Examples of your work if you photograph machinery or people doing manual labour Bronica ETRS

[abruzzi]

I live in a heavily agricultural area, so a fair number of my photographs are influenced by that. I don’t have nearly as many with people doing agricultural work as I do just the general hardware and environment. I can look to see I have any shot with my ETRSi that fit your question, but my digitized negatives are pretty chaotic and disorganized.

 

[Dan Daniel]

I use my digital with my distance glasses on, but that was not working with the ETRS so I tried my reading glasses and it is slightly better with those, but still far from good. The +5 prescription is for distance and near is +7.25. Without glasses I can't see a thing in the viewfinder.

You might go to a drug store with the camera and try adding reading glasses. Not sure if the UK has this, but here in the US many drug stores will have a stack of various diopter reading glasses. See what happens with the camera in hand. Put the reading glasses in front of your other glasses.

Oh, a worker, nanny-

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use my digital with my distance glasses on, but that was not working with the ETRS so I tried my reading glasses and it is slightly better with those, but still far from good. The +5 prescription is for distance and near is +7.25. Without glasses I can't see a thing in the viewfinder.

Going to contact lenses will give your much better vision overall and eliminate the problems with viewfinders.

 

[runswithsizzers]

So the message that seems to be coming across to me is that really medium format is just for someone that wants a toy to play with. I might as well really forget the expense of doing it and go back to my digital unless I want a new toy. I always got the impression from listening to so many photographers over the past couple of years that there was someone advantage, but obviously not.

If you just want a quick and easy way to take photos, you are probably correct to assume that medium format is not going offer much advantage over digital (depends somewhat on what digital camera you have to compare it to).

In post #12 @wiltw gave some sound reasons why medium format might have some technical advantages over your digital camera, but I think there is a little more to it than that.

The process of shooting with a medium format film camera forces you to slow down and take a more deliberate approach to photography. You will probably become more selective when choosing your subjects. You will probably start paying more attention to what you are doing with exposure and composition. After a while, you may develop a different way of seeing. No guarantees, but learning the discipline of shooting medium format film may lead to becoming a better photographer. Or maybe not. Depends on how hard you are willing to work at it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If you just want a quick and easy way to take photos, you are probably correct to assume that medium format is not going offer much advantage over digital (depends somewhat on what digital camera you have to compare it to).

In post #12 @wiltw gave some sound reasons why medium format might have some technical advantages over your digital camera, but I think there is a little more to it than that.

The process of shooting with a medium format film camera forces you to slow down and take a more deliberate approach to photography. You will probably become more selective when choosing your subjects. You will probably start paying more attention to what you are doing with exposure and composition. After a while, you may develop a different way of seeing. No guarantees, but learning the discipline of shooting medium format film may lead to becoming a better photographer. Or maybe not. Depends on how hard you are willing to work at it.

One of the biggest advantages. +1

 

[MattKing]

So the message that seems to be coming across to me is that really medium format is just for someone that wants a toy to play with. I might as well really forget the expense of doing it and go back to my digital unless I want a new toy. I always got the impression from listening to so many photographers over the past couple of years that there was someone advantage, but obviously not.

That isn't what I was trying to convey.
I really enjoy using medium format film. When compared to 35mm, it gives me negatives that are frequently nicer to print in the darkroom, and easier to scan effectively as well. The viewing systems in my various medium format choices are very nice to use, and I've got all sorts of useful and fun to use accessories for my medium format cameras - some of which are brilliant. And I particularly enjoy the 4/3 aspect ratio of my Mamiya 645 Pro.
When I'm printing something for exhibition purposes, I'm more likely to be satisfied with the results from medium format negatives than from 35mm negatives, but that doesn't mean that In don't have exhibition prints from 35mm that I am very happy from.
And medium format transparencies look really wonderful when projected!
But that wasn't what I understood you were asking about when you started this thread. I understood you to be asking about what sort of photography or what sort of subjects it was that medium format was particularly suited for. And the answer is that outside of some special subjects, medium format isn't best for anything in particular, it is just really good for all sorts of things. It really isn't any better in any special way for subjects like machinery or people doing manual labour than 35mm or large format is - its advantages and detriments are the same for those subjects as just about any other subject.
The same applies to the 6x4.5 format, other than the fact that the portability and handhold-ability of the 6x4.5 systems sometimes makes them practical in situations where one might have assumed that something smaller like 35mm would have been required.
There is a really good chance you will find it very enjoyable to uses your Bronica. The camera is really well designed for that. If so, that is what will lead to great results, more than anything about the cameras capabilities and technical features.
Here is some 6x4.5 based "machinery" - because you asked . In this case, handheld and employing my rarely used waist level finder.

 

[Sirius Glass]

So the message that seems to be coming across to me is that really medium format is just for someone that wants a toy to play with. I might as well really forget the expense of doing it and go back to my digital unless I want a new toy. I always got the impression from listening to so many photographers over the past couple of years that there was someone advantage, but obviously not.

I prefer medium format to the point that almost all my photography for the last 15 years has been medium format.

 

[moto-uno]

Well , it might have been used on a farm ! Bronica Etrs . Peter