shot an Mamaiya RB67
for almost 30 years.

Click to expand...

Keith,

The best judge would be yourself. I would suggest getting a couple of "out of the camera" portraits from here or other sites, and making some prints at the max size. Also, there are techniques you can research (like raw images, Genuine Fractals etc) that may give you better results, but require more post processing work. I'm sure many people here would be willing to give you test images to work with.

Sean

Thanks Brian,
I did test an E-10 for a week and really liked the feel of it.

Brian Mackey said:

Hi Keith,

I would have to say YES!

A lot depends on the original, but I have some A3's that were sent
to me as a gift from Jono S, and they are from the E-10! All of
them would go to 16x20 easily.

We are still a long way from reaching the resolution of film, and
then the argument of Okay, 35mm film is 10 megs res, so whats
2-1/4? It will drive ya nuts.

Best advice I can offer is to buy one from a company that has a
return policy, take some shots, send them to your lab, and make the
judgement for yourself..

Side note, 30 years is a long time for any camera, kinda speaks of
some quality on that model.

Click to expand...

It wasn't the same camera. I'm on my third body. It is a workhorse with thousands of shots on it.
Keith