The Break of Dawn

Getting Bigger–

This installment suffered from a little rivalry. Things were scheduled to continue with more Nikon SLR legends but the lure of something else won out. Why? It’s something that is really worth considering since it’s an almost completely different experience especially now.

Erick Lirios

Time was when many people thought that graduating to medium format photography meant stepping up to where the big boys played. Things seemed quite alien to many since doing so meant not having a pentaprism and the eye-level finder. DSLRs and many film SLRs don’t allow the removal of the pentaprism to be replaced by other finders like the waist-level. One thing that continued to endear Nikon to many 35mm users was the ability to remove the prism and change finders – something Canon abandoned when the EOS line replaced the FD line.

What about medium format cameras? One of the most distinguishing features of these is the waist-level finder. Some have them removable while others don’t. This is perhaps one of the more glaring differences. It isn’t at all seldom that people ask, “What kind of camera is that that has the photographer looking down and is held with both hands cradling it?”

Handholding the thing often results in that but the absence of the pentaprism also means something that a person really has to get used to left is right and right is left. When light passes through the lens, the image is actually inverted and flipped. The pentaprism’s system of mirrors corrects for this that’s why the viewfinder image is right-side-up and left is left and right is right. 

The waist-level finder renders a right-side-up image only. It doesn’t correct for the flipping. Thus, when you move the camera to the right in a panning motion, the image looks like it’s moving in the other direction. It’s a bit disorienting at first but all you really need is to remember where the camera is actually pointing and that if your subject moves to the left, you also move to the left. It’s a bit challenging because many people have taught their brains to lock out everything outside the viewfinder and they therefore follow everything in the viewfinder including movement resulting in the disorientation.

However, one of the most satisfying things about medium format photography is the fact that it gives such a big image even while you shoot. This is what live view is really about. It’s so easy to focus because of the size of the image.

Another thing to take note of is that focal lengths are treated differently. Shooters used to 35mm know that the 50mm is the standard or normal lens because it closely mimics the field of view of the human eye. Lenses with lower focal lengths like 28mm is considered wide angle while 100mm is already telephoto.

Those numbers are thrown out the window with medium format. What’s more is that the “normal” lens depends on which medium format camera you’re using. Take note: There are at least three common sizes of medium format cameras: 6×4.5cm, 6×6cm, and 6×7cm. There are other sizes but these three are the easiest to come by. What does this mean? At the very least, the same roll of 120 film gives 15 shots on 6×4.5 (shortened to 645 by users), 12 on the square format (6×6) and just 10 on 6×7. If you’re the type of person who thinks that more is more, this may seem like getting short-changed. It really isn’t. Yes, you do end up changing rolls more frequently with 6×6 and 6×7 but, especially with the latter, the size of the actual frame more than makes up for it. For one thing, if one were to compare an enlargement from 35mm and the 6×7, the sharpness of the larger film really comes to fore especially once you go beyond an 8×10.

This difference also results in a difference in the concept of the normal lens. For the 645, the normal lens is usually the 80mm and the same is true for the 6×6. The 6×7’s normal lens focal length is 110mm while many users of the Mamiya RB67/RZ67, arguably one of the most popular and best medium format cameras use the 127mm lens. The 645 and 6×6 wide-angle equivalent of the 28mm is the 45mm while the 6×7 pegs it at 60mm. The telephoto length of 105mm is around 180mm on both the 645 and 6×6 and 210mm on the 6×7. Whew.

The Yashica 124 G

Yashica may not have made such a splash in 35mm but it still has, up to now, a very steady following when it comes to medium format especially since they do have the 124 G, a favorite among people who want to get their feet wet in medium format yet don’t find the whole lomography thing brought by cameras like the Holga appealing. (We will deal with lomography some other time.)

Aside from the already-mentioned features of medium format cameras, the 124 G is a twin-lens reflex, a TLR. Therefore, what you see in the finder is the image that passes through the viewing lens (the one on top) while the photo is taken using the shooting lens (the one on the bottom). One major advantage of this is the fact that there is no mirror that needs to get out of the way when the shot is taken as is what happens with SLRs. Remember, in SLRs, the image you see in your viewfinder is the result of a mirror reflecting whatever light that goes through the lens up to the pentaprism eventually ending up in your eye. This similar to what happens with the viewing lens setup in the TLR. However, unlike the SLR experience, upon shooting, there is no need for the mirror to get out of the way so that the light reaches the film. The mirror stays in place since the shooting lens is the one responsible for the actual shot anyway.

(to be continued next week)