Medium Format is Best Format

So today, I will be talking about the format that has bridged consumer and pro applications, become the standard format of Instagram pictures, been parodied by countless apps to replicate it's look, been used in both $10 and $10,000 cameras, and takes only a measly 12 pictures per roll (20 if you have the money for it, or decide to not go with a 6x6 frame), 120 format film.

Love the tonal range that Velvia 100f shows.

This particular kind of film was developed by Kodak for their Brownie cameras in 1901, and has proven to be a real workhorse throughout the years, beginning life out as a consumer/amateur film and growing into a professional and artist's format in recent times. This film is used by many portrait photographers because of it's ridiculously high resolution compared to 135 film. Seriously, you could fit about 2.75 35mm frames inside a 6x6 medium format frame. This is the film that the Canon EOS 5DSR is trying to take market from. This is the format of the $40,000 Hasselblad digital back that only the most serious and successful of photographers can purchase.

But it's right here. A film that can rival a $40k digital sensor can be had for $3 if you just need 12 pictures.

It's not even funny how great this film looks when printed on 8x10. You can make wall sized posters with this stuff and you won't have to squint to see the image. This format is the only one (other than large format, which I'll get into when I have the cash) that I like shooting slides on, just because of the feeling you get when that perfectly exposed 6x6 slide is shown up to the light.

So, getting back, this film is not easily worked with. Most stores won't scan or develop it which means that you're sending it out or doing it yourself. However, I love using this stuff because of how fine the gran is and how contrasty the pictures tend to be, especially when printed on black and white. My favorite medium format films are: Fuji Velvia 100f, Kodak Ektar 100, and after a recent roll I printed, Fuji Neopan Acros 100.

An example of what Neopan Acros can looks like on 120 at 8x10. The limitation here is my enlarger and my scanner. The grain is barely discernible, even through a grain focuser.

The only limitations of this format are in my opinion: It's difficulty processing as opposed to 35mm, the price of the cameras that will shoot it (aside from Holgas), and the fact that the cameras that shoot it can't even get close to the framerates of Canon's EOS 3 or A2. This is a portrait format though. It's not supposed to be shot through in 20 seconds, it's supposed to be savored and worked slowly through the camera with a photographer that meters and composes every shot with the greatest attention to detail.

This is a pro's film.

Warped

All right, so for today you're getting a short rant on my hatred of weak metal film reels.

Last night I was in my darkroom winding some TMax 400 into my metal film reel and I was noticing that around the middle of the reel, the film would get messed up and I would have to take it out and start over again (mind you, in total darkness). After several attempts to get it to come out normally I said "screw it" and finished winding the film into the reel. Upon development, I unwound my film from the metal reel and found that I had lost about 5 frames to the negatives touching; this is unacceptable. I looked at the reel itself and found that it was bent out of shape and I quickly and easily bent it back to how it was supposed to be (it wasn't a lot, just barely enough to see).

If you look closely, you can see the undeveloped film in the middle of the strip.

I buy metal reels because they DON'T break! The plastic reels are nice because they hold your hand through winding the film on but the plastic is brittle and they break easily. I figured that the metal reels wouldn't do things like that. I mean, my medium format reel doesn't, so why would the 35mm reel be any different.

Not my reel, but the one I have looks exactly like this one.

The funny part is, I store my 35mm reel inside the tank, so I don't know how it got screwed up...

Not All Films Are Equal

So today, I'm talking about the kind of film I put through my cameras.

I've shot many different kinds of films so I'll break it down into what I like, by the type.

The films I like for color prints are Ektar 100 and Xtra 400. Ektar is my go-to film for nature photography. It saturates the colors like slide film does and has incredibly fine grain.

(This is where I'll upload a shot with Ektar. My scanner isn't being nice right now)

Xtra 400 is also decent, however, the colors it produces are somewhat cold and most photos need to be edited before printing (I don't print color so everything has to be done in GIMP), although this could be the printer's. The best part about it though is that Walgreen's carries it and the grain profile is quite attractive and, if used correctly, can produce beautiful results.

An example of Xtra 400's color range.

The film I like for slides is Fuji Provia 100f. It's freaking beautiful. This is my favorite film for landscapes and portraits because when you underexpose it, you get colors that are a hair muddy but still contrasty, when you properly expose it you get a wide range of colors that "pop" out of the image, and when you over expose it, you get get decent contrast that doesn't completely wash out. Taking pictures of backlit subjects can be done with this film, and it does a decent job of getting the overexposed parts a nice white while keeping the colors of properly exposed portions intact.

This was underexposed by about a stop. Gotta love the sharpness of my Mamiya's lenses!

Finally, my favorite films for black and white are Kodak TMax 100, 400, and P3200. TMax 100 is a damn sharp film and is great for close-ups because of the amount of detail the film can maintain. The only drawback is the slow speed, which makes it an outdoor and studio film.

TMax 100's virtually invisible grain at 8x10.

TMax 400 is also a great film but unlike TMax 100, it's not as fine (although it's a lot better than 400 TX). The faster speed does make it more usable in the real world and I've heard that pushing it to 800 gives great results, although I have yet to try this.

(I took some pictures yesterday with a roll of TMax 400. I just need to process them.)


P3200 is not a film for regular photography. It is the film you use when you are working in super low light or making pure art. The film produces really heavy grain that looks cool when printed out. One thing to note though is that it is not true 3200 ISO film. It is 800 speed film that can be ideally pushed up to 3200. Ilford makes a true 3200 ISO film that I want to try though.

The grain at 8x10 is large enough on this film to easily point out.

My "Family" of Gear

So as with most photographers, I have several different cameras I use and enjoy.

[Before I get into this, I should say that I do "own" a Canon EOS 7D but I haven't actually received it yet.]

And suddenly, my AV-1 is tiny!

 My first camera that I use for just about everything is my Canon EOS A2. It is the most modern film camera I own and it works pretty much like a new Canon but it takes film. The perks about this camera is that it takes any EF lens I can find, it has a 5 FPS shutter, a decent autofocus system and a built-in IR assist beam. This is the camera that I use when I want to take pictures of a model or take pictures at a sports game with film. It just rocks. The downsides are that the batteries are not easily found (2CR5) and the camera is too big for street photography. If you whip this thing out in the middle of the sidewalk on a busy day (and don't take this sentence out of context), you'll have people giving you weird looks, staring, and questioning your motives.

My second camera is a Canon AV-1. It is the smallest of the bunch but also the most well made. It is an older camera from the late 70s and lacks a few key features, the biggest being that it does not have manual shutter speed selection (it's big brother, the AE-1, did). Looking past it's shortcomings, it's a very capable camera that is always reliable and meters every shot perfectly. It's so small, the FD 50mm 1.8 that I use on it dwarfs the camera!

Finally, my biggest camera is a Mamiya C220 TLR. It is a medium format camera and can take 120 or 220 film. It's a great landscape camera but it also works well for candid and portrait photography. The glass I use on it is two 80mm f2.8 Mamiya-Sekor lenses that are tack sharp, contrasty, and have awesome bokeh. In fact, when doing portraits, I prefer to use this camera rather than my SLRs because of the quality of the lenses on this camera. Another pro of this camera is that it is lightweight and that it doesn't take batteries. The cons are that it doesn't have a built in meter and it lacks parallax correction.

So, those are my toys cameras. Up next, I'll be explaining my films.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

So with film photography, I see two and a half ways of getting your film processed and your negatives printed.

#1. You do it yourself
#2. You have someone else do it
#2.5. You do some things yourself and let others do the rest

I have done all three myself and found that I prefer to do certain things myself and let other people do the rest. For black and white photography, I do everything. The equipment is inexpensive and straightforward to use and the chemistry is easy to mix, keep, and cheap to buy.

This is where I cut corners though (hence the name of my blog). My enlarger is an Opemus 6x6 from the 1960s. My darkroom timer is non-existent; I count everything off in my head and I manage to get great results. My chemicals are limited, I only see the need to use developer and fixer. Stop bath costs money that I don't often have so I use water with a couple of drops of fixer mixed in and I change it every few prints. Even my chemical trays are cheap! I use aluminum trays coated with Rustoleum to agitate my prints. My darkroom light? I can get one from Freestyle for $50 or I can get a red lightbulb from Lowe's for $7 and hook it up to a dimmer. You can imagine what I went with. Chemical containers are $10 on Freestyle. 1 gallon jugs of Arizona tea are $4 and come with free tea. The jugs are made of a sturdy plastic that seems to hold up well to D76, Dektol and fixer. For less than $100 I made a darkroom in my storage room that I've used to pump out countless prints.

This is where the magic happens.

Since I don't have any color chemistry nor the equipment to reliably process it, Sam's can develop and print my negs for $5.

Now here's where I mix everything. I shoot slide film. I love it for reasons I don't and won't ever understand. It's just pretty damn cool to shoot with, especially 120 or 220 slides. I use E-6 chemistry from Freestyle and I have found it's not much harder to work with than black and white. The chemistry is $20 per set and it only works for four rolls, meaning it costs $5 to process at home. I don't have medium format scanning equipment, so I send it off for high-res drum scanning.

My formula boils down to one thing: If it works, go with it.

Who I am, what I do, and why I do it

So today I decided to start a blog for my film photography activities. My name is Alex Barnes and I run a (tiny) business called D.H. Photoworks. Primarily, I've been using digital for my gigs and film for my personal art stuff. However, recently I've been contemplating moving to film for my gigs as well and letting my interim assistant use digital. My reasoning is that I tend to take better pictures on film than I do with digital.

Took this picture of my dog with a Mamiya C220 TLR using Fuji Velvia 100.

Why you may ask? I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that film costs money per picture so I feel like I need to put more effort into the picture with film than I do with digital. Or it could be that I simply like the older, more simplistic film cameras (if you can call my Canon A2 simplistic) more than the newer, more complex digital ones available now. Whatever the reason is though, I much prefer film grain to digital noise.

An example of how film grain is beautiful. I took this with Kodak P3200 with a 50mm f1.8 lens.

Now, I've been into photography for awhile, when I was around 10 I found my dad's Canon AV-1 (which I still have)
 and began figuring it out and taking pictures with it. However, in 2011 I began taking photography more seriously and asked for a Canon Rebel XS for Christmas, which I got. It wasn't the greatest camera, but it was adequate for a beginner photographer. Less than a month later, in January of '12, I began taking classes at my local community college and signed up for a photography class. This where my love of black and white film came from. This class taught me how to process and print film, entirely in analog format. The next semester, I took the follow up class which taught us more advanced darkroom techniques such as sepia toning and how to operate view cameras.

One of the pictures I took for my best friend to show off her makeup. I used my Canon AV-1 for this with expired Fuji Superia I bought from Walgreens.

After finishing, I worked through the year of '13 on building up my portfolio of pictures by going out and taking candid shots of my friends and doing the occasional photoshoot to show off the makeup skills of my best friend. By the end of 2013, I had over 100 different images for my portfolio and I felt like I was ready to begin offering my photographic services.