I have finally undertaken  some small steps towards making  the necessary shift to what the photographic industry  calls   digital medium format photography. 

One  reason that  started me to make  this shift  is the  trouble I have recently been experiencing  using  the 5x7  large format with  colour negative film:  eg., bellows yaw on the Cambo  SC-3; the  poor quality  commercial lab film processing of colour negative sheet film;   Newton rings from scanning 5x7 negatives  on  a flat bed Epson scanner;  and then the  difficulties with  the subsequent colour correction in Lightroom.  These  ongoing problems over a couple of years  led me to  more or less give up using both the 5x7  format and the Cambo SC-3 (circa 1960s).   Time to cut my loses I thought. 

Below  is an  early image of the wetlands in the Hindmarsh Estuary in Victor Harbor on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia using the  5x7 Cambo monorail.  It was exposed on colour film (Kodak Portra 160 ASA),   but  then converted  to black and white as an experiment to see if it was possible for me to make a return to b+w. Yep was my response. It looks okay.  

Though some  of the above issues have been resolved -- eg., those with the  pro-lab and then using a hand made 5x7 film holder for scanning -- the encountered  difficulties  with the work flow convinced me to start making some small steps to  shift from using large format colour negative exclusively,  and to begin to start  using  black and white sheet film. I have  more control  over the work flow process as a result.  

Increasing though, the main reason for making the shift  is that the cost of  colour negative film plus pro-lab processing is now  very expensive,  and it's not really viable, especially when things go wrong.  B+W film and DiY film processing is much cheaper. 

 The  future looks to be one  where a digital Fujifilm GFXS 11 would be  used  for colour work . The initial investment  for a  digital medium format for colour photography is an expensive outlay,  but it  just makes operational economic sense. The  5x7 large format  Cambo would be  used with  black and white sheet film.The question that surfaced was: is  it worth while keeping the 5x7?

The  value of the cameras for the 5x7 monorail  format  is close to zero on the current market. I do like the format, the Cambo is  lightweight,  and so it can be carried in the field.  Using it with b+w film is a basically a no brainer. However, though the 1960s aluminium Linhof Professional 3 way Pan-tiltHead and the Twin Shank tripod that I have been using  is  stable  and precise, it is difficult for me  to carry any distance  in the field cos of its  bulk and weight.  I guess I need to make two trips. 

So the wheel turns to where I started with the Cambo 5x7 and  large format photography  -- to a craft based b+w photography. I'm okay with that kind of slow photography in the age of the  digital networked image.