Which Medium-Format camera should you buy?

[@JonnyEnglish-gu1cs]

3 years on and this video is still very relevant I have had this conundrum when I was looking for a new medium format camera long story short I when with the bronica ETRS bought a lovely kit it’s a joy to use thanks 👍🏻

[@josephgardner1310]

Hi Jonathan, thanks for putting these videos out. They're very informative. The only suggestion I'd have is to include image examples for each camera if possible. Great work. Thanks!

[@thorstenjaspert9394]

In addition to the high-performance cameras you have presented, which are all worth their good price, there are also low-end cameras such as the Holga. She works with 120 film. You can't expect her to take technically perfect pictures. But for experimenting and shooting artistic, imperfect photos, some people love them. She calls her style of photography Lomography. A tip for everyone who wants to shoot medium format for the first time and cheaply.

[@Otokichi786]

Root around in Grandpa's attic and see if there's a 120 or 620 roll film camera lurking there. The old guy was a professional? Hasselblad 500 is the summit! (Mamiya M645, Pentax 6X7, Prakti Six, Kowa Six, work fine.) Grandpa used a Rolleiflex? Congrats, you're at the top of the lost and found bin! (Ooh, a Rolleicord!) What's this, Grandpa "bought a cheap Japanese" camera? A Minolta Autocord! (Ricohflex and Yashica 635 are OK.) Grandpa left the old country in a hurry in the 1950's? A Zeiss Super Ikonta, Kiev 6, or Meopta Flexaret are quite interesting. What's this? Grandpa used handheld light meters? A Sekonic L398! (Pentax 1/21, Minolta Flashmeter IVF, Gossen Luna Pro F.)

[@denniswilliams4789]

The issue with the RB is not the weight but the the form factor- a box, waist level screen, uncorrected reversed image , rotating back to keep track of not to mention the dark slide. No defined grip whatsoever- although RRS and other makers may offer L brackets and bolt on grips at this point. And the bellows. Shooting is far from intuitive. The Pentax 67 is just a proportionately larger 35mm camera body and completely instinctive in hand with a large bright OV. The 10 frames per roll is not particularly restrictive in practice - you just keep track- and for faster paced shooting, multiple bodies running B&W and color trans films simultaneously solves the 'MF is so slow' issue. I rarely have a reason to carry a P67 slung round the neck on a strap.Then again I rarely have straps attached . It has a grip, you grip it when you walk or just leave it in the case till you are ready to take a body out for the first shot. In regards to the 105mm (a bit wider than optimal for portrait oriented images , equivalent to about 58mm in the 35mm format) f2.4 on a 67 is all but useless when the customer wants to see their clothes or the face of the model(s) they are paying 2000 £ a day for. f5.6 allows for clarity for face and torso and complete separation from the background. f3.5 gets you half a face, a little detail in clothing while f2.4 is nothing but eyes. For family snapshots, friends and pets, oh so dreamy 30mm DOF precisely focused may service the content but realistically, how many folks shoot 67 film at 1-3 £ a frame to shoot snaps ?

[@jeremykeller211]

Jonathon and medium format fans! How's your knowledge of MF lenses? 1) Why are modern lenses coated? 2) What is rhe primary difference between a Zeiss Tessar and a Cooke triplet? 3) Regardless of ambient lighting, why would a MF photographer tend to stop his/her lens down to f5,6 or f8? 4) Why is contrast more important in a MF lens than resolution? 5) What is the usual filter factor for a yellow filter? For a red filter? 6) When calculating exposure which part of the scene should one meter? Keep up the good work, and remember that the differences between camera gear are marginal while the difference between an amateur and a great photographer is enormous.

[@FrankFiene]

Beside my Rolleiflex and the RZ67 I am using a folding Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 531/2 with 6x9 for travel. This is a great format and gives a the same aspect ratio as 35mm film. It is old and the ragen finder is not coupled, but it makes a lot of fun and shoots great pictures!

[@neilpiper9889]

I like waistlevel viewing as I find it helps with composition. The square format Slrs are my pick. I have a Kiev 6c with a 90mm 2.8 lens.I use it with the waist level finder only. It's lighter than my Pentax 67 and 6x7s which I have sold because the prices are sky high now and I needed the money. If I had the money I would buy a Rolleiflex 6008 with a Schneider Xenotar 90mm 2.8 macro lens. It's battery dependent though, something I tend to avoid. A Hasselblad 500c body to use my Kiev lens on with an adapter would be nice. The camera I regret selling was a Bronica EC with a 50mm Nikkor f4 lens. I have a darkroom and print black and white, mostly square with a Schneider Componon S 100mm f5.6 lens. I can also print 6x9 negs from my wonderful old 1950s Moscvitch 4 folding coupled rangefinder camera. The camera that I use mostly is the Kiev 6c. I have a spare body too.

[@josef1037]

Great info

[@MBJanus]

Could you please help me ? I have several cameras, à C220 and 330, a Fuji "american Leica" , .. and several MF with backs including 120, a RB67, a Mamiya press universal, all are perfect, but I have too 2 Hasselblad with several back parts, and all are détective : they dont advance the film equally, sometimes the photos are overlapping, sometimes there is one Cm or more between one photo and the next, .. I have perhaps 5 or 6 backs, but absolutely none puts equally the photos on the film. I was told that I had perhaps used other inner parts (they have a sérial number), but using the same number in the two parts dont change the problem. This makes the cameras nearly unusable as I can use only perhaps 9 photos instead of 12 as perhaps 1/3 are overlapped, and that occurs totally randomly. I can't be sure when I use thèse Hasselblad that I will have photos without this problem, and I cant afford to be unsure of the result. When I take per exemple the RB67 I am sure that I will have my photos. But I can't use the Hasselblad in the same case, and it's a shame as they are lighter. I could use the C220 but change the film, or put the objective on the C330 takes time, and it is a shame to have two Hasselblad nearly inusable.. I cant believe too that Hasselblad have a problem so big when the same problem is unknown with Mamiya and other cameras far less expensive. Could you please help me, I guess that I do something wrong ? Many thanks, Milos PS : sorry for my poor English, Im french. PS2 : all my cameras have very good lenses, apart a Distagon 40mm for the Hasselblad with a huge flare, and the Fuji 6x9 with one fixed objective and strong geometric default (they are apparent even on little photos, so avoid this Fuji, even a Lubitel is better; take a real Leica or a Voigtlander, even in 135 they are better). As a rule, the MF can really hold the comparison with recent numeric FF cameras apart the ISA values and I love the care used with argentic cameras. As too the stunning effects with such formats if we want to, or the circular obturator in the objectives, aso.

[@Chrille168]

These videos are great!! Much love

[@JonathanNotley]

Thank you very much!

[@pawebuawa4126]

Great video, but auto white balance hurts.

[@JonathanNotley]

Yes it does

[@leotian1205]

May I ask what is the name of the camera you used as sample. Bronica? Which model?

[@JonathanNotley]

It's an ETRSi with a 75mm 2.8

[@abelgreeve3641]

Hey jonathan, I’m mew to film photography and i just want to know what I’m getting myself into. • My question is, how much does it usually cost to develop 6x7 format in your area (so that i could get an idea). • Thank you. :)

[@archiebenn5707]

It'll cost the same amount as developing 6x6 or 6x4.5 (as they all use 120 film), just that you will get less photos per roll with 6x7. Most photolabs will have an online spreadsheet where you can see the prices etc.

[@johnsciara9418]

Purchase a film developing tank, some chemicals and develop the film yourself. An interior bathroom with no windows can be dark enough to load the film into the reel for the tank. Then pour in the chemicals in a lit room. It take a little practice and there are plenty of videos describing how to develop black and white or color film. Most would then scan the negatives in to create digital files of the images.

[@llewdis]

Curious as to why you didn't include 6x9 as an option to review.

[@cc7cc10]

Why the saturation of your video keeps coming and going? Never seen this before. Very informative video though.

[@r3dglassesltd.70]

It's the sun reflecting off the table and messing with the camera's auto white balance

[@julienefarinas8946]

love your videos!

[@TarrelScot]

As a mf beginner, I found this a very useful guide through the terminology and choices. One (probably naive) question: what happens when you use a 645 camera with a waist-level finder in portrait mode? Do you have to look through the side, or does the film back rotate in some way? Or do you really need the prism finder to shoot portrait format? Thanks.

[@GBO76]

Waist finder are called that way because you have to look above the camera, to see through the glass...So you always put the camera on...your waist. And by doing so, you will have to shoot from bottom to top, which isn't exactly aesthetic (well, it could be in certains cases)

[@JonathanNotley]

Using Waist-level-finders in portrait mode is very difficult - you almost always need a prism to do this effectively

[@simonkeslake2782]

Very good video but maybe you can go easy on the question? question? after every sentence?

[@MikMilman]

Keep it up

[@Halbmond]

10:35 That sentence doesn’t really make any sense … 6x7 is just as close to a rectangular as 6:4.5 because they are all rectangulars. Maybe you meant a square (which you mentioned in the sentence before), but 6x7 is closer to a square than 6x4.5, not farther away.