Mamiya 645 (45mm Lens) Kodak Ektar 100ISO 120 Film and MeFOTO Globe Trotter Tripod – Images Above Taken With iPhone

I’ll repeat that both images above were shot on an iphone. I have included an image at the end of this post that I shot professionally in studio.

Film is not dead and it’s a great way to learn about photography. You’ll have to actually wait a few days to see the results, so you’d better take some notes on how you took the shots.

I like shooting medium format film which I first shot in the 1980’s. I’m not all that old. I just started young and logged plenty of darkroom hours back then. 

The Mamiya 645 above has a negative size that’s 3X larger than a 35mm negative and there are a few other things that are different from a 35mm. Medium format cameras are larger in size, the film is a roll that has a paper feed and is sealed shut when finished by licking the adhesive, it has an insert that pulls out of the camera to hold the time (many medium format film cameras have film backs that can be attached and detached), most lenses are prime lenses (meaning one focal length) and the focal length is different in compared to a 35mm lens. That’s only a few of the differences in medium format film vs. 35mm.

I mentioned the focal length of the lenses being different. For example, in the image above and below, I have a 45mm lens on my 645. That is a wide angle lens for this camera because the 50mm equivalent on a 35mm camera is a 75mm or 80mm lens. That’s because of  the negative size. The Mamiya RB67 which has a negative size much larger than the 645 below needs a 90mm lens to create the 50mm standard lens of a 35mm camera.

To this point, I haven’t said anything about the MeFOTO Globe Trotter Tripod. It’s a fantastic travel tripod that folds neatly into a very small travel case. It also converts into a monopod. It extends to be tall enough to use like most standard tripods (not as much as a full size pro tripod) and goes down low enough to get shots much closer to the ground. I never know when I may need a tripod and the MeFOTO Globe Trotter is one that’s easy to keep handy.

Taken in North Raleigh Studio with a Canon 5DMarkIII

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“Tucker” – Kodak Tmax 100 ISO – 120 Film

The image above was taken with a Mamiya 645 Medium Format Film Camera. I used an 80mm f/2.8 manual focus lens set at either f/4 or f/5.6. An 80mm lens on a 645 Medium Format Camera is equivalent to a 50mm lens on a 35mm Camera.

I shot my first roll of Medium Format Film in the mid-80’s. Although I have never shot a wedding in digital and no longer do consumer photography, I shot a lot of weddings in the late 80’s to early 90’s on Medium Format Film.

The image at the top of this post of our Golden Retriever “Tucker” is not edited. Other than cropping the image is as I shot it. There is just something about images shot on film that digital does not provide without doing some editing in Photoshop or a similar software.

I’ve literally photographed thousands of people on medium format film in my career, but that was many years ago. My goal going into 2015 is to add Medium Format Film Photography back into the mix of service offerings. It’s just one way of providing clients something unique and different. For me, it’s just going back to a format that was once a core part of my business before digital was anywhere near the primary way to shoot.

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