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Author Topic: medium format beginner  (Read 6400 times)

Bob Stevenson

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medium format beginner
« on: December 05, 2002, 01:28:26 pm »

[font color=\'#000000\']The first piece of advice is to be of good cheer!! The equipement you are using is basically the vintage kit used by some of the worlds greatest photographers between 1930's and 1960's  During that era they produced wonderful images.

the Seagull is a Rolleiflex copy and during the above period that camera 'was' pro photography.  There is a famous pic of Marilyn Munroe surrounded by a huge crowd of photographers all using identical Rollei's, you may have seen it.  In every field this was the hand camera of choice.  Also, film was much worse quality then so don't feel too concerned about that, just get shooting!!.....Good luck.[/font]
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virgilm

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medium format beginner
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2002, 05:55:42 am »

[font color=\'#000000\']Dear friends,
I feel like standing in front of a huge tree, just after I tried to shake it a bit without very much hope.
To my great joy two fruit have already fallen down. It's so great to have someone answering back to you.
Many thanks [/font]
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sergio

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medium format beginner
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2002, 10:50:52 am »

[font color=\'#000000\']Try to master what you have and you'll be making wonderful photographs. Thats what it is all about. If you don't have very fined grained film try shooting scenes and moments that benefit with the coarser look. I have see wonderful pinhole photographs and you can't be worse off technology-wise than that.
Keep enjoying your shooting.

Sergio[/font]
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virgilm

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medium format beginner
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2002, 03:43:14 am »

[font color=\'#000000\']:cool:
Hello again, dear friends
I am very touched by your kindness in trynig to help me out.
I just bought 3 rolls of film, it is called Azomures it's done in Romania and it's really bad quality. There is only one kind ie 100 speed. A friend of mine just gave me, lent, a rool of 100 Agfapan but I'll save it for a while, just to have the time to experiment a bit.
Yes, I have a handheld meter, an old German selenium one, reading the reflected and incident light.
I want for a day up in the North of the country, the weather is pretty nice so I'll take a few shots. However it will be pretty tough as we have about -15, -20 Celsius degrees.
Best wishes, Virgil[/font]
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virgilm

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« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2002, 07:29:30 am »

[font color=\'#000000\']Hello, dear friends
This is my first time that I use such a way of communication so I am very curious to see how it works.
I have been taking photos for about a couple of years and as I was more and more attracted to the black and white I ventured to take a couple of wide rolls. This week I bought a second hand 4ASeagul and I have to say that I am a bit lost. The square way of composing, the fact that here, ie in Romania, I can find only poor quality 120mm BW film, makes me ask for help.
So, the question would be, what advice could you give me as far as exposure, topic, experiment, lanscape, low light photography are concerned?
I hope that I am not too naive to ask for such things...
Thanks a lot![/font]
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swaitjd

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medium format beginner
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2002, 04:06:45 pm »

[font color=\'#000000\']Dear Virgil,

I have been using MF cameras for about 2 years now, and I am most enthusiastic about them. Though I am in the US, I have chosen to use older cameras (folders like the Perkeo I, and a Rolleicord) because of their simplicity, lack of light meters, and generally, just non-auto-everything. Thus, I essentially constructed a situation that is very similar to your own (though by design, rather than circumstance   ) ...

My advice to you is to learn to see "square" ... the Rolleicord is my favorite camera because I've found that 6x6 is a format I feel comfortable with for landscapes, which is what I shoot exclusively. Even when the format is a bit awkward for a specific situation, it is possible to crop either vertically or horizontally, so you've got the best of all formats! (I'm sure some/many will disagree with me ... ) :cool:

Put your camera on a tripod, load it with a fine-grained film, and off you go to shoot! You'll soon find that your mind will adapt to the horizontally-flipped image, and that you'll get used to the square format ...

Enjoy!
 Joffre[/font]
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Bob Stevenson

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medium format beginner
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2002, 07:23:45 am »

[font color=\'#000000\']Virgil,....Have you got an exposure meter?....if not then you can use the printed sheet that usually comes with the film pack.   If you don't want to trust this then here is a good method for caculating B&W exposures;

In average sunlight, for front light/average brightness, an 'average' exposure at f16 is 1 / ASA(iso),....so,....

Ilford FP4 has a speed of 125 ASA(iso) and f16 would need a shutter speed of 1 / 125 of a second.

Try to tell us what film, processing and printing you are using and people here will be able to help you better.

Joffre gave you excellent advice about the square format and showed why so many pro photographers around the world use it. Square is very versatile for format shape, you can decide as you print what shape/format the print will be, even digital cameras are not as flexible for that!!

Do you like street photography?...twin lens reflex cameras are ideal for this in my opinion since they are quiet, unobtrusive and can be used without putting the camera up to the eye.[/font]
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Wim van Velzen

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medium format beginner
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2002, 05:01:08 am »

[font color=\'#000000\']Hi Virgil,

congratulations on your first step into the Medium Format world.

I started with a simple TLR as well (a meterless Yashica D) and got hooked.
Be sure to use a tripod of some sort, esp. with 100 ASA film.

I think you will like the square. At least I did![/font]
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