The reason is your personal preference. Try all 3 and decide what you like more. You may decide to purchase a slide projector, or scan them, or both. Some people are perfectly happy just looking at MF transparencies on a light table
I am yet to get a good understanding of the reasons to go with slide over film strips, or vice versa, or can you even do slide images in 120?
And I have no problem with them because it trim the corners of the film before I load them. I have only been using them over 15 years.
How they are compared to other reels and whether or not I, you, or anyone else has a problem with them are separate issues. I use them - I clip the corners of all my film - I bend the leading edge of 120 to make it go on the spool easier. It only takes me a minute to load a reel. But there are other reels that are better. Even the older Jobo reels for hand-held tanks are better than the ones I use.
None of us were born with this knowledge, someone helped each of us. Do not be afraid to asking questions.
- I like stainless steel tanks with Hewes reel for daylight tank development. The Hewes reels are more expensive but it will save time an frustration. Practice loading any reels in daylight with developed film until you get good at it.
- Have a piece of linoleum or thick rubber to thump the tank on several times each time you pour in a new chemical or water, that prevents air bubbles, called air bells sticking to the film.
- Use and reuse stop bath with indicator after emptying out the developer. After fixing, wash the film and use Kodak PhotoFlo [follow the mixing instructions, do not just throw in some into water], then hang to dry. Do not use a squeegee or fingers to remove the excess water, instead put a paper towel at the bottom corner of the film to draw off the water. That avoids a number of problems.
I would first dry fire the shutter at different speeds to see if they sound ok. You can test it if you remove the back or via the multi exposure switch. Next you can test the film advance if you have a dummy backing paper roll. Without lens and dark slide, shoot on bulb and mark frames 1-15 with a sharpie to check for overlap and spacing. Also, I had issue with light leaks on SQ backs. I look for those with a tiny LED light in the spool compartments or behind the mirror. Easy to fix with some light seal material.
But easier still, buy a few rolls, shoot using phone app as exposure meter or Sunny-16 and have them developed and scanned locally. See if the camera works and if you like the results. It might be too early to talk about DIY developing. It's fun but it's an investement in time and money.
Check out what Rodinal and Foma can do on medium format:
or just foma in general:
I would caution against shooting slide film for your first forays into film. It can be spectacular, but your exposure needs to be spot-on. Negative film, both color and black and white, has tremendous latitude so if you're off by a stop or so, you can still make a decent print or scan.The reason is your personal preference. Try all 3 and decide what you like more. You may decide to purchase a slide projector, or scan them, or both. Some people are perfectly happy just looking at MF transparencies on a light table
Sadly there is nowhere locally to me: I am out in the sticks in a very rural area. I have an old roll of film that came with the camera, could I test with that? Thanks for the tips. All this help that everyone is giving is very much appreciated.
I would caution against shooting slide film for your first forays into film. It can be spectacular, but you exposure needs to bee spot-on. Negative film, both color and black and white, has tremendous latitude so if you're off by a stop or so, you can still make a decent print or scan.
I would caution against shooting slide film for your first forays into film. It can be spectacular, but your exposure needs to be spot-on. Negative film, both color and black and white, has tremendous latitude so if you're off by a stop or so, you can still make a decent print or scan.
I would caution against shooting slide film for your first forays into film. It can be spectacular, but your exposure needs to be spot-on. Negative film, both color and black and white, has tremendous latitude so if you're off by a stop or so, you can still make a decent print or scan.
I'm sure that there are quality labs in your country that offer mail-in developing? I would use the old roll as a dummy to test for correct film advance.
Well... I would argue that with B&W and CN your scanning technique needs to be spot on too. A scan is going to be the OP's first experience anyway. I'm not sure if you're aware, but most labs will produce horrific scans with color casts, clipped shadows/highlights, oversharpened grain, etc.
So the risk of ruining the first experience is quite high. It's unavoidable.
That's why I recommended to the OP to listen closely to advisors with impressive scans shared online, as a reference for what's possible. Otherwise an advice is just warm air (or, in the case of this medium, wasted bytes).
@Keezly Those options determine two things: the maximum print size and your ability to make adjustments to colors/tone of their scans by digitally editing them.
But these options do not address the root cause: bad quality scanning. If their personnel butchers your scan (examples: clipped highlights or over-sharpening), it's going to stay butchered no matter what output options you choose. Lab quality is quite important.
- For large printing, select the biggest scan size
- For digital editing, select 16-bit TIFF
I had problems with my ETR lenses shutters not firing. You should make sure your lenses actually fire by taking the back off the camera and looking through while firing the shutter at various speeds.
Nobody mentioned reading the manual. I strongly suggest reading the manual for the Bronica ETRS before diving in head first. If you don't have it you can get a copy from https://www.butkus.org/chinon/bronica.htm
Loading the film is not really difficult if you follow the instructions, but it isn't as simple as loading a 35mm film. The camera needs a 6v battery to operate (PX28 or 4LR44 or equivalent), this battery is in current production and easily available but you may need to buy it online. There are various interlocks that will confuse you if you don't remember them, eg the shutter doesn't fire unless the darkslide is removed. There is a shutter in each of the lenses. The body and lenses need to be cocked to (a) see through the finder, and (b) dismount or mount lens from body.
The shutter doesn't test-fire without film in the camera unless either (1) you take off the film back, or (2) operate the multi-exposure switch (don't forget to put it back). You can wind a roll of backing paper without film through to test the winding and shutter, but you don't have an extra roll of backing paper yet.
One can break a camera by not reading the manual first.
None of us were born with this knowledge, someone helped each of us. Do not be afraid to asking questions.
- I like stainless steel tanks with Hewes reel for daylight tank development. The Hewes reels are more expensive but it will save time an frustration. Practice loading any reels in daylight with developed film until you get good at it.
- Have a piece of linoleum or thick rubber to thump the tank on several times each time you pour in a new chemical or water, that prevents air bubbles, called air bells sticking to the film.
- Use and reuse stop bath with indicator after emptying out the developer. After fixing, wash the film and use Kodak PhotoFlo [follow the mixing instructions, do not just throw in some into water], then hang to dry. Do not use a squeegee or fingers to remove the excess water, instead put a paper towel at the bottom corner of the film to draw off the water. That avoids a number of problems.
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