Medium Format Camera

I decided I wanted to try out a Medium Format Camera as I have seen the quality they produce and knew that portraiture was the perfect opportunity with which to experiment. I borrowed a Bronica ETRS and a Mamiya 645 on separate occasions in order to see which one I preferred. When I first tried to borrow a Medium Format camera, I took it to one of the tutors so that he could show me how to load the film. It wasn’t long before it became apparent that the camera wasn’t working properly so I took it back and exchanged it for the Bronica. I was glad that my first experience was the Bronica as I found it very straightforward to use. I had actually videoed the tutor loading the film so that I wouldn’t have any problems when I loaded it myself later – a good idea even if I do say it myself as I would have been buggered otherwise! I ran a few films through the Bronica as I was only able to borrow it for 24 hours. I developed the films the following week and was very pleased with the results. Considering it was the first time I had ever used a Medium Format, I think I did ok and though I haven’t yet done any prints, only the contact sheets, I was really amazed at the quality. I borrowed the Mamiya for a weekend and took it along to the Tattoo Studio. I managed to take a few shots whilst I was there, though not as many as I had planned. I had set the camera up on a tripod and took the shots after I had used the digital camera. The time factor was a problem as mentioned previously when talking about my first experience in the Tattoo Studio. As I had not time to get to know the subjects, it was difficult to get them to hang around for too long after having being tattooed for many hours, so I was only able take a couple of the subjects with the Medium Format. I am not sure it will work for my independent project but never say never, I will see how future shoots go.

I developed the films from both cameras on separate occasions and have included the results. I was very pleased with the Bronica shoot as previously mentioned but the Mamiya shots were not so impressive. The first negative taken from in the Tattoo Studio was very thin and though I used a proper lighting setup and a light meter in order to ensure the exposure would be spot on, something obviously went wrong along the way. I suspect that I had mistakenly set the meter for the wrong ISO setting but I am not entirely sure. I will try to work with the negatives but am not sure they will be of high enough quality. I also had problems with the next shoot with the same camera. I decided to photograph my nieces and nephews in their house. I set up the camera on a tripod and used a light meter in order to achieve the correct exposure. When I posed the subjects however, and looked through the viewfinder, I did find it hard to focus the shot. I kept fiddling with it but couldn’t seem to get it right. There was a small hole in the middle of the viewfinder and I was trying to focus the subjects through this. I think this was a mistake as you can see in the resulting contact sheets, the subjects are totally out of focus. The exposure seemed ok this time as shown with the second contact sheet. Anyway, the whole experience of using this camera was not so positive as it was with the Bronica. I will borrow it again now that I am aware of my mistakes, to see if it was my inability to get to grips with this model, or a case of a few fundamental errors on my part, with setting up the shots, I have since bought a Bronica as I had such a good experience with using it and have run some films through in order to see if I achieve the same kind of shots as before. I will definitely continue to experiment with the Medium Format though as I still love film photography, particularly black and white.