'New to me' Kodak Medalist II

JW PHOTO · Jun 7, 2016

Dan Daniel said:
Any tips on holding the Medalist steady while firing the shutter? My first couple of rolls have had slight motion blur in most of my shots. I've been trying the Kodak recommendation of squeezing the shutter beneath my middle finger with the thumb on the bottom.

Kodak's suggestion is about as good as it gets as far as hand-holding the Medalist. On my old Medalist from years ago I put a handle flash bracket on and it helped control the camera much better. I find the leather to be far to slippery and the camera a little bulky/heavy for easy off-hand shooting. I have often thought about recovering one of my remaining Medalist with something a little more grippy. I often wonder how those Sailors and Marines handled their Medalist in the hot, sweaty Pacific during WWII?

kenj8246 · Jun 7, 2016

Dan Daniel said:
Any tips on holding the Medalist steady while firing the shutter? My first couple of rolls have had slight motion blur in most of my shots. I've been trying the Kodak recommendation of squeezing the shutter beneath my middle finger with the thumb on the bottom.

Unless I have it on a tripod w/cable release, as I did for these cars, I try to keep the shutter above 1/25. Just hard to get a decent hold on this thing.

kenj8246 · Jun 7, 2016

JW PHOTO said:
Kodak's suggestion is about as good as it gets as far as hand-holding the Medalist. On my old Medalist from years ago I put a handle flash bracket on and it helped control the camera much better. I find the leather to be far to slippery and the camera a little bulky/heavy for easy off-hand shooting. I have often thought about recovering one of my remaining Medalist with something a little more grippy. I often wonder how those Sailors and Marines handled their Medalist in the hot, sweaty Pacific during WWII?

Completely agree with you. It is definitely some slick leather. I, too, have screwed a flash bracket on mine.

JohnMeadows · Jun 7, 2016

Dan Daniel said:
Any tips on holding the Medalist steady while firing the shutter? My first couple of rolls have had slight motion blur in most of my shots. I've been trying the Kodak recommendation of squeezing the shutter beneath my middle finger with the thumb on the bottom.

This is what I do and it works for me.

moto-uno · Jun 10, 2016

A number of years ago I purchased a half dozen trimmed rolls from "Blue Moon " and they've been reused
numerous times . It's also much easier to re-roll these trimmed spools , as the smaller center on the metal
620 reels frequently necessitate relocating the taped film end onto the backing paper. I use the metal 620
roll on the take up end and the photo shop always returns the rolls. It's truly a camera for big hands when
it comes to using it off the tripod. Peter

Hatchetman · Jun 10, 2016

I use a monopod and cable release. It is extremely hard to hold steady. The shutter button keeps going down and down and down and you think "damn, I must not have cocked it." THEN, surprise! Click!

kenj8246 · Jun 12, 2016

Same Medalist, Ilford PanF.

A pair of Skyradiers by Kenny Johnson, on Flickr

A pair of Skyradiers by Kenny Johnson, on Flickr

Kenny

JW PHOTO · Jun 12, 2016

Kenny,
With good film and processing the 100mm 3.5 Ektar does shine. Those Skyraider shots of yours just go to prove it even more. I bought my first Medalist II over 40+ years ago and have not been without at least one since that time. I don't use them as much as I used to due to having Hasselblad, Rolleiflex and a Pentax 6x7 outfit, but I could get by just fine with only the Medalist if I had to. I truly think it was probably the best Kodak camera ever made.

kenj8246 · Jun 12, 2016

JW PHOTO said:
Kenny,
With good film and processing the 100mm 3.5 Ektar does shine. Those Skyraider shots of yours just go to prove it even more. I bought my first Medalist II over 40+ years ago and have not been without at least one since that time. I don't use them as much as I used to due to having Hasselblad, Rolleiflex and a Pentax 6x7 outfit, but I could get by just fine with only the Medalist if I had to. I truly think it was probably the best Kodak camera ever made.

Would agree with you, JW. These are my only Kodaks so far but they are truly nice, especially those Ektar lenses.

gone · Jun 12, 2016

These shots are fantastic. They look much, much better than the pics from Fuji 690 cameras in my opinion, and I used to own one of those beasts. The Medalist lens images much like a Heliar, only quite a bit sharper. That in itself is about as good as it gets. Probably not what you'd want for portraits of older folks, but wow, everything else would almost print itself on the enlarger w/ IQ like that.

The Tri-X shots are my favorites.

kenj8246 · Jun 12, 2016

Thank you, I appreciate the comments. I've yet to own or shoot a medium format camera that produces results like these. And thanks for reminding me, I need to order some more Tri-X.

JohnMeadows · Jun 12, 2016

JW PHOTO said:
Kenny,
With good film and processing the 100mm 3.5 Ektar does shine. Those Skyraider shots of yours just go to prove it even more. I bought my first Medalist II over 40+ years ago and have not been without at least one since that time. I don't use them as much as I used to due to having Hasselblad, Rolleiflex and a Pentax 6x7 outfit, but I could get by just fine with only the Medalist if I had to. I truly think it was probably the best Kodak camera ever made.

Hard to disagree with that!

kenj8246 · Jun 25, 2016

Early morning view of the rear of the Bush 41 library @ TAMU. Red filter, respooled Kodak 400TX film.

Early morning, Bush Library @ TAMU by Kenny Johnson, on Flickr

Kenny

'New to me' Kodak Medalist II

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency