Taking Pictures the Hard Way
The author talks about getting into medium-format photography. When shooting film, I usually shoot medium format and I’ve been shooting mostly medium-format for 15+ years. I have observations about what the author says about MF.<p>&gt; It seems like the vast majority of medium format cameras have fixed focus lenses though.<p>This is the toy camera movement. Holga, Diana, Lomo, etc. The cameras might cost you $20 or less and exhibit severe vignetting, fixed focus, lens flare, and even light leaks (people put tape on the cameras). These seem really common, but I think that it’s just that toy cameras are still manufactured and sold in stores so you see them a lot. I think you can get these cameras at places like Urban Outfitters.<p>&gt; The alternative is getting one of the medium format SLRs with an actual focusable lens but those are again ridiculously overpriced for a box with a hole for a lens in it.<p>The Hasselblads are the other extreme end. They are collector’s items. They are also good cameras, but because they are also collector’s items, they are expensive. You might spend $1,500 for a used Hasselblad system.<p>There are alternatives between a Holga and Hasselblad, though! You can get Yashica TLRs for relatively inexpensive, as well as Seagull, Mamiya C, and some other TLR brands. I would expect to pay $100 or $200.<p>Around $500 you open up a number of more modern “workhorse” MF cameras including SLRs, like Mamiya RB67 &amp; RZ67, various Bronica, Pentax 645, etc.<p>And upwards of $700-$1,500, you can get Fuji rangefinders, Pentax 67s, and maybe a Hasselblad.<p>If you are doing this as a hobby and just want to see if you like MF, I recommend going for a used TLR—they are inexpensive, light, and fun to use. If you want to suffer a bit more and have more control over your pictures, read lens reviews for MF SLRs.<p>&gt; The film scans I&#x27;ve seen online taken through such cameras make it look like there&#x27;s way less detail than my 35mm film pictures though.<p>Complicating the issue is the fact that you can get good scans of 35mm film with relatively inexpensive equipment. The only ways I’ve been able to get really good scans of MF film is with the Nikon CoolScan 9000 or drum scanners. Epson flatbeds do the job but getting good MF scans from flatbed scanners is tricky and requires some passion. Getting drum scans has, in the past, set me back around $30 PER PICTURE so it has to be something you care deeply about.<p>Unless you have a wet lab or are willing to invest in high-quality equipment, you are not going to get near the level of quality from MF that you’d expect, given the size and lens quality.