Medium format
We’re going to Skye and Harris later in the year for a couple of weeks. I haven’t been to Skye for a long time and have never been to Harris and Lewis. I’m looking forward to it immensely.
Amy: Seagull 4B1; 1997?
As far as I can recall, last time I was on Skye I was using my old Canon SLRs, probably the Canon A1. I know at one point I used a Seagull 4B1 TLR too. I’ve been digital for a while now, but I still have film cameras and they all have film in. Every so often I take one away with me, but it tends to stay in my bag–I keep getting suckered by the ease of digital, the immediate gratification. So for this coming holiday it crossed my mind only to take film cameras, and I may yet do that.
One of those film cameras will, if all goes according to plan, be an old Pentax 645 medium format I’ve just bought off eBay.
Why the 645? because I saw a documentary of Harry Hook in Africa, and was impressed by his use of a 645 and the results he was getting.
Pentax 645
I’m not so dumb as to think the camera makes the photo, especially because he is a highly experienced and talented professional with access to professional laboratories. But, having done a lot of research, the 645 seems a good place to start to step up to the larger film format, and Hook’s brilliance gives me something to aim for.
The Seagull (which I still have) is a nice enough camera within its own limits (and I have some Rollei 400ASA black and white film in it right now as a test roll), but it’s not flexible enough for what I want.
With a bit of luck you’ll start seeing some results here soon–I have a scanner by my desk that takes medium format negatives, and test efforts were promising, though I have some work to do to make a proper go of it (see the pic of Amy above).
The challenging thing to do, the one to throw me back entirely to film, would be to take only the 645 and a tripod and a bag full of either Ektar or Portra (or similar). I’ll decide on that once I’ve run a couple of test rolls through the camera.
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