Medium format photographers - use much 35mm film?

michr · Nov 14, 2016

Every year in the fall and winter, when I start wearing my pea jacket I stick a camera in the interior pocket for snapshots. Last year it was a semi-Minolta, this year it's an Olympus XA2. I took a few photos this morning with the XA2. With scale focus and auto-aperture, it's nice and quick to take it out of the pocket, slide it open and click the button. While the Minolta is equally compact when folded, it's not nearly as automatic. So 35mm is a matter of convenience, plus I have to have a way to use up the rolls of film I buy at garage sales.

Rick A · Nov 14, 2016

I'm not shooting much of anything these days. I have some(very little) 135 film, a ton of 120, and a ton of 4x5 film, but if and when I do shoot, it's my 5x7, which I have very limited supply of film for. The reality is, I'm thinking of getting away from film(and photography in general)shooting. I haven't picked up my Olympus OM-1 in a couple of years. I have a roll of film in my Zeiss Nettar, and it travels most places with me, but I haven't been motivated to trip the shutter in months. I took the Zeiss and my 5x7 to Pittsburgh last week, but they never left the car.

destroya · Nov 14, 2016

yes, i still shoot 35mm.

pthornto · Nov 14, 2016

For the last couple of years I've been trying to shoot more medium format....I love its look and it always prints so easily. BUT...I have two kids that are young and busy and to be honest capturing their lives is often so much easier with the added dof, fast lenses, and speed of composition that comes from a 35mm camera (even a manual focus one!). I've started to realize that I won't ever put 35mm down completely until the kids are older and I'm mostly shooting static subjects from a tripod.

vdonovan · Nov 14, 2016

Currently I'm about 75/15/10 large format/medium format/35mm

While I like the experience of shooting a 35mm rangefinder (I have a bunch of them), I'm often unhappy with my pictures.

Ian Grant · Nov 14, 2016

I've been thinking about this and why I rarely shoot 35mm.

I guess I got used to the increased quality of MF negatives etc in the late 1970's I was also using LF. At that point I began only shooting 35mm for slides or when shooting bands live B&W or transparencies. In the late 1980's I started shooting with a Leica M3 alongside my LF kit and dropped MF except for commercial work, I've not really done anything with the negatives. I've used only 3 prints from 35mm negatives in exhibitions since the late 1980s but shot hundreds of films, there's few prints either.

The best move I made was to switch from using the 35mm M3 alongside LF to a MF and square format.

I do go back to 35mm for fun though, I enjoy using older Spotmatics or Exactas

Ian

OptiKen · Nov 14, 2016

My journey back to film had me start on the medium format course and then lightly into large format. Slowly I started mixing in some 35mm testing out different cameras that I acquired. Many of the 35mm rangefinders and SLR's are a joy to use and much cheaper to shoot than either of the other two formats.
I have of late, however, become more and more disappointed in the resolution <?> of my negatives and have started loading up my medium format again. I had been doing about 90% 35mm and 10% *other*. I am hoping to switch those two percentages in the future

OptiKen · Nov 14, 2016

I just realized something about the way I shoot film.
When I am going out to shoot 35mm, my bag gets filled with at least one camera and 3 lenses. More often, I fill it with two cameras along with several lenses, filters, etc, etc.
When I am going out to shoot MF, my bag gets one camera or at best, a MF and a very small pocket-able 35mm (Olympus Zoom 105, Olympus Pen FT, etc)
My MF kit is much smaller and lighter than my 35mm

ME Super · Nov 14, 2016

Helinophoto said:
I would guess 50/50.
The "problem" with 35mm is that each roll is 36 exposures. I rarely shoot a whole roll in one outing, so the rolls tend to sit longer in the camera, this again limits the use of each camera loaded with a certain kind of film. (It may be loaded with color, when I really want to shoot B&W for example).

Bulk has solved much of this issue though.

For travel, i tend to bring 35mm and a couple of rolls, at home i tend to shoot MF more.

I have this problem too. I shoot mostly 35mm slide film, but I sometimes want to shoot B&W, or a higher speed color film, or color negative, then out comes the MF 6x6. The shorter rolls mean I get to see my results sooner too.

Square prints remind me so much of my childhood, when my parents had a Kodak Instamatic, and shot Kodachrome 64 in it.

narsuitus · Nov 15, 2016

rayonline_nz said:
Medium format photographers - use much 35mm film?

First, I am not a "medium format photographer."

Second, I am a photographer who shoots:

Black & White Film: 0% small format, 50% medium format, 50% large format

Color Slide Film: 98% small format, 1% medium format, 1% large format

Color Print Film: 50% small format, 50% medium format, 0% large format

papagene · Nov 15, 2016

I shoot about 50/50 medium format to large format. I don't think I have shot 35mm in years, maybe not since daughter #2 graduated high school in 2005!!

Cholentpot · Nov 15, 2016

I shoot 35mm in my MF cameras. Why not?

I used to shoot more 120 when Shanghai was around. I bulk 35mm so it's very affordable for me. 120 not so much.

Ian Grant · Nov 15, 2016

ME Super said:
I have this problem too. I shoot mostly 35mm slide film, but I sometimes want to shoot B&W, or a higher speed color film, or color negative, then out comes the MF 6x6. The shorter rolls mean I get to see my results sooner too.

Square prints remind me so much of my childhood, when my parents had a Kodak Instamatic, and shot Kodachrome 64 in it.

Most of my early childhood was from 6x9 then my Dad bought a Bantam Colorsnap II 828 camera, I guess 1956 because I started using his old camera that summer aged 2 to shoot pictures of my new sister, I had n film though

Ian

M Carter · Nov 15, 2016

I go through a lot of 35 to test new films that I intend for MF. I really am disliking 35 in the darkroom since I'm getting more interested in masking.

Thing is, some of my coolest negs are 35 - because when I go on a trip, it's easy to throw the Himatic or a Nikon in the backpack. Every now and then, I see something too cool to pas up. And yeah, I wish the negs were bigger, but it beats "no negs at all".

Dusk, Manhattan, blizzard by the East River - glad I grabbed this shot. Almost didn't take the camera.

rayonline_nz · Nov 15, 2016

ME Super said:
I have this problem too. I shoot mostly 35mm slide film, but I sometimes want to shoot B&W, or a higher speed color film, or color negative, then out comes the MF 6x6. The shorter rolls mean I get to see my results sooner too.

Square prints remind me so much of my childhood, when my parents had a Kodak Instamatic, and shot Kodachrome 64 in it.

Me too. Before I went into MF I thought about it for at least 5yrs before I made the decision. The first was encouraged by others when I got a $120US for an RB67 with a non C 90mm with a film back and a WLF. I may get a smaller MF for other times also.

I have only gotten the RB a few months ago so for all my photog life, it has been 135 format. Yeah .. it has been times when the roll of film has been inside the camera for 1 or even 2 or 3 months. Or I have been overseas didn't finish the roll and finished it back home. I found that for each roll 120 is cheaper than 135, the developing cost is the same like if I was outsourcing it like color films. 135 you get more frames though. And these days I shoot digital as well, so not all my frames are on film and so it takes longer to build up an inventory before I send it to the lab. And cos New Zealand is expensive and due to the delivery cost I need to get my quantity up before I send them off. 120 format equipment is maybe more worth it than 135 equipment that is if you don't count the consumer $30US bodies etc ...

Maybe the exception of b/w film in a 135 format, when I shoot slides I take my time, spot meter the scene etc .. look for weather and sunrise/sunset forecast, use a tripod etc. Shoot a few frames only that has been thought out. But I am not so sure if in the future I will keep on using much 35mm b/w. I do have a bulk roll. Why not just shoot b/w carefully and on MF. Of course there may be occasions when I might need a lighter camera and I still want to shoot film and then I can take it.

Ron789 · Nov 15, 2016

Went out for a walk at dusk and made some photo's with Ilford Delta 3200; developed in Rodinal 1+25. This is why I love 35mm.....

Cholentpot · Nov 15, 2016

Ron789 said:
Went out for a walk at dusk and made some photo's with Ilford Delta 3200; developed in Rodinal 1+25. This is why I love 35mm.....
View attachment 167357 View attachment 167355 View attachment 167356

Holy Grain Batman!

mshchem · Nov 15, 2016

Ron789 said:
Went out for a walk at dusk and made some photo's with Ilford Delta 3200; developed in Rodinal 1+25. This is why I love 35mm.....
View attachment 167357 View attachment 167355 View attachment 167356

Very nice , isn't grain beautiful !
Best Mike

ME Super · Nov 17, 2016

rayonline_nz said:
Maybe the exception of b/w film in a 135 format, when I shoot slides I take my time, spot meter the scene etc .. look for weather and sunrise/sunset forecast, use a tripod etc. Shoot a few frames only that has been thought out. But I am not so sure if in the future I will keep on using much 35mm b/w. I do have a bulk roll. Why not just shoot b/w carefully and on MF. Of course there may be occasions when I might need a lighter camera and I still want to shoot film and then I can take it.

The slowing down, the bigger negative, and the change in aspect ratio (square vs. 3:2) are what I like about my TLR. It's got 6 shutter speeds (B, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, and 1/200 second) and 6 aperture settings (f/3.5, 4.0, 5.6, 8, 11, and 16). It's manual focus and completely battery independent. Very unlike my 35mm SLR, which is autofocus with shutter speeds ranging from 30 sec. to 1/2000 second, and totally battery dependent.

I have no way to project 6x6 slides, so a few of the better images I send off to Dwayne's to be printed to 35mm slides. Mainly this is so I can project the images and have them remind me even more of Kodachrome 64 shot in a Kodak Instamatic like so many of my family's pictures taken during my childhood.

pressureworld · Nov 17, 2016

I'm another that rarely shoots 35mm. It seems harder to remain motivated after shooting MF.

HiHoSilver · Nov 18, 2016

'Starting my 3rd 100' bulk roll in the last yr.

Medium format photographers - use much 35mm film?

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