The Beauty & Advantage of Using Medium Format Film

Nowadays, when people start their journey into photography, most begin on the digital path using their phones, a point & shoot or an entry level DLSR.  If you’re someone that really ‘gets the bug’, you’ll gain an increased awareness of the larger tools available to use with film.  If photography is something you really enjoy, picking up a medium format film camera can open up a world of visual yumminess (yes, yumminess) that just isn’t possible with an entry-level digital setup.  There are many options out there for medium format film photography.  Holga, Kiev, Mamiya, Fuji, and Hasselblad are just a few of the cameras available, and you can find a wide variety of film at BHPhotoVideo or Adorama.

– Mamiya C330S w/ 105mm f/3.5 –

My current camera of choice for medium format is a Mamiya C330S.  C330’s are TLR cameras that were made from the 70’s through the early 90’s and they are pretty fun to shoot.  Because it’s fully mechanical and void of any electronics (like I like it), it slows you down and makes you think about everything regarding the image you want to take.

The HUGE advantage of shooting with medium and large format cameras, is that the surface area being exposed on the negative, is SO MUCH larger than what’s exposed on 35mm or P&S cameras.  As a result, both quality and detail, are drastically improved.

I found a chart on Wikipedia by MarcusGR and for comparison, I added a couple of medium format film sizes (6×6 and 645).  The chart shows up to 6×6, but you can also shoot 6×7, 6×9 and wider on medium format film.

Comparison between digital sensor sizes & a couple of MF film sizes

Once  it’s developed, film can be digitized with a dedicated film scanner.  When medium format negatives are scanned, depending on the resolution chosen, you can have image sizes upward and well beyond of a hundred megapixels.   Another bonus, is that once you have the digital negative, you can crop it to whatever aspect ratio you’d like (4×6, 5×7, 8×10 etc. if preferred).  Granted, you can crop anything.  However, when you have a massive amount of ‘information’ at your disposal with larger format negatives, cropping doesn’t drastically decrease the overall quality, like it can when cropping some digital images.

Another perk to MF & LF photography, is how depth of field (DOF) changes.    If you’ve been shooting for a while in the 35mm format, you’re probably used to how f/2.8, f/4 & f/16 for example, changes DOF. As you move up in film size, the DOF decreases.   When I started shooting MF,  I quickly learned that f/8 on the Mamiya was not the same as f/8 on my 35mm cameras.  You have to be a lot more careful when focusing with these larger formats, because even when ‘stopped down’,  you might only be focusing a sliver of sharpness back and forth in the frame.

EDIT:  My Dad pointed out a couple of things in the comments below  .. “Two other benefits that 35mm film shooters may not be aware of are these 1) grain is less apparent when shooting higher speed films in medium format. The appearance of grain is inversely related to the size of the negative. The bigger the negative, the less apparent the grain. 2) the tonal range of any given film is more apparent. Again, it relates to the size of the negative. Here, the apparent tonal range is directly proportionate to the size of the negative: the large the negative, the more subtle the tones.”

There’s an undeniable, aesthetic appeal to the images created with MF & LF cameras.  They create looks that just aren’t possible with P&S and 35mm cameras.  In this day and age, because  of the world’s focus on pixel-cramming digital technology, the price point to get the look of medium format film, is relatively low.  Take advantage if you can.

A handful of medium format images …

Mamiya C330 – 80mm f/2.8 – Pan F Plus – Rodinal

State Fair of Texas – Mamiya C330 – 55mm f/4.5 – Delta 3200

David DeShazo – Mamiya C330S – 55mm f/4.5 – Kodak Tri-X – DDX

Mamiya C330S – 80mm f/2.8 – Acros 100 – Rodinal

Mamiya C330S – 55mm f/4.5 – Pan F Plus – Rodinal

Pacifica, CA – Mamiya C330S – Kodak Tri-X – Ilfosol DDX –

Grant Pittman – Mamiya C330S – 80mm f/2.8 – Adox 25 – Rodinal

Maybelle – C330S – 80mm f/2.8 – Neopan – Rodinal

Transamerica Pyramid – San Francisco – Mamiya C330S – 55mm f/4.5 – Acros – Rodinal

Mamiya RB67 – 150mm SF-C – Delta 400

Arches National Park – Mamiya C330S – 80mm f/2.8

Mamiya RB67 – 90mm f/3.8 – Delta 400 – D76

Mamiya RB67 – 90mm f/3.8 – Tmax 400 – Rodinal

Pacifica, CA – Mamiya C330S – 80mm f2.8 – Ektar 100

Chevy Cameo – Mamiya C330S – 105mm f/3.5 – Ektar 100

Club Med – Punta Cana, DM – Mamiya C330S – 80mm f/2.8 – Ektar 100

Punta Cana, DM – Mamiya C330S – 55mm f/4.5 – Ektar 100

Grace Bay Beach – Turks & Caicos – Mamiya RB67 – Portra 400VC

Buzzard’s Paradise – Mamiya RB67 – Ektar 100

Buzzard’s Paradise – Mamiya RB67 – 90mm f/3.8 – Ektar 100

Del’s Charcoal Burgers – Mamiya RB67 – 150mm SF-C f/4 – Velvia 50

Monument Valley – Mamiya C330S – 55mm f/4.5 – Ektar 100

Some medium format cameras can also use Polaroid backs as well.   I’ve taken a bunch of Fuji peel-apart film, as well as an ever-increasing number of Impossible Project photos on the Mamiya RB67.  You get great results with both types of instant film.  Below are a couple of images shot with the RB67 and Fuji B&W peel-apart film.  Note how much of the image is exposed through this method.

Mamiya RB67 – 90mm f/3.8 – Fuji FP-100B

Turks & Caicos – Mamiya RB67 – 90mm f/3.8 – Fuji FP-100B

And finally as a bonus, some medium format cameras make for great props! 🙂

A C330, a D700 & a few lights 😉

Thanks for reading!  You are appreciated!

-Justin

www.goodephotography.biz

PS – MOST of these photos are available as prints.   If you’d like more information on purchasing, contact me at info@goodephotography.biz.

ON A SIDE NOTE: Last year, I was shooting a lot of portraits on B&W through the C330 and I made a stop-motion video promoting our business. The video consists of hundreds of images detailing part of the process of shooting, developing, scanning & retouching film portraits.  The music is by Curt Bisquera; a ridiculously talented drummer/musician that I met a few years ago through my brother.  The song “Pimp D” has a cool, west-coast vibe.  If you haven’t seen the video before, it’s worth checking out on the larger size through YouTube.