35mm film in medium format??

panocho · May 4, 2005

I was checking ebay for a (cheap) medium format camera, and I found one of the Yashica TLRs on which, to my surprise, the seller said that he had tested the camera... with 35mm film!! :shock:
Is that possible!!?? how can it be?

oriecat · May 4, 2005

I've heard about people putting 35mm in their MFs a lot before. I'm not sure how they make the canister stay though. Would love to hear it! I assume you have to tape over the frame indicator hole and maybe just guess your winding? And then unload in the darkroom?

Meysha · May 4, 2005

Yep I've done this a few times in my Holga. You just put a bit of florist's foam or something like that to hold the canister in place then I just put some rubber bands around the little windy-on knob tube thing that you attach the end of the film to (I forget the name exactly of that thing) so that the film doesn't slide all around the place when you wind it on and get all buckled.

Then I just guess with my winding and take the film out in my toilet in the middle of the night (he he he I don't have a darkroom!)

You can even get the photos printed although I haven't found a lab that will do this for me because they're all stupid dumbasses. Someone told me on here a while ago that the printing machines need to read all those barcodes and numbers on the films edge - but when you expose 35mm in a MF - these little numbers and stuff get exposed so the machines can't read them. But a normal human can still print them for you.

panocho · May 4, 2005

thanks for the comments.
it sounded so weird to me!

Meysha · May 4, 2005

In this thread sillyphaunt has posted some 35mm negatives run through a Holga.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6345

panocho · May 4, 2005

I must say that I've just found further information on the matter. It seems that the one model that I found takes both 120 and 35mm film! So it is not that you need to go through all those manual adaptations. The camera already is prepared to take 35mm!
This seems to me an excellent feature. Though, I guess you'll still have the problems you mention, Meysha, when dealing with those 35mm negatives.
Thanks for the link to the Holga pictures! Some of them are amazing!

By the way, the camera I was referring to is a Yashica 635 -next one in my "collection"...?

(the " " come because I'm getting rid of most of my collection... oh no!!!!!!!) :cry:

Meysha · May 4, 2005

I actually modded my Holga by putting bits of black tape over the little frame thing inside the camera that changes the size of the photo (wow My english really sucks tonight) so that it wouldn't expose the little barcode things on the 35mm film. It worked really well. Although it was tricky lining up the film properly and I got most of them printed out.

It is a great feature. makes it cheaper to test out your new camera.

rangefinder · May 4, 2005

The Yashica 635 took 120 and 35mm.

120 film gave a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 (6x6) negative. This camera I believe would not take 220 film as did the Yashica Mat 124.

The Yashica 635 REQUIRED an adapter. The adapter consisted of several parts. First was the take-up spool for 35mm. Next were two spacers so you could load the film canister. The last piece was a matte/window adapter (for lack of better words). This fit inside the the 6x6 opening. It allowed a sprocket driven focal plane for the film and allowed the counter to adjust for 24-36 exposures as well as rewinding the film back into the canister. It gave vertical/portrait format only. To shoot horizontal negatives on 35mm you had to turn the camera 90 degrees.

The quality on the 635 was very good. It also has a iris diaphragm/leaf shutter. This allowed X-sync at all shutter speeds when the sync lever was moved to X. I believe it also had an M-sync which is for flash bulbs.

Be SURE it has the adapter with it. No adapter and the chance of using 35mm film in it is almost impossible. Without the adapter you can only run 120 film through it.

The Yashica A (120), D (120), 635 (120/35mm), Mat 124 (120/220) and Mat 124G (120/220) are all manual cameras. It does take a button battery for the light meter. I think the battery was a PX-635.