35mm for magazines in the 80's-90's

Shootar401 · Sep 26, 2012

I never really paid attention to the fashion industry back in the 80's & 90's. But I've been curious about what format most of the fashion magazines were shot with. I know most covers were done in MF, but I was wondering about the photos for the articles and things. I remember my friend working at Vouge in the mid 90's and getting a tour of their offices and I saw a lot of 35mm contact sheets. Of what, I don't remember.

Does anybody know where 35mm was used in the big pubs? And what the common film types (EPR, VPR, EPT, etc..) that were used?

Thanks

Chris Lange · Sep 26, 2012

35mm was the norm up until the early/mid 90s when the switch to 6x7 was mostly made. My father was shooting editorial and covers from the 70s through the 2000's and always shot a mixture of 6x6, 6x7, and 35mm the entire time. Although from 1998-2004 it was mostly 6x7 in RZ67 Pro IIs, and almost always Portra 400NC or 160NC.

Shootar401 · Sep 26, 2012

Thanks for the info! Last I remembered everything was shot on chromes, this was back when I was in college in 1993. I guess a lot has changed.

I assume the RZ's and Portra are still used quite a bit even now? And why the switch to Portra anyway? quality issues?

awwsheeet · Sep 26, 2012

im pretty sure they used this piece of crap

elekm · Sep 26, 2012

I thought they liked medium format, specifically the Hasselblad, because of the flash synch up to 1/500, the large 6x6 negative and the ability to crop without worrying about film grain becoming an issue.

CGW · Sep 26, 2012

Worth poking around here for who used what:

http://whouseswhatcamera.com/2012/04/02/what-camera-did-herb-ritts-use/

Ric Trexell · Sep 26, 2012

I'm just guessing but...

I have zero inside info on your question, but my guess would be that the fashion shots were done with Nikon or Canon 35mm cameras with motor drives. You always see the gals swinging from side to side and the photographers are clicking away like crazy. Perhaps in later years the went to 645's with an assistant changing the inserts every so often. I think I have seen assistants changing the film in 35mm's by first disconnecting the camera from the strobes and handing a newly loaded camera to the photographer. Speed was and still is very important I suppose when you are paying a model by the hour.

Chris Lange · Sep 26, 2012

For laughs here's a video of my dad shooting for the SI swimsuit issue back in 1993... all Nikon F4s and FE2s with motors, and lots of Ektachrome.

His segment begins at :30 seconds in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpV2c2UZ3_o

Chris Lange · Sep 26, 2012

By the time my father left the fashion industry, he had amassed an arsenal of Hasselblads, RZ67 Pro IIs, Pentax 645s, Pentax 67s, Nikon F4s, Nikon FE2s, and had ditched his Nikon Fs, and ELWs (not that they were in readily operable condition at that point any way...)

Chris Lange · Sep 26, 2012

Also, the girl at 6 minutes in, Ingrid Seynhaeve, is a total sweetheart, I haven't seen her in about 6 years, but I last saw her on a shoot I assisted my dad with in 2006. She was a fairly regular face around the studio from the 90's through the 2000s though.

Shootar401 · Sep 26, 2012

Chris Lange said:
For laughs here's a video of my dad shooting for the SI swimsuit issue back in 1993... all Nikon F4s and FE2s with motors, and lots of Ektachrome.

His segment begins at :30 seconds in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpV2c2UZ3_o

Thats a great video, thanks for sharing!

Klainmeister · Sep 26, 2012

Awesome

thuggins · Sep 28, 2012

I knew a successful photographer in SF in the early naughties. He only shot chomes on MF, specifically Hasselblad. He was politely dismissive of my OM-4.

Christiaan Phleger · Sep 29, 2012

Is that an 85mm 1.4 AF-D at 6:19?
Fun Video, I remember this issue. It was pretty saturated if I recall.

Shootar401 · Sep 30, 2012

There are a few shots of a photographer loading film in this F4. Looks like the colors on the canister were yellow and red. Kodachrome!

DanielStone · Oct 2, 2012

Chris Lange said:
For laughs here's a video of my dad shooting for the SI swimsuit issue back in 1993... all Nikon F4s and FE2s with motors, and lots of Ektachrome.

His segment begins at :30 seconds in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpV2c2UZ3_o

thanks for reminding me why I love the 90's so much

the SI models these days aren't as curvy as those in the 80s/90s IMO...so not as good

SPLASH
"What was that?..."
<picks camera out of water>
"Loaded or unloaded?"

Dan

Chris Lange · Oct 2, 2012

It's a 180/2.8 AF. We still have that one at home, but the AF drive is totally dead, Nikon and Nippon Photo Clinic say it's not worth replacing, would be cheaper to buy another lens used. Still great as a manual focus lens though.

Speaking from having retouched and spotted a few of these frames a few summers ago to help my dad prepare some older pictures for a talk he was giving, I think it was EPR, although it could have been Kodachrome, too...I know my dad stopped using kodachrome around 1992/3 for the majority of his 35mm because E6 processing and film had gotten good enough to supplant Kodachrome in a fast-paced world like the fashion industry.

Also the Kodachrome processing wasn't as consistent in NYC as it was for E6, which was getting a higher throughput...

Christiaan Phleger · Oct 4, 2012

Yep, EPR was the Playboy film, great for skin and looked really good pushed 1/3, gave nice healthy glow. Great fun segment, thanks for sharing.

EASmithV · Oct 4, 2012

Awesome! It's a shame people don't have the creativity to do stuff like this anymore.

rolleiman · Oct 7, 2012

I worked through those times. Nikons and Hasselblads were the order of the day, plus the Rolleiflex was a very popular "Press" camera to use with flash. However, Yashicamats, Canons and Pentaxes were also in use. Olympus OM1's had a flurry of popularity around 1979-80, because of their compactness and excellent Zuiko lenses. However their dubious long term reliability and flash sync of only 1/60th, caused them to fall out of favour against the 1/250th of the Nikon FM2n, particularly when colour became the norm for press work.
The Mamiya RB67 began to replace the Hasselblad for many magazine photographers, due largely to its unique revolving film back enabling easy portrait mode shooting in the 6x7 format on a tripod which fitted the upright format of magazine pages.
As for film, Fuji was favourite for colour, although Kodachrome hung around for a time, particularly for non-urgent work. For black & white HP5 and Tri-X was the normal choice.

summicron1 · Oct 8, 2012

Chris Lange said:
For laughs here's a video of my dad shooting for the SI swimsuit issue back in 1993... all Nikon F4s and FE2s with motors, and lots of Ektachrome.

His segment begins at :30 seconds in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpV2c2UZ3_o

well THAT was fun, and not just for the obvious reason. Really interesting to see how much the shooter works in those situations...
ct

trojancast · Oct 9, 2012

I've been shooting since '65, and I used 35mm for Runways and Street shots. MF was for studio only. Nikon was the preferred 35 and Hassey for 120. Today it's all digital, unless your name is Bill Cunningham!

35mm for magazines in the 80's-90's

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