Lure of Medium Format

[Richard Black]

I think about the camera I want to take out with me and then just reach in and grab something. Sometimes serendipidy, I hope that is spelled correctly, makes a better choice. I like the Rolleiflex with the Beate focusing screen, bright and easy to compose. The Fuji 645 is a joy, but then so is ... too many cameras so little time, sigh!

 

[Bertram2]

Is it over with the Contax? Or will I eventually come back and beg for forgiveness?
Anyone else been lured by the siren call of medoum format?
Robert

Robert, you will come back , but not to beg for forgiveness, you just learned that your Harem is still not complete .

Among the the RFF members I suppose quite a lot of photogs who have gone back and forth with this format issue several times ! And lost a lot of money by trading gear.

As always it all depends on what you shoot and how much you enlarge. If you are not strongly focussed to a very special photographical theme you need both MF and 35.

As long as you do not restrict yourself to a TLR as a tool for special tasks only the MF camera has a lot of severe disadvantages which one should consider very very carefully before a decison of format switch is made.

The disavantages are as bad as the results are phantastic :
Cost, weight, size, slow lenses, film flatness, DOF, mirror slap,to mention the most important points.

Nonetheless it is another world of quality, ALL kind of photography sucks profit from the larger neg and it's benefits are visible from 13X18cm on.

First if you are sure you don't need the advantages of the smaller format ( which are numerous and not less serious) you can think about giving 35mm up.
If so think about it for about a year and then check your opinion again.......
😀

Regards,
Bertram

 

[Roger Hicks]

Then there are the times you decide to stop piddling around with those stupid little formats that you have to enlarge, like 4x5 inch, and just make contact prints. I favour 13x18cm/5x7 inch myself but also have 8x10 inch and 12x15 inch.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Bertram2]

Then there are the times you decide to stop piddling around with those stupid little formats that you have to enlarge, like 4x5 inch, and just make contact prints. I favour 13x18cm/5x7 inch myself but also have 8x10 inch and 12x15 inch.

Cheers,

Roger

Oh my god, yes, this will happen to me too one day, I am sure ! For reasons I don't want to explain here (would get too longish) for me this kind of photography is the most fascinating technical version. And I am sure it will mean I have to add another system to those I work already with. You did not give up any other format either for introducing LF as I suppose ?
Vivre, c'est choisir !! Or less intellectually expressed: The Harem idea is the superior concept ! 😀 😀 AT least for those with a "He-Man-Wallet" as I recently read at pnet 🙄
Regards,
Bertram

 

[Roger Hicks]

Giving up other systems? Good Lord, no! Everything from sub-min to 12x15...

(But my favourites are still Leica and Alpa)

Cheers,

Roger

 

[DougK]

I've taken my Lubitel, Seagull, and Fuji MF cameras lots of places and overall, I think the photos came out better because I took more time thinking about the shots. Having limited image storage capacity can definitely be a plus. Having said that, I love shooting with all my cameras and it really depends on which one I feel like carrying that day.

 

[Bertram2]

Giving up other systems? Good Lord, no! Everything from sub-min to 12x15...

(But my favourites are still Leica and Alpa)

Cheers,

Roger

Hmm, unfortunately my wallet isn't He-man like at all, so Alpa will stay a distant diffuse desire only for me. 🙁
Bertram

 

[RObert Budding]

Ahh, Richard, those shots with the MF Fuji 645 look very nice! Tell me more . . . After all, there are times when I want a larger negative and don't want to lug around a MF SLR.

I am rethinking what I want to own in each format. I'll probably keep a 35mm rangefinder - easy to carry and nice results for modest enlargements. But I think the Mamiya 645 will be my SLR system. It really is light for MF (compared to my old Mamiya C330f). Heck, it really isn't any heavier than the Contax N1 that I used to own. And it handles almost as well as a 35mm SLR. So, why own a 35mm SLR?

LF will have to wait until my kids are older - I can't slow down that much. But I have been eyeing press cameras.

Digital? Naah. I used my brother-in-law's Digital Rebel last week. It was like using an overgrown p&s. The thing didn't even have an aperture ring on the lens!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone.

Robert

 

[Richard Black]

The Fuji GS645 is a folding camera. It has everything a travel camera of 120mm needs, at least for me. The lens is great, a bit slow, but color and contrast is wonderful. I have lusted after the Mamiya 645 system for some time, but since I have a complete Pentacon 6tl with CZJ lenses and multiple viewfinders, I just can't spring for it. I know what you mean about the Mamiya C330f, I inherited one from my father and it is a tank. I won't get rid of it, but it tends to be studio work only. It is NOT a safari camera! Keep an eye on my gallery for additonal Fuji photos later.

 

[Doug]

Richard, I'd be interested to hear about your work style with a folding camera... How much and under what circumstances do you leave it unfolded? Do you feel it's more vulnerable to "knocking about" damage when open?

(BTW, 120mm is 4.72 inches, and I'm sure the film isn't quite that wide!)

 

[Richard Black]

Doug,
I keep the camera open when I am using it. It is small enough to handle like a rf, so I keep it ready. I don't close it until I am finished using it. I don't transport it open, however. I erred when I use the term 120mm, just the film size 120, about 2.25" wide, thus 6x6. I find the Fuji easy to use and quick to learn. I did have the original bellows replaced by Camera Wiz with a much stronger replacement from England.

 

[f/stopblues]

I use a Mamiya C330 TLR on occassion, but I still can't get my brain to register how to track moving objects in that backward viewfinder! Half the time I can't even get a decent horizon line without a tripod. Just time I'm sure, but its cause I just recently started handholding it more. Tripod work is much much easier in that regard.

Chris

 

[hoot]

It really is a matter of practice, Chris. I had the same problem and it went away after about 20 rolls of film.

 

[sf]

yeah, medium format is very nice. I started with a 16mm, went to 35, then to 645, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, then to 4x5, and have enjoyed all but the 16mm. Honestly, the benefits of medium format (if taken advantage of properly), outweight the negatives (WEIGHT, BULK). Mamiya is the king of the hill in medium format. Best lenses around - in my opinion, and the cameras are all built to last. Kind of like the Leicas of medium format.

The 645E was my first medium format camera, and it is responsible for some of my best work making it from moment to paper. Spectacular tonality in that film size, and the Mamiya 80mm has amazing bokeh. Better than any Leica lens. By a long shot.

Though, if I did it all over again (in that size range), I'd buy a Hasselblad 6x6 with a really sweet lens. I like the idea of waist level finders.

 

[Doug]

Thanks, Richard -- It makes sense to leave it open around a particular photo location, then fold it closed when moving on. There must be some wear and tear on the gear opening and closing it... But I've only used a folding camera once, when trying out an old Kodak Junior 620, and it seemed awkward and vulnerable when open. So I wondered how someone more experienced handled that. 🙂

Camera Wiz is a great shop... they rebuilt my Fuji GS645S (a non-folder) that had several serious problems.

 

[Roman]

I use a Mamiya C330 TLR on occassion, but I still can't get my brain to register how to track moving objects in that backward viewfinder! Half the time I can't even get a decent horizon line without a tripod. Just time I'm sure, but its cause I just recently started handholding it more. Tripod work is much much easier in that regard.

Chris

Chris,
as 'hoot' said, just a matter of practice - after using TLRs and MF-SLRs with waist-level-finders for years, I consistently move my digital compact (which I only use for color snapshots, mind you) into the wrong direction when I use it with the fold-out screen for preview...

Roman

 

[mac_wt]

I recently bought a nice 'new' Kiev 60 with MLU. It's in a lot of ways the opposite of a Leica (size, weight, mirror-slap,...), but it's a nice change. As said before, it makes you think harder. I'm expecting a CZJ 120mm portrait lens for it. Now I'll have to convince my loved-ones to pose for me. Somehow I don't think it will be handy for taking candid snapshots.

Wim

 

[pvdhaar]

I've a (6x6) Bronica SQB ever since 1999. And there's no denying.. it beats the pants off of even the best 35mm gear I've had when it comes to detail and tonality.

But.. it's heavy, it's big. The Bessa-T with a 25 is so much more pocketable. So in the end, it doesn't see much use outdoors. I've often thought about selling it, but could never bring myself to really do that. I'm sure that as soon as it's gone, I would regret that immediately. Still, in hindsight, if I were to buy MF again, I would go for a Mamiya 6/7 or Bronica RF for compactness' sake..

 

[hoot]

I recently bought a nice 'new' Kiev 60 with MLU. It's in a lot of ways the opposite of a Leica (size, weight, mirror-slap,...), but it's a nice change. As said before, it makes you think harder. I'm expecting a CZJ 120mm portrait lens for it. Now I'll have to convince my loved-ones to pose for me. Somehow I don't think it will be handy for taking candid snapshots.

As soon as I got my YashicaMat, the Kiev 60 stayed in the drawer. Shooting the SLR felt like ducking behind armor, while shooting the TLR feels like sticking out your paw for a handshake. 🙂 The slight parallax is not an issue, especially since precise composition only really matters with a tripod, anyway, and Roman showed me how to devise a quite precise parallax-correcting tripod accessory out of an empty film canister.

If this still doesn't discourage anyone, note that the Kiev 60, with some gear, is available for sale. It's practically mint.

 

[Roman]

The slight parallax is not an issue, especially since precise composition only really matters with a tripod, anyway, and Roman showed me how to devise a quite precise parallax-correcting tripod accessory out of an empty film canister.

OK, let's share it with the TLR newbies (old guns like myself of course already know this one):

Measure the distance between the centers of the lenses on your TLR; take a film canister, and make a markt at this same distance down from the rim; cut off the bottom at that mark; slice the resulting tube lengthwise.

Now, if you want to take a picture with your TLR and a tripod, and parallax might be a problem (e.g. with close-up objects), do the following: put the TLR on the tripod, with the center column all the way lowered (as it always should be - the center column of any tripod is only there for extreme emergency cases, as using it extended turns the tripod basically into a very unstable monopod on three feet), and compose your shot; now loosen the center column, raise it slightly up, and slide that film canister onto the column, lower it again until the film canister sits snuggly between the camera and that part, where the tripod's feet are mounted; tighten center column - voilà, the TLR's taking lens is now exactly at the same height as the viewing lens was when composing the pic... (and I guess the 2 or 3 cm of center column extension won't jeopardize the tripod's stability with a lightweight TLR).

Roman