Medium Format Film Newbie needs help/inspiration/ideas/stuff

[johnfreed0]

If not a tripod, at least use a grip.

If I may add, I have a grip and a monopod. I use it to shoot in urban areas where the 4X5 is a bit much. It turns into performance art very quickly. The same seems to happen when I set up a tripod for any reason including steadying my digital (gasp!!!) camera. The monopod by itself tended to yaw side to side so I added the grip which steadied things down. I've been able to hold an 1/8 of a second without blur; I took four shots to be sure and two of them were good.

 

[johnfreed0]

Ok so a longish while back in a moment of, what was likely madness, I bought myself a

Mamiya RB 67 Pro S
Remote release
3 film backs
Mamiya Sekor Macro 140mm f4.5
Mamiya Sekor Macro 50mm f4.5
Mamiya SekorC Macro 180mm f4.5
Mamiya SekorC Macro 90mm f3.8
Extension Tube 1 45mm
Extension Tube 2 82mm
A Wallet with a bunch of coloured filters (yellow, orange, blue, green, red)
A manual lightmeter

I've a bunch of Ektar 100 film bought at the same time (and not stored in any special way what so ever so could be iffy quality at best, but I'll likely use it first because that's what I've got and it might still be fine - or at least good enough to muck around with).


And I've got NO idea what to do with it! I mean I want to use it, but I've really not got a clue what do "do" with it in terms of what to take a darn photo of and it would seem a waste to take photos of random areas of my room/house (to say nothing of a waste of money paying for the film to be processed).

In fact on that latter score anyone in the UK know of a good place to get film developed and scanned? I did debate about getting a film scanner and washing/preparing film at home whenI got this ages ago ,but as I never followed through with using it I never followed through with getting a scanner so it will be off to "somewhere" to get the film developed for now.

It looks like we shop at the same place. I've got nearly the exact same rig. I bought it as the small camera to use when the Sinar F1 4X5 was overkill. This was especially true for urban photography where setting up the F1 attracts a crowd and, in some places, the police. I've been shooting mainly B&W for the last 60 years or so with few excursions into color. After the control you get in processing the whole image from the shutter to the matt, relying on some anonymous soul to create my art, such as it is, was not very palatable.

I assume from you post that you do not have a darkroom (few of us do anymore) so you'll have to rely upon someone to develop your film. After that, I would suggest that you buy a reasonably decent scanner and printer and do the prints yourself. My color shots are rare but those I do have I've scanned with a reasonable HP scanner and printed with a Canon PRO 100 printer. The results are better than what I used to get sending out for prints.

I've also used the 67 for landscape with pretty good results (I've been a bit spoiled shooting 4X5). It's a nice rig and does attempt to keep you from making common mistakes. This can cause some problems when one of the safety features is not just right and the camera will not let you take a shot. Aside from that and what I call Secor's disease (the shutter does not close while the mirror is in transit) it's been a good system. And as an added feature, the weight of the rig turns photography into an aerobic exercise.

Good luck with the 67.

jr

 

[CarlH]

I use AG Photographic in Birmingham for my film development and scanning, take about 4 working days.
Results are excellent.

 

[Vtec44]

You sell your film gear and convert to digital.

 

[pendennis]

If you decide to develop film, B&W is fairly easy, and not all that expensive. However, for color, either C41 (negatives) or E6 (slides), having them done commercially is the only way to go. The setups for color are fairly expensive, and very precise. Unless you're devoting a huge amount of volume, it's just not cost effective.

I shot with a RB67 for over twenty years, and it's just not much fun trying to hand hold it. A 6x4.5 camera or a 6x6 is much more hand-hold-friendly.

I shoot a RZ67, Hasselblad, Mamiyas, and a Bronica SQ-A. They provide a great deal of photographic pleasure, and a different art form than digital.