Medium format has got me!

ymc226

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Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
408
Location
Santa Monica
Format
Medium Format
You're not alone. I stopped (well, almost) using my Leica's and Nikon's and am shooting Neopan 400 with my Hassies.
 

Mainecoonmaniac

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Dec 10, 2009
Messages
6,297
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Multi Format
Congrats! I've owed my RZ for over 20 years and it still works great. I love the camera, but the weight makes in impractical to do overseas travel with it. Because RB accessories and lenses are relatively cheap, I picked up a wide angle and a prisim finder. I also love to use a Polaroid back and made negs from Polaroid 665 film.
 

ntenny

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Mar 5, 2008
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2,484
Location
Portland, OR, USA
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Multi Format
Don't overlook the possibility of contact printing in medium format. 6x9 contacts, especially, used to be a perfectly normal size---lots of people's old family albums are full of 'em---and even at 6x6 a nice print can be really, really lovely. "Jewel-like" is a cliche, but it really applies to MF contacts well, IMHO.

-NT
 

brucemuir

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Dec 25, 2007
Messages
2,228
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Metro DC are
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Lars,
Sorry didn't check this thread.
The grip I have is a lefty that has adjustable angle so that the wrist is in various positions depending on which click stop you have it on.
I think there are 4 positions of which I use two.

When I have the AE Prism mounted I use it one click forward from a right angle. This gives the wrist a slight forward position instead of a right angle to the camera body. It's more comfortable for ME.

When using the waist level finder I go one more click forward so I can hold the camera lower/closer to the body for steadiness.

It also has the cold shoe mount for flash but I only use that when I need fill or if bouncing indoors.
It's a pretty slick setup and uses a mechanical shutter lever as opposed to the electrical contacts the newer RZ non adjustable grips use.

These were probably from RB vintage because it's rock solid metal.
If anyone tries one make sure the squarish mounting plate is included (has 2 pins that go into the bottom of the camera next to the tripod threads). These often get lost with second hand examples and I don't believe the camera will mount without it.
 

jfdupuis

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Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
142
Location
SF Bay Area
Format
Medium Format
If you are into street and causal, then you should have a look at the TLR. I got a nice and cheap Autocord to complete my 6008i kit. While being an amazing camera the 6008 is not very discrete for candid. The shutter lag is also quite long, which make it less than ideal for street.
 

Ric Trexell

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May 26, 2009
Messages
255
Location
Berlin Wi.
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Sorry I didn't go MF sooner.

Now at the age of 58, I remember two people suggesting I go MF when I was in my twentys. I thought the 35mm SLR was the best thing going in photography and that MF was too expensive. As Ektagraphic said he was sorry he spent so many years with 35mm when he found MF. I scanned a negative from my RB67 Pro S and then expanded it to see where it would start to get blurry. First I doubled it and then gave it a little more and kept thinking, OK, now it will get blurry. I kept expanding the digital scan until I was looking at only a small part of the shot filling my monitor and it was still pretty good. With 35mm it would start to go south after a few expansions. I still shoot 35mm and wouldn't give it up, but another nice thing is when you get to be an old guy like me, the eyes are not great for looking at that little viewfinder in a 35mm camera. I feel like I'm watching a TV when I look at the waist level viewfinder of the RB67. I also feel that I'm relearning and learning more about photography that I lost when I started using automatic cameras. Another advantage is that when people see you with a MF they assume you know what you are doing and get out of your way because you must be a real photographer. Ric.
 

Shadowtracker

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Apr 4, 2010
Messages
265
Location
St. Louis
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Oh yeah, MF cameras are great conversation starters. For the short time digitals have been around there is a whole generation of people that don't know what a MF camera is! I went to a pow wow last weekend and had at least 4 people ask me what kind of camera that was. Each turned into a conversation of some duration.

One more thing, when you start jonesing and can't get out to shoot, you can go to the darkroom, open the chemistry cabinet and take a deep breath... that will only make the cravings go away for a few minutes but it can also make you start thinking about getting out and shooting more. Looking at other peoples work is like that too - it only deals with the symptom, not the real problem of need.
 

wotalegend

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Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
360
Location
Melbourne (t
Format
Multi Format
My name is Peter, and I'm an MF-oholic.

First it was just one 35mm SLR, then it grew to three and I was happy with that for all the years I recorded the kids growing up. Then at the same time the kids left home along came d*****l and I bought a DSLR. But it didn't give me the same high as film so I started "updating" my film camera inventory. Before I knew it the fleet had grown so much that I could use a different one each week of the year.

But there was still something missing. I had an old 6x9 folder which had been quietly lurking in a cabinet for years beside a Yashica 635. They were soon joined by a Rollei which I bought at a machinery auction for $10 (that's another story) I had the Rollei CLA'd and the MF bug was starting to get a hold. Now I have two more Yashica TLR's and I am building a nice M645 kit. Is an MZ kit the next stop? Where will it end? 8x10?

Somebody help me please, because I can't control myself.
 

wotalegend

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Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
360
Location
Melbourne (t
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Multi Format
I read on another forum tonight a theory that a TLR is a good street camera because modern digi-people think it is some sort of surveying equipment. Makes sense. Might try that this weekend.
 

EricO

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Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
87
Location
NE Ohio
Format
Multi Format
I've had my RZ67 for about 3 years. Love it. I keep it on the tripod just to make sure that it doesn't get forgotten about in a closet or someplace.
 

photoncatcher

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Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
173
Location
NJ
Format
Medium Format
My RB67 is my baby. Thank goodness that more people are letting the MF gear go for pennies on the dollar. I always thought that 35mm was the bomb. That was before I did my time in the USAF as a photo spec. We used the butt ugly Graphlex XL for just about everything, and I quickly realized the joy of the MF negative. Over the past couple of years, I've managed to aquire more RB stuff than I ever could have dreamed of. The only thing missing for me is that 37mm. It's rarely seen, and then always out of my price range. I've also recently added a beautiful Koni-Omega Rapid to my stable, and for general urban photo, and carrying around, I love it. I also got a good deal on the 58mm lens, and the aux finder for it. Oh, and the Graphlex was butt ugly, but it was also one hell of a work horse, and damn near indestructable.
 

epig

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Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
40
Format
Multi Format
wotalegend said:
I read on another forum tonight a theory that a TLR is a good street camera because modern digi-people think it is some sort of surveying equipment. Makes sense. Might try that this weekend.
Click to expand...

I was out with my Hassy Flexbody on a tripod and someone asked if I was shooting a movie!

Eric
 

MattKing

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Apr 24, 2005
Messages
53,034
Location
Delta, BC Canada
Format
Medium Format
I've been spending some time lately with the members of my local Photo club. Although there is far too much dig*** speak (I now know more about "Lightroom" and "ProShow Gold" then I ever wanted) there is enough emphasis on the photographs themselves, and enough people there who take really good photographs, to make the time rewarding.

I bumped into one of the younger members the other day, and mentioned I had been out trying some close-up and other experiments with my RB67 and slide film. He expressed interest, so I put the printfile pages I had the RB67 slides in, plus some 6x6 slides as well, into a binder with some old B&W negatives and brought them for him to see. He was amazed - he had never actually seen 6x6 or 6x7 slides or negatives before. I don't know that he had even seen a contact sheet before.

I try to encourage him, because he shoots film (although his output comes from scanning).

I don't know what he thought of the contact sheets - the negatives were from the mid to late 1970s, and included some rather dated hairstyles and outfits.
 

benjiboy

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Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
11,971
Location
U.K.
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35mm
We had some friends over for dinner a few weeks ago and they asked why I hadn't "gone digital because everyone is digital now", and if they could see some of my pictures, I projected some of my 6X6 slides for them onto my 50"X50" screen and they were knocked out I don't think they are in any doubt now why I shoot film.
 

Shadowtracker

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Joined
Apr 4, 2010
Messages
265
Location
St. Louis
Format
Multi Format
I'm waiting for the day that someone submits a 16"x20" b&w print at one of the club competions and hear the judge say something like;

"you can see that they spent a lot of time with photoshop, the edge effect is exceptional, to tonal shifts were well controlled by the program and the user knew what he was doing with lightbox." And anything else computer related about the post-processing. I don't know that I would do it, but I have always been tempted/wanted to say something like "wrong, that's film." I doubt I would do that. But yeah, it seems there are a lot of people that think film is dead and hasn't been around in 50 years.

The young adults that are in class with me are learning about it and they like it more than digital after something like the first three weeks. They stumble around and get confused about ISO, f/stop and shutter speeds at first. But when they figure it out, they like it, and some of them are interested in MF since one other guy and I brought in our MF rigs. They love the contact sheets from MF too.
 

benjiboy

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Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
11,971
Location
U.K.
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35mm
36cm2 said:
Posted wirelessly..

You can't go wrong with MF. It's the most balanced format out there. I'm a 6x6 junkie myself (rolleiflex, perkeo and hasselblad), but all the mf kits make you smile somehow. Enjoy and learn.
Click to expand...
If you haven't got one already, get yourself a 6X6 projector, it'll blow your mind
 
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