Makina W67 Hand-held Night shooting

[km197]

Hi there,
I've really enjoyed shooting with a 35mm RF for the last year or so. I love the ability to handhold these cameras in even the most challenging lighting conditions.
I'm interested in shooting with a wider lens and on medium format, while maintaining some semblance of the compactness and versatility I have grown used to.

The Makina W67 seems like a good option - expect the f/4.5 lens is giving me pause. Will I be able to shoot using the camera in low light street settings? Does physics work differently for larger formats?

I understand it's a naive question but I'd be extremely grateful if you could help me out here.

 

[Colin Corneau]

Tri-X and HP5+ push very well to 1600...that seems to be a must, unless you want to incorporate a flash, too.

I think you'll find less depth of field at, say, f/8 or f/11 at a larger format than you would in a 35mm format.

 

[maddoc]

I tried this with a borrowed Mamiya7II and found DELTA3200 at 1600 e.i. to be very helpful.

with the N 4.0 / 65mm L lens

201007-120-04-7II-DELTA3200-1600ISO-65008 copy by maddoc2003jp, on Flickr

 

[km197]

Thanks Gabor and Colin! Is there a handy equivalence to understand how exposure works differently in different formats? For e.g. hypothetically, using the same shutter speed and film, is an aperture of f2.5 on 35mm the same as using f4 on a medium format 6x7 camera?

 

[sevo]

Thanks Gabor and Colin! Is there a handy equivalence to understand how exposure works differently in different formats? For e.g. hypothetically, using the same shutter speed and film, is an aperture of f2.5 on 35mm the same as using f4 on a medium format 6x7 camera?

No. Exposure is exactly the same. Worse, while exposure is the same, DOF even decreases with format. So you would have to stop down for more and expose correspondingly longer to get the same depth of field! Bigger formats and lower light are a bit of a contradiction, the more so as there are no really fast lenses for the format (regardless of camera and type). The fastest are a few f/2 or f/1.9 80mm lenses for 6x6 or 6x4.5 SLRs, at 6x7 up there is nothing past f/2.8, and all of them in normal (70-110mm) length only.

 

[km197]

No. Exposure is exactly the same. Worse, while exposure is the same, DOF even decreases with format. So you would have to stop down for more and expose correspondingly longer to get the same depth of field! Bigger formats and lower light are a bit of a contradiction, the more so as there are no really fast lenses for the format (regardless of camera and type). The fastest are a few f/2 or f/1.9 80mm lenses for 6x6 or 6x4.5 SLRs, at 6x7 up there is nothing past f/2.8, and all of them in normal (70-110mm) length only.

Wow! Thanks for clearing that up, Sevo. That puts things in perspective.

 

[kram]

Pentax 67 105mm f2.4 is the fastest 6x7 lens I can think of.

 

[froyd]

Regarding the physics of MF, which you were wondering about, you should note that grain will be less evident in an elargement from a MF negative than it would be if the same type ofilm were enlarged to the same size from a 35mm negative. To a small extent the appearence of softness caused by hand-holding MF cameras at low speeds is also reduced at smaller enlargements.

 

[maitani]

the quiet leaf shutter and steadynessof the makina makes it easy to even handhold at 1/8 sec speeds. i feel f4.5 is more than enough, at least with faster speed film

 

[Rob-F]

Regarding the physics of MF, which you were wondering about, you should note that grain will be less evident in an elargement from a MF negative than it would be if the same type ofilm were enlarged to the same size from a 35mm negative. To a small extent the appearence of softness caused by hand-holding MF cameras at low speeds is also reduced at smaller enlargements.

I agree with the first point; but I think any advantage gained by the smaller enlargement will be offset by the MF lens being about twice the focal length of a 35mm camera. The longer lens will magnify the handheld movement blur. Shorter lenses tend to be more hand-holdable. So I think it's probably a wash.

But at least the Makina, being mirrorless and having a leaf shutter, should hold camera shake to a minimum.

 

[semrich]

I don't know it this will help, this was taken with a 903 SWC, 38/4.5, Delta 3200 at 1600, hand held 1/15 sec., and the tram is moving uphill. Shooting wide you have more latitude about camera motion.



[url=https://flic.kr/p/dJUiWC]Lisbon by semrich, on Flickr[/URL]