But for new and would-be medium format photographers, the ever-shifting landscape of the hobby can be a bit daunting. Of the hundreds of available medium format cameras, how can we possible know which is the one to buy?

We answered this very question in a pair of articles, the first published way back in 2016 and another in 2019. Five years on, they could do for an update. So, here’s the update.

I’ve meticulously selected five of the best medium format cameras that one can buy today, each with its own unique reason for being. Since we’re just starting out, the cameras are arranged by type, which will help would-be users who may not know what they want. I’ve also tried to keep the cameras on this list limited to those with reasonable prices. (I break this rule only once.)

Enjoy!

For old school sophistication, buy a Minolta TLR

Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras; one glance and we know we’re holding an old world piece of machinery. They’re as much jewelry as they are highly functional photographic tools, and I mean that in the best way possible — TLRs are gorgeous, and can make gorgeous photos.

TLRs have two major features which differentiate them from most other cameras. First, they shoot square images. Second, they have two lenses, one which acts as a focusing screen viewfinder through which the photographer looks to frame the shot, and a second lens which is used to actually expose the film.

The viewfinder of a TLR is typically located on the top of the camera. The photographer peers down into it while holding the camera at waist-level. Since there’s no penta-prism as we find in most SLR cameras, the image in the viewfinder can be a bit disorienting for new shooters. But stick with it and we’re able to enjoy a unique and engaging perspective.

The most popular TLRs in the world are the famed Rolleiflex and Rolleicord TLRs. However, these camera are quite expensive today, loved for their extremely high build quality and classic characterful lenses. For new shooters looking to try a TLR, I have two recommendations.

If you’re looking for a classic TLR with a capable lens, high build quality, bright and accurate focusing screen, and easy-to-learn all-manual controls, buy the Minolta Autocord. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Minolta made about a dozen different Autocord models, some with light meters and some without.

Avoid buying the Autocord L and the Autocord LMX, since these models used a selenium light meter (which in modern times will almost certainly be dead). If you require a camera with a built-in light meter, seek out the Autocord CDS II or CDS III, the only Autocords with built-in battery-powered CdS meters (these meters don’t die from age, like the selenium ones do).

An all-manual meter-less Autocord can be purchased today for under $250, and if we’re patient and careful, it’s possible to find one for under $100. I can’t overstate the value proposition of a camera this good at a price this low.

Read my full review of the Autocord here, and then shop for one on eBay.

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HONORABLE MENTION : Much of what I wrote about Minolta’s TLRs can be equally applied to Yashica’s TLRs. Yashica made a number of incredibly reliable, capable TLR cameras, some of which are all-manual and some of which come with light meters. Indeed, an article on this very site has gone into great detail to spotlight the Yashica TLR as a perfect first medium format film camera.

The most popular Yashica TLR is the Yashicamat 124 G, a truly gorgeous and capable camera. By the specs and the results, the Yashica and Minolta TLRs are essentially equal. I picked the Minolta because they’re less popular, and therefore less expensive today.

For those who love SLRs, Buy the Pentax 645

The Pentax 645 is quintessential Pentax. It’s affordable, easy to use and delivers quality images. It was marketed toward amateur photographers shooting their first weddings and those just breaking into the professional world. Which means it’ll be more than good enough for the brand new medium format photographer.

It offers center-weighted metering with full auto Program mode, plus semi-auto Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, as well as full manual mode. ISO ranges in 1/3 stops from 6 – 6,400 with shutter speeds of 15 seconds to 1/1,000th of a second, plus bulb mode for long exposures. Its motor drive is capable of 1.5 frames per second, which allows us to blow through a whole roll in just twenty seconds (kind of absurd).

The viewfinder has a lovely LED display. In manual mode it shows how many stops we are from a perfect exposure, which it indicates with an encouraging “Ok!” If we use the exposure compensation, a very tiny plus sign will light up when compensation is engaged. Nice touches.

It’s a relatively small and light camera, for medium format, and benefits from a truly astonishing line-up of interchangeable lenses.

All of these features combine to create a camera which, essentially, can do anything any new medium format film shooter could ever ask of a camera.

The Pentax 645 has undergone two facelifts over time: the 645N in 1996 and the 645NII in 2001. The 645N was a complete overhaul which added a more sophisticated interface, auto-focus, and matrix metering. The later 645NII added mirror-lock up. Both the N and NII are much more professional-oriented cameras, but that comes at a price. They cost double or triple the cost of an original 645.

For budget-conscious film photographers looking for a solid medium format SLR camera, the original Pentax 645 is it. Importantly, it also leaves enough money left over to buy the most important ingredient for growth – lots and lots of film.

Read all about the Pentax 645 in our article here, and then buy one on eBay here.

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HONORABLE MENTION : The Mamiya 645 series of cameras can be very similar to the Pentax 645. The oldest version of the Mamiya is a full-manual camera, but later models offer various degrees of semi-auto and full-auto shooting modes. Prices on these start at the same level as the Pentax, but climb significantly with the spec sheet. The Mamiya was not my first choice because the Pentax is typically cheaper.

For effortless photography, buy the Fujifilm GA645

The Fujifilm GA645 is a very special, and very modern camera. Made in 1995, it is essentially a point-and-shoot medium format film camera that makes shooting medium format as easy as… well, pointing and shooting.

Focus is automatic. Film advance and rewind are automatic. Exposure is automatic, semi-automatic, or full manual. It’s compact and portable, making it a great choice for travelers or street photographers. It even has a built-in flash. Shooting this thing is like shooting the most capable point-and-shoot film camera ever made. It’s the Canon Sure Shot of medium format!

The 60mm f/4 Fujinon Super EBC lens creates stunning images. A variant called the GA645W is fitted with a wider 45mm f/5.6 lens, though this camera tends to be more expensive than the original GA645.

The only major issue with the Fuji is that it’s relatively expensive. Indeed, it’s the most expensive camera on this list. However, there really are no other alternatives for people seeking a fully-automated point-and-shoot medium format film camera, and this one is a true wonder of modern photographic engineering. As Aldo Gucci once said, quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.

Buy your own Fuji GA645 on eBay.

Fujifilm GA645 for sale | eBay

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For medium format on a budget, buy an old folder

Contrary to oft-repeated opinion, it is in fact possible to buy a compact, high quality medium format film camera with a stunning lens for under $150. And I don’t mean a Holga (don’t buy a Holga). We just need to know what to look for.

Medium format folding cameras are the best kept open secret in the medium format world. Collectors and “the olds” have known about them for decades, and we can often find these photographic saints spreading the good word of folding cameras as far as their Facebook groups’ organic reach will allow.

Medium format folding cameras are essentially simple, light tight machines with shutter and lens assemblies mounted to the front of a collapsible bellows. The lens, shutter, and bellows are typically protected by a folding door, which can fold open to extend the whole business into the position needed to make a photo.

When closed, they are incredibly compact (I once used one during a vacation in Disney World). When opened for use, they can make incredible images in a variety of image formats (6 x 6, 6 x 7, and 6 x 9 are most popular).

The downside to these cameras is that they’re all manual and often lacking in any sort of focusing aids. This means that we’ll need to understand light or carry a light meter, set our aperture and shutter speed manually, and even focus by eye using the scale focus method (estimate distance to subject, set that number on the lens, and hope for the best). For this reason alone, medium format folders are not necessarily a great choice for beginner photographers. But for those who know what they’re doing in the 35mm space, the price is low enough to justify the risk.

Medium format folding cameras were made by plenty of companies – Zeiss, Agfa, Kodak, and more. Which means that their are plenty to choose from. The big peril in buying a folding camera is that we need to make sure we’re buying one that’s fully functional.

As a result of their age and their rather delicate design, folding medium format camera can be a bit fragile. When looking to buy one, make sure that the bellows are free of leaks and pinholes, ensure that the lens elements are free of haze and fungus, and confirm that the shutter and aperture function as they should.

The models that I would seek out are the Agfa Isolette, Super Fujica 6, or the Zeiss Ikonta.

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For the biggest possible negative, buy a Fuji Panorama G617

I admit, this final addition to my list is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Nobody should buy this camera as their first medium format camera, and it shouldn’t be on this list. But it’s been so long since I was able to write about the G617, and I really want to do so.

Because there’s simply no other camera like the Fuji Panorama G617.

The biggest selling point for the G617 is hinted at in the name; the enormous image area. Measuring a truly massive 6 x 17 centimeters (2.25 x 6.5 inches) in a 3:1 aspect ratio, the G617 is capable of exposing unbelievably large swathes of film. First produced in 1983, it was intended to be a specialty tool for landscape and architectural photographers who were looking to expose gigantic negatives in a relatively portable camera.

It features a fixed Fujinon 105mm F/8 lens providing a diagonal angle of view of 80.3º (the approximate equivalent angle of view of a 25.8mm lens in the 35mm format). The lens’ aperture spans from a maximum aperture of F/8 to a minimum of F/45, and this sits behind a Made-in-Japan Seiko No. 0 inter-lens leaf shutter capable of speeds from 1 second to as fast as 1/500th of a second, with additional Bulb mode for long exposures and flash sync at all speeds.

Focusing is handled via the scale focus system, film advance is achieved via a thumb-powered advance lever on the top plate, and aperture and shutter speed are all adjusted via rings or levers on the lens. Multiple exposures are possible by resetting the shutter with the lens-mounted lever and firing it again via the release on the lens without advancing the film between shots.

Essentially, that’s all there is to the Fuji G617. It’s just a gorgeous specialty camera made for creating super-wide, extremely massive images on medium format film. And if you want to see what it can do, check out my review here.

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Towers of smoke reached into the sky above the Imperial Gardens as American automobiles burned on the ground. American military men were hurled into the castle moat and stoned. Policemen were battered with sticks and rocks and pro-communist placards. Warning shots were fired into the sky. Two protestors were shot and killed, and dozens more were badly injured.

The day would come to be known in Japan as Bloody May Day, a day which would eventually lead to the formation of a new and long-lasting U.S.-Japan Alliance, and (importantly for the scope of this publication) a handful of new and unusual film cameras.

Bloody May Day

The May 1st protests began peacefully, with concerned elements of the Japanese citizenry converging on the Imperial Gardens to protest the signing of the Security Treaty between the United States and Japan just days earlier. This treaty had laid out the conditions for ending the American Occupation of Japan that followed World War II, and established a path to restoring Japan’s sovereignty as a nation.

The agreement dictated that Japan would allow the United States to maintain military bases on Japanese soil even after the end of the Occupation. It prohibited Japan from offering the same service to any other foreign power, and stipulated that the United States could launch any military action from Japan-based forces without any need to consult the Japanese government. It further failed to mention any requirement that U.S. forces defend Japan if Japan were attacked. Most troubling for many Japanese, the treaty had no expiration date nor did it mention any mechanism by which an expiration date could be created.

Following the events of Bloody May Day in 1952, and through the work of many other peaceful and non-peaceful protests, and with the help of a massive anti-military base movement that arose in Japan throughout the 1950s, a new treaty was finally negotiated beginning in 1957. By 1959 the negotiations had concluded and the new Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan was signed in January, 1960.

This new agreement was far more equitable from a Japanese perspective. It committed the United States to defend Japan in the event of an attack, it required prior consultation with the Japanese government before any U.S. forces could be dispatched from Japan-based military bases, and it specified an expiration date ten years hence. After ten years, the treaty could be abrogated by either party.

Though not without its fair share of detractors, the new agreement was successful in mitigating many of Japan’s greatest concerns surrounding the U.S.-Japan alliance, and paved the way for the long-standing cooperation that has existed between the two countries for over sixty years.

Now Let’s Talk About the Cameras

During the Bloody May Day riot, many police officers were injured while attempting to photograph the protestors and the riot. It can be assumed that the police were photographing the protestors for purposes of identification or to create a record of evidence to be used in future legal proceedings. Whatever their purpose, the police were taking pictures of the crowd, and the crowd noticed.

The protestors quickly adopted a policy of destruction of any camera employed in photographing the riot.

In a Nippon Times newspaper clipping we can read an eye-witness account by someone named Stuart Griffin, who writes of being “in the thick of the violent outburst.” He describes the usual riotous scenes that we’re all so unfortunately still accustomed to today – inflamed crowds and flaming cars, smashed windows, the stumbling body-press of humanity writhing and grappling.

He also describes witnessing the destruction of cameras.

“The rioters tried to prevent cameramen from photographing the vehicles in flames. One cameraman narrowly escaped from having his camera smashed by a unionist […]” [Source]

Police officers photographing the scenes of May 1st necessarily had their faces pressed against the viewfinders of their cameras. They had their hands full. They were operating at a disadvantage, unable to give their full attention to the violence around them and often suffered injuries because of it.

Japanese camera companies had, in fact, already researched the development of pistol-shaped cameras in the late 1940s, as a means for police officers to catch photographic evidence of criminal behavior in real time. But their design was so specialized and their use-case so niche that full development of a pistol-shaped camera had not been a priority. After the events of Bloody May Day, this changed.

Suddenly the police forces of Japan were pressing camera-makers for a solution to the problem of the bulky, traditional camera for in-the-field police work. They wanted a camera which could be used quickly, without the need to hold the camera up to the user’s eye, and a camera which could be easily stored into a belt holster when not in use. It seemed that the pistol camera’s day had come.

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Pistol Camera Makers and Notable Models

Prior to Bloody May Day, a number of Japanese camera companies had been toying with development of pistol-shaped cameras. These include the Gemmy and the Seiki 16 Pistol Camera, which were both made around 1950. Another pistol-shaped camera, the Doryu 1, was well-known as a prototype, however it was never produced in numbers due to reliability issues.

After the events of Bloody May Day, the pistol camera became a more well-developed product, the two most successful of which were the Mamiya pistol camera, which was officially called Mamiya Fast-Action Camera (Pistol Shape), and the competing Doryu 2-16.

Let’s start with the Doryu.

The Doryu 2-16 was an ingenious photographic device. It came with an f/2.7 standard lens (and allowed for interchangeable cine-mount lenses) and it exposed 16mm film. The flash magazine was contained in the handle of the “gun” and could hold six magnesium-filled flash cartridges. Pulling the trigger would fire the shutter and light the magnesium flash cartridge on the top of the camera. A photo would be made and a crime (supposedly) recorded.

The Doryu 2-16 failed to find success. The Doryu looked a bit too much like a firearm, and the authorities of the time feared that this might frighten people and lead to unfortunate situations. In addition, development pf the Doryu 2-16 took too long, and by the time it was finally ready for use the Japanese police forces had essentially adopted the Mamiya Pistol Camera as their model of choice. Before they’d sold their first camera, the Doryu 2-16 had lost its customers.

The company decided to attempt to market the Doryu 2-16 to civilian customers, however the highly-specialized design meant that it sold in very low numbers. Doryu 2-16 production was quickly halted. This has lead to a very high valuation of surviving Doryu 2-16 cameras among collectors, with some Doryu 2-16 cameras selling for over $10,000 at recent auction.

1905 Ticka Watch Camera - An In-Depth Look

There's this guy I know; one of those old-timey photo geeks that have seen it all and own most of it. He's got hundreds of cameras. Gold-plated Leicas that weren't available to the public, French cameras nobody's ever heard of... and this. A Ticka Pocket Watch Camera.

The Mamiya Pistol Camera was the most successful pistol-shaped camera. It was designed by Miyabe Hajimu, Mamiya’s chief designer at the time, in a design process that took just six months. Unlike the Doryu 2-16, the Mamiya Pistol Camera uses 35mm film in standard cassettes to shoot exposures measuring 18 x 24mm. The film is advanced manually via a lever, which also cocks the shutter. The shutter is released by the traditional pistol-style trigger. Aperture and shutter speed are controlled by a single ring around the lens barrel (using the EV system).

Through clever positioning of the camera’s controls, it’s possible for the user to shoot an entire roll of film using only one hand. Its compact size and included holster made it an ideal choice. Plus, it looked much less like a traditional firearm compared to the Doryu 2-16.

By 1954, the Mamiya Pistol Camera had become standard equipment for every police headquarters in every Japanese prefect. However, estimates claim that production totaled only 300 units, and many Mamiya Pistol Cameras were scrapped in the following decades. This has lead to valuations as high as the similarly rare Doryu 2-16. One Mamiya Pistol Camera sold at recent auction for close to $13,000.

Fate of the Pistol Camera

Pistol cameras were born out of tragedy, created to better prosecute criminals and to protect police officers working in harm’s way. But their real-world utility is questionable.

Like the Pocketwatch Camera and the Mamiya Camera Clock, that I’ve written about previously, Pistol Cameras were highly specialized, extremely niche cameras. Predictably, the pistol-shaped camera did not last as a photographic tool. It appeared in the early 1950s in Japan and then quickly and quietly went extinct.

And, to be fair, that’s probably a good thing. Perhaps cameras that look like guns was never a very good idea.

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The Mamiya Watcher A is a 35mm Film Surveillance Camera Built Into a Clock

James has been the victim of a heinous theft. In today's article he uses the Mamiya Watcher A to capture the criminal.

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This sight, simple, yet truly beautiful, still brought me moments of begging for spring and the wash of vibrancy it ushers.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am primarily a black and white film user, but every so often, there is a tugging at my eye that I can’t ignore. In this article though, the draw for color has been replaced with the need to know the possibility of a certain piece of gear.

Living in Spokane, Washington, there are some truly beautiful landscapes around every corner. The camera that’s the subject of this article is a great medium format camera for landscape shooting. But I mostly use it in whatever way fits the moment. I tend to walk around my neighborhood and the not too far surrounding areas almost everyday. Work and other things often weigh in and affect this privilege, but I try my darndest to do a few blocks here and there on even the sleepiest of days.

Movement is very important to me, whether it be the movement of my feet, my eyes adjusting to a scene, my mind wandering through its bubbling bog of ideas or my move to purchase an amazing camera and lens (for the second time) because I just couldn’t cut a certain thought free. One particular thought was that I had let go one of the best made film cameras of all time, and one that was fitted with a beautiful kit lens as well; the Mamiya C330 Pro F, wearing the lovely Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 on its front. I was so impressed by this camera. The way it leaned into my hands so comfortably when composing and how it offered so much control and so many options during use. I really enjoyed my time using that camera, but then came life, and I had to sell it.

That’s where my story with the formerly-owned pristine Mamiya kit ends, and my current journey with a very well kept C330 (with one of the ugliest 80mm lenses I’ve ever seen) begins.

This story is more or less about the wonders that can be explored (and explored confidently) with a lens that doesn’t seem like it could give good results. Because the truth is, we can spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars less on a beat-up lens and still get sharp, well balanced, contrasty, and flare free results, even with glass that looks like it was pulled out of the bottom of Indiana Jones’ side bag 33 years after his retirement. Hairy, dinged and dusty, rough as an elbow and still shining.

The snow has been replaced with trees heavy in themselves, leaning and giving off their scents. Puffs of green dotting along lane after lane beside other long stemmed flowering cities and fluffy ground covers. Some wearing clusters of lovely thin layers, yellow, white, pink and so on, inviting bees and butterflies for seasonal conversation and sending them off with gifts.

This is the blue sky backdrop where my new kit was welcomed in. I first opened the box it came in and was a little worried. Having bought it online and in “heavily used” condition, where the photos were not so telling, I was unsure of what to expect. Right away I noticed the circular scratches covering both lenses. Looking a little closer I saw what looked at first like specks of dirt, or maybe some kind of lens coating issue. I quickly ran to my room and grabbed some cotton swabs, a little isopropyl, and gave them both a visit to the doctor.

I cleaned the lens bodies, for there was a bit of grime all over, and lastly the elements themselves. That’s when I noticed there was definitely an issue. The issue wasn’t with the shutter mechanism or the aperture blades being sticky, or any of the common issues that one finds when buying old gear (and especially older leaf shutter lenses). It was something I had never seen before on any other lens, and it sort of freaked me out.

Pitting. There were tons of tiny little dings all over both front elements. Now. I don’t know if you have ever experienced this yourself, and if you have perhaps you’ll understand, but if you haven’t, let me tell you that it’s horrifying!

I didn’t know what to do, and I bounced around in my head whether or not to contact the seller, start looking into potential repair, possibly look into buying new front elements… the list goes on. Eventually, having given some time to looking and focusing inside and outside through the bright finder of the C330, I decided to load the camera with some Kodak Tmax 100 and go for a walk. It was a bright day, and I figured this would be a great time to test for softness and flaring or any other aberrations that may accompany such an ugly set of lenses. I gave the camera a little pat on the back, dropped an extra roll of Tri X 400 into my shirt pocket and headed out.

There isn’t anything special about my setup. No grip, just strapped and hanging there waiting to be scooped, held and cranked, and I did just that. Walking through that day glow looking at all the houses and parked cars with rosebush back drops, tulips hugging tulips the way they do, watching cats maneuver through yards and follow squirrel tracks. I looked for test images to make terrible negatives, sure that the resulting images would my new lenses out to pasture. Then I would reach out in some new direction to try for a solution to the problem of the pitted lens.

I wandered down alleys, finding new growth climbing the sides of blinding white sheds and garages leaning with time. I don’t use a light meter so I was really going for the gusto here, trying to see how well the lens could handle the brightness. I knelt down in a shaded area under the trees, trying for images that gave the lens some respite and would push it from the other end of the spectrum. I don’t fully know what I was expecting to find, but probably some sort of fogged out, soft images with lots of weird distorted points that I would see, and give up on, lightly tossing the negatives into my bowl filled with scraps for future negative collage.

I carried on, probably walking for about an hour. Finishing the roll of Tmax and loving the general feel and function of the camera again. Oh, the familiarity of knowing. I loaded up the Tri X and went through maybe three images before circling back to once more find myself outside of my house. I went inside and got prepared to develop the roll and see the results (with no small amount of hesitancy).

I develop all of my black and white film (except for Ilford XP2, which is a C41 process film) in Cinestill Df96 monobath, so it’s a very simple process. I know it, I like it, its consistent, and it takes no time. After developing, I hung the negatives to dry and looking at them while they just hung there in the dim light of my room, I didn’t see much to prompt an immediate conclusion in how the lens performed, so I told myself to chill and carry on doing something else for the time being.

I went out into the living room with my tripod and a flash and decided to shoot the rest of the Tri X with flash. Doing some self portraits and stuff with a banana and just whatever I could think of in the moment for the last few frames, I still had some reservations. Not knowing how much detail would be lost even with the wonderful crispness that adding flash can bring, I trudged on. The roll ended, I went to the kitchen shook and wiped out the Patterson, the reels and loaded up the Tri X for development. I figured that while this roll was drying I could scan the Tmax and see what I was dealing with, and then sandwiched by both discoveries I could truly have answers. So I did just that.

With the Mamiya sitting just beside me on the table, I scanned image after image from that walk just hours before and what I saw was very surprising. Mostly very usable images, with the right amount of contrast and, yes, yes, some blown out highlights, which I was expecting. But that is not the lens’ fault, that was user error. Not using a meter sometimes jeopardizes my final image, but never in a way that I can’t fix it in post with software or in the darkroom. So I wasn’t bummed or caught off guard, knowing that blown highlights wasn’t something to expect every time I used the lens. I continued scanning and continued to be happy to know it performs well while the flash roll dried, hanging there… looking at me. What to expect next!

Then the time came. I don’t shoot flash in this way, nearly ever. The most flash photography I had really done up to this point was with point and shoots. So the flash I had attached was nothing fancy, some little Vivitar deal. And for this reason, the flash roll had me more nervous. No meter, indoors, with flash, without much experience, with a lens that I was still unsure of.

Let the scanning begin!

Frame after frame, yet again, I was stunned. Not by the subject matter or composition, but by the amount of detail in the highlights and shadows. The mid tones were there making an appearance as well! I was so happy, and really pleased that I didn’t make a huge mistake. I was convinced that in the future I could be scrolling through lenses or looking at lenses in a free or cheap box and find a lens that normally would be on the pricier side or about to be thrown away, pick it up for dirt cheap because of how “ugly” it was and end up making some, to me, perfect images.

I really think this is a mostly untapped market for buyers and the resale value and potential is not guaranteed, nor should it be at this stage, but it’s so worth it. If you are looking for something that has been used into the ground but still has much more to offer, based on your budget, having more options, your work flow or just finding it on a shelf somewhere, pick it up, pop it on whatever camera you are wanting to use that day, and give it the time of its life. These lenses aren’t being newly made and this could be that lens’ last ride. I’m truly happy that the last time this Mamiya Sekor was used by the previous owner was not its last moment to shine. With me, it will get to experience a whole new life in all of its glorious, banged up brilliance.

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I’m so honored that she took the time out of her busy life to talk with me. We chatted about everything from the ridiculous prices of film to the urgency of preserving moments with the people we love. Our time together helped me realize my own desire to preserve the people and places I hold dear and I hope you find our conversation and her photos as inspiring as I do.

Can you start off by giving us a brief introduction to yourself?

I’m Han Phan. Last name is pronounced “Fan” even though my Instagram says it’s “Fawn.” I am now exclusively a medium format and large format film photographer. I fell into that niche and it’s been pretty good thus far. In regards to what I’m shooting, I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that out. That’s me! If I’m not photographing, I’m probably reading.

What initially got you into film photography and why do you keep shooting film?

It was exclusively my dad. For as long as I can remember growing up it was him with some kind of camera pointed in our faces. I know that he was an amateur photographer when he was in Vietnam. He’s told me about how it took him years to save up money to buy his first nice analog camera. It was, I believe, a Nikon FG or something like that. And then he slowly progressed into the FM’s, and FM2’s. I have all those now, he gave them all to me. He was always around and taking photos of us. I’m very thankful for that because now I have all these photographs of my youth, and I get to look back on them. Ever since I can remember he’s been subtly pushing film on me, like growing up he gave me the disposable point and shoots and then bought me a Polaroid camera. Then we got into the digital age so he bought me the Canon point and shoots. I was always that person in our group of friends who had a camera.

I took a huge hiatus from shooting in general, but then picked it up again in college when I shot for our newspaper. It all sparked up again when I went home and all of a sudden all my friends were shooting film, and I was like “wait what year is this??” They all had film cameras now. It was bananas, so I asked my dad if he still had his Nikon cameras and he did. So huge credit to my dad. He was always an inspiration.

Looking at our photos growing up, they were so organic. There was no “pose here, do this.” I feel like that’s why I continue to be obsessed with capturing organic, raw moments. I’m terrible at it, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try. It’s wanting to preserve and memorialize the people every day that I choose to give my time to. So that in five years, or even five days from now I can look back and think “remember that time, it was great.” It’s really preservation that’s why we shoot whatever it is we shoot, like our neighborhoods for instance. Like my neighborhood growing up doesn’t look anything like it does now.

The people in our lives, our parents, it’s important to have photographic mementos of them.

I love the stunning portraits of your parents that you post, along with beautifully written details about your family life and their experiences here in America. How has your family life shaped you as a photographer?

It’s affected me a lot. I feel like those are the realest, proudest photos I take of my family around their home. I think it’s kind of the reverse of how it’s affected me. It’s kind of, for me, a lack of family in my life that drives me to take more photos of them.

I live in Northern California and my parents live in Southern California. It’s only about a six hour drive away, but it still doesn’t mean I’m afforded time with them. I only get to see them maybe once every three or four months, and maybe for two or three days at a time, at most. I feel like when I’m there it’s almost a selfish, greedy desire to capture everything, to want to photograph things so I can remember them, or so I have more photos of my parents.

I don’t know how this developed. Growing up I didn’t have the best relationship with my parents. I have gaps in my memory where I spent time with them or they weren’t huge figures in my life. Like when I was a teenager or when I was in college because they were working their butts off, or I just didn’t want to be around them, you know, like you think your parents are your worst enemies.

It didn’t make any sense. They were my sole providers and worked so hard to give me the life I have now. But I was so anti-family, now I have to make up for that for all the time I lost and all the times I pushed them away. Now I just want to embrace them and anything and everything they can tell me about their struggles and our home life growing up. I would say it has affected my photography a lot because I feel like when I’m home and photographing them, those photos are the proudest I’ve made. They feel like the most important ones.

Do you envision long term that you will keep documenting your parents for the rest of your life?

Yeah, I was thinking about that recently. It’s like a finite but infinite project, in that for as long as I can and for as long as they are around I will be working on this project. I thought originally I’d love to put together a photo-book, at least for myself, that I can look back on and reflect. But I feel like it’s always going to be a working body, something I’m going to want to photograph because they’re still here. And it would be cool if they’re here for a very long time and I can continue to work on it. But obviously they are not going to be around forever, so as much as I can and for as long as I can I will be working on this.

How do your parents feel about the project, and has it evolved at all as a response to their feelings?

It first started out as me just wanting to see how far I could push my parents before they thought it was annoying. Also, you have to know this about my mom, she is such a ham. She thrives in front of the camera. And my dad, as a photographer, loves it. So that, coupled with her being a hoarder and having tons of clothes, I thought would be one of the projects. Her in every single garment she owns. It’ll just be a thousand pages of weird clothes she’s wearing. But it ended up being so forced. I hated the photos that came out of it, just me being like “Can you stand here, pose like this.” 

That changed the first time I ever photographed them and felt proud of it. It was her in her bathrobe cleaning the yard, and I just told her “Look up, smile” and took the photo. And I love that. And that’s how it’s changed.

In regards to their reception. She hates it when it is organic. But I love it, because that’s you in this moment. Whether you’re angry or caught off guard. My mom is always like “Let me curl my hair, put on earrings. Oh and pose me here.” So then she’s trying to direct me on how to direct her, and I just want her to be natural. Then she asks me to show her the photos I post online and she’ll be like, “What, I only got 300 likes??” Mom! You’re crazy! Look at this one, you got 1,000 likes. She’s hilarious.

As for my dad, on the other hand, he’s a photographer so he’ll be asking why am I having him sit a certain way or why I’m taking photos of him. But it’s really fun. They’re really supportive and used to it by this point. I really appreciate it. I’m working on how to translate what I write, so I can tell them. Me and my broken Chinese, I’m able to tell them what I was writing about but not a true translation of it yet.

Since you mentioned the writing aspect of your posts. Not only are your photos stunning, but you also post the beautiful prose and story behind the photos. What is the connection for you with words and photos?

I think I take more pride when people compliment me on my writing. So I think in that sense I would consider myself more of a writer than a photographer. But honestly, I’m neither. But on my phone I just have a ton of notes. Like sometimes I won’t be able to sleep so I’ll just re-write or it’ll be just word vomit. With the pieces with my parents, half the stuff is pre-written. Then if a photograph fits what I already wrote then I’ll finish the piece I already wrote, or I’ll write something specifically for it. Initially I felt every photo I took had to have something so deep and eloquent. And sometimes, like, it’s a photo of a sunrise. It’ll happen again. Yes, it’s beautiful but I don’t need to be deep or introspective about it.

But I feel like with the images of my parents, it’s so natural. For me, it’s kind of figuring out my lineage and my parents, so it’s therapeutic just writing. That’s what a lot of this is. Figuring things out by writing it down. And [the motivation is not] so I can post it and people can like it. Like, that one post where I didn’t know my grandma had the experience she did with the French soldiers. My mom just made an off-handed comment about how she shouldn’t really be here and how her dad wasn’t really her dad, her brothers aren’t her brothers. I was like, what?! And then she explained how grandma was assaulted, and how she was the product of it. I was like, hold up, we need to talk about this. But she didn’t really want to. So I needed to process that and write about it.

So yeah, I would say writing is very meaningful to me and very therapeutic. If it’s befitting of what I wrote or it’s a photo that means something to me, I’ll write something. But if I force it, nothing comes out. The theme is just very organic.

What was the evolution of 35mm to now focusing primarily on medium and large format?

My dad really believed you could only learn how to use a camera if everything is manual, so he really encouraged me to try the Nikons. But I just wanted a point and shoot. I wanted something easy and fast, set it and forget it. I didn’t really care. Then looking back on my first 10-15 rolls on the point and shoots, I realized all that stuff kind of sucked. I thought I was making cool photos, but it was really just me thinking I was the shit because I was shooting film. I think we get in our heads a lot about that stuff. I didn’t really connect with the 35mm work. I couldn’t fathom taking so many photos. So what I ended up doing was blowing through them on stupid things. I couldn’t really connect with it.

It was purely accidental that I got into medium format. I was on eBay and had purchased a roll of Lomography film. I thought I ordered 35mm but they shipped me 120 and I was like, “What is this??” I remember even leaving a three star review because I was frustrated at not getting 35mm. But lo and behold I should go back and give that guy five stars now! At the time I borrowed a camera to shoot it, a Mamiya RB67. The HEAVIEST camera you could possibly own. I put the roll through and I got the results back from the lab, and was like, “OH CRAP”. That just ruined me forever. It was so great. And because it was just 10 photos, I had to really think about what I wanted to photograph. It was a lot better because it slowed me down. Before I had just been walking around downtown San Francisco and just blowing rolls of 35mm on things that didn’t matter. With this, I was really, really slowed down. I really cared about the photographs I was taking. I almost immediately abandoned shooting 35mm, and went exclusively medium format. Which is still my main format, only because large format is so expensive. It’s been good, I’ve been so happy. I finally have teased out which cameras do and do not work. I’m just rotating on two medium formats now.

Which two are those?

The Pentax 67 will always be my baby. I love it so much. And the Mamiya 645.

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You mentioned that you are still figuring out what you like to shoot, but you obviously like shooting portraits. What draws you to shooting people vs. other subjects?

About two years ago I went on Instagram and declared “I am going to be a good portrait photographer!” It felt like the bane of my existence. I feel like I’m better now, but not the best. You can see in my photos it’s frequently people standing in the middle and they’re not really posing. It’s mainly, “Let me get a photo of you”. For me, that’s what matters and it’s not so much the pose. It’s not so much the portrait itself, but the people. You can see I do have a lot of the same people that I re-post. Again, that’s who I choose to give my time to, it means a lot to me. Taking their portraits and having a photo of them at this place where we did something together, that means more to me and these portraits are for me. It’s memorializing them and our time together. Having something to show for it, I guess.

That’s why I’m drawn to portraits, it’s about my relationship with these people. But man, it’s hard. There’s people out here taking amazing editorial shots of people, or making photos that are so emotive that tell a story just looking at them. That’s the level I want to get to. Still working on it! Will forever be working on it.

I’ve noticed your subjects seem so comfortable in front of your camera. Do you do anything to help people feel at ease in front of your lens? 

I think it has to do with getting to know people first. It’s cool to take portraits of strangers, because they look really nice or you want to capture their aura. But it’s also so important to build a relationship with someone before capturing their photo, because it is so intimate. Like I mentioned, a lot of the people featured in my work are friends and people I’m really comfortable with. I’m really happy you’re able to feel that between me and this person and our sense of trust in the photos.

Of the photos you’ve taken, what is your most impactful photo?

Probably photos I’ve taken of my parents. Maybe more so of my mom, because we’re so close. My mom is my best friend, she’s the love of my life. It’s a huge fear when I lose her it will be the end of me. Any photos I have of her mean so much to me. It’s always the ones where she’s caught off guard or I make her laugh and get a photo of that.

There’s one I took with my Mamiya 645 and her glasses are sitting on the edge of her nose and she’s cheesing. She had just finished grabbing some lemons off the lemon trees and I snuck up on her. Things like that, where she’s in her natural element. It’s just like, that’s my mom. She’s a happy person. She’s the light of my life. She makes me so happy. Any photos that emit that kind of feeling for me are my most meaningful and they impact me emotionally a lot.

Is there anything you feel like you’ve struggled with in photography that you’ve overcome?

You know, I could make up something and be super deep, but honestly no. I don’t think so. Photography isn’t that serious for me. If I make a photo, I make a photo. If it’s great, it’s great. If it’s not, I’ll just throw it away and never think of it again.

But I think if I had to pinpoint the most challenging part, it would come down to how expensive things are. That’s just it. I would have no qualms about this hobby if things were affordable. My partner and I are trying to save to buy a house, and once we became serious about wanting to get a house I realized I couldn’t buy film and camera gear any more, until we at least get an accepted offer. And I’ve saved so much money! It’s so stupid. Oh my gosh, this is where all my money is going? Literally, it’s just being sunk into this hobby that’s never going to make me money. But I enjoy it. It’s so challenging in that I want to save money, of course, but at the same time I want the cameras I think are fun and I want all the film!

And one day I won’t be able to afford it anymore. So that really is the most challenging part of this. I’ve calculated it, Portra is $13-14 a roll now. I gave up on developing film myself, the colors were always terrible. So I send everything to a lab and scan my film myself to save some money. But sometimes I don’t have the time and energy, so I pay for the lab to do both, so then it’s like $16 for developing and scan, and then you’re paying for like $30 for a single roll of film start to finish. I can’t do that! That’s bananas. I want a baby, and we cannot afford to have a kid when their formula is $30+. This is just nuts. Sometimes I just have to break it down and focus on real life things and what I could afford instead. It’s so sad. $55 for a pro-pack, or half of a one-way ticket to see my parents? Oh man, this is really not fun when you sit down and think of these costs.

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What female or non-binary photographers are inspirational to you?

Oh Hannah Films! She’s amazing, and oh my gosh super cool too. I love her landscape photos. I don’t know how she gets the dreamiest and richest colors. Her photos are what I want my landscape photos to look like. Also there’s a couple that do predominantly story telling of the queer community. They’re known as Allie and Jesse on Instagram. They make really beautiful portraits. One of my most favorite ones of theirs was a boxer who had transitioned from female to male, and they followed their story, how they transitioned, and what they look like now. It was riveting. It was so cool.

When people take photos like that, I wonder how they make those connections? Because it’s so intimate and personal. They were able to connect with this person and they were comfortable enough to let them tell their story. That’s what Allie and Jesse do.

Obviously Sara Messinger. She’s amazing. I just discovered her. She’s based in New York and she does these photos, where they feel almost just like photos you take of your friends just hanging out but they are punchy and raw. The people she is photographing are like the cool punks or the misfit kids in high school you wished you could have talked to. All her photos are of people like that. Very raw. And I wonder how she evokes these emotions. Literally I have a whole list of people. Lindsay Perryman, they are so so good. Their portraits are super dynamic and powerful.

From the past, but Mary Mark Ellen. I bought a three book set of her work and after going through it I couldn’t photograph for months. I was just like, what am I doing? Her whole thing is she ingratiates herself into her subjects’ lives. She spent months in India photographing sex workers. I don’t even think it was an assignment. It was just her wanting to know about these people and their lives and that she wanted to photograph them. She spends time building up these relationships and making people feel comfortable. She takes these amazing photos that are just dripping with emotion. It evokes so much from just looking at it. That definitely made me pause and reevaluate things. I’m such a fan of her work.

Also, Aly’s Vintage Camera Alley, Shay of the Arts, and Liz Potter! And oh Jess Hobbs. She’s amazing. She’s actually the reason I’m now diving into modified cameras for instant film. All these women, like Jessie Tepper, Film by Kait, Chris Bartolucci, it’s been such a welcoming group of people that have been so supportive. Not just of me, but of everyone and of each other. There’s no gatekeeping. Also, Vania Francesca, she’s been so helpful in talking about quick loads and ready loads, and learning about how she does things.

Just looking at everyone’s work is so motivating. It makes me want to continue making good photos. It’s so invigorating seeing women and non-binary people be represented in this community. It sucks when it gets so loud with people trying to make a point that there couldn’t possibly be 50% of the film photography population be these people, that they think it’s all white men. It really sucks, because I could go on and on listing these people. It sucks that there are people who don’t believe there’s equal numbers of all these different kinds of photographers. But it’s so empowering to see all these feature pages pop up that aren’t just featuring cis-white men. I love it, it’s so cool. I’m glad more people are becoming aware of this. I hope it continues and we start becoming louder voices!

As we wrap up, what big projects are you working on?

Not so much projects, but I’ve gotten to a point where I’m comfortable with medium and large format and now I feel like, what else should I throw my money at? There’s a discord called Film and Filaments, or something like that, it’s a bunch of smart people modifying or designing their own 3D printed cameras so you can take instant photos. Polaroids are so expensive! People are upgrading and making those things at more affordable prices. I’m printing one right now that will work with a Mamiya Press Lens and the LomoGraflock Back. So there’s better alternatives to using the LomoGraflock Back. I’m super excited to dive into the world of instant film. So many of the instant film cameras on the market just don’t have a lot of control, so then your photos don’t turn out the greatest or the sharpest. With these designs they make it possible to shoot instant film with a lot more control, so I’m ecstatic about that. It’s not so much a project that will be fruitful and produce a specific body of work. It’s going to be fun and I’m really excited about it. But also it’s super aggravating because 3D printing is stupid and hard. But yeah, I’m really excited.

You can find Han’s work online on Instagram, Twitter, and on her Website.

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The post Parents and Portraits with Film Photographer Han Phan appeared first on Casual Photophile.

While these heinous crimes may not be of interest to the readers of this site, the method which I employed to identify the thief should be.

The camera that I used to catch the thief is a surveillance camera that I’ve owned for many years. But it’s not just any surveillance camera. The Mamiya Watcher A is a computer-automated point-and-shoot 35mm film camera weirdly disguised as an ugly clock.

With the help of the Mamiya Watcher A, I was able to identify the thief in a matter of days. The authorities have her in custody and we’re pressing charges.

Let’s start at the beginning, by cataloguing what was stolen. The thief was greedy. She took a whole box of Cheez-it salted cheese crackers, a couple of Ghirardelli chocolate squares, and a pack of Sour Patch Kids gummy snacks.

See, despite being generally healthy and exercising regularly, for better or worse I’m a guy who likes his snacks. And no matter where I stash them in my office they always seem to get stolen. Up until the Mamiya Watcher, I’d had no idea who was taking them, or when, or how. But now I have the answers.

What is the Mamiya Watcher A

The Mamiya Watcher A is a clock with built-in circuitry to activate a hidden camera within. Through use of a radio remote shutter trigger, we’re able to shoot photos from what externally appears to be nothing more than a decorative timepiece. Setting the dials inside the clock allows us to control how many exposures are made in succession, and the interval of time between these exposures. By setting these settings and using the remote shutter trigger it would be possible, for example, to press the remote control button just before a business associate enters the room and then have a 35mm film multi-frame record of the events that happened in the room over a set span of time.

The camera inside the clock is a Ricoh LX-33sW point and shoot, which was first released in 1993 (dating the Watcher more accurately than any other method I’ve found – the Watcher is a pretty rare object and not much information is available on it). This water resistant Ricoh point and shoot has a 34mm lens and a fixed focus point and a single exposure setting (1/50th of a second) when the flash is turned off, which it always is in the Mamiya Watcher A. The camera does not offer auto-focus or auto-exposure and film above 400 ISO must be used (the higher the better, in fact, since the covering which disguises the camera and lens is tinted quite dark).

The camera runs on two AA batteries and the clock and its circuitry runs on six C batteries. The remote also runs on a small battery. Yeah, there’s a lot of batteries.

And that’s really all there is to it. You simply load the camera, the clock starts running, and then when you’re ready to shoot your film you press the radio controlled shutter release and… I guess, act natural?

The longest possible interval between shots is 15 seconds, so using a 36 exposure roll of film it’s only possible that the Mamiya Watcher will capture a span of about nine minutes. I’m not sure how useful this would be.

The clock itself is, aesthetically, what’s the word… hideous. A giant gold clock face with terribly gaudy face hands, a confused jumble of colorful shapes on a black plastic body. It’s pretty ugly.

How I Caught the Thief

I knew that the thief was a repeat burglar, and that they’d taken my snacks on a nearly weekly basis for the prior three years, so the method by which I baited the trap was simple.

I poured succulent gummy bears into a bowl perfectly sized for stealing, and laid this glimmering bowl of gelatinous rainbow sugar in the most conspicuous spot that I could find in my office. I then placed the Mamiya Watcher A on a small table opposite the bowl of candy and loaded it with JCH Street Pan 400 film (this is, after all, a surveillance film).

After that, all I had to do was wait.

A day later the gummy bears were gone. The bowl, too, was gone. And as was the case in every previous robbery, there was no clue left behind as to where they went or who had taken them.

I rushed to the Mamiya Watcher and opened the back. The film had been exposed! I pulled the film from the back of the camera and rushed to develop the roll right there in my home office. A dozen minutes later I had my evidence, and my answers.

Alright, listen. I’m having a little fun with this, if you couldn’t tell. The conceit of this article is that someone’s been stealing my stuff and the Watcher helped me solve the crime. But what’s really happened is that I needed an appropriate scenario in which to use the Watcher so that I could write about it in this article, and since my two daughters constantly steal the many snacks which I keep hidden for myself in my office, I figured that this would be a good imaginary crime to solve. One Amazon-purchased burglar mask later and we had our themed photo shoot shot.

I sat there with the Watcher, pressing the shutter release on the radio remote while I directed my daughter frame by frame so that we could get some funny photos. The funniest flourish, I think, being the burglar mask that she pulls out of nowhere. I had fun, she had fun, we both ate some gummy bears and I think I’ve gotten a fun article out of it.

But could the Mamiya Watcher A truly solve an actual crime? I doubt it. You’d need to know when the crime is to happen and you’d need to fire the shutter yourself with the remote, which means you’d have to be in the room when the crime is occurring. Besides, the noise that the camera inside the Watcher makes is so raucous that it would pretty obviously give up the jig.

I suppose there could be other uses for the Watcher, but I’m not sure I want to entertain them. There’s just a lot about the Watcher that rubs me the wrong way. The manual even makes sure to mention that “This product should not be used to intrude upon people’s right to privacy.” I agree, myself, but I suspect that whoever bought this product in its own time didn’t share the qualms of whoever wrote the thing’s manual. This clock/camera is just kind of creepy.

Still, the Watcher A is a funny and interesting bit of film photography history, and I had fun using it to solve a fake crime.

Find your own Mamiya Watcher on eBay

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post The Mamiya Watcher A is a 35mm Film Surveillance Camera Built Into a Clock appeared first on Casual Photophile.

Hunting for the new camera was like being a kid in a candy store, except it was eBay on my computer in my house during quarantine. I scrolled for hours on end to buy the parts to the system individually, since I knew it would be cheaper this way. I ended up spending a small sum of $250. This got me the camera’s body, a 55mm F/2.8, a 150mm F/4, and a 120 film back. I was ready to “rumble,” as all of the cool photographers say.

I went on to use this camera to document two of the most pivotal moments in my “coming of age” years. It’s become a sentimental piece at this point. That’s not to say that there is bias behind my views on this beast, it just means that the camera will likely be by my side for many more years.

When I first encountered the camera in person, I was awestruck. Maybe because I’ve only held small SLRs before; but, the sheer size of this monster was daunting. It dominated my other systems by its sheer size. The leather on the outside was peeling a bit, but for $250 this was nothing that a little glue couldn’t fix.

Mamiya made a lot of 645 medium format cameras over the years. My particular model is the M645. Although the differences between this camera and those like the M645 Super, Pro, Pro TL, and 1000S are subtle, there are definitely differences. To start, this body is almost completely manual. It does require a PX28L battery, or its current equivalent, a 28L 6-Volt battery, to power its shutter. Without any battery, the shutter defaults to 1/60th of a second. With the battery, you can shoot anywhere between 8 seconds and 1/500th of a second, along with a bulb mode. The camera also offers a convenient battery check light to make sure you’re not over exposing all the photos you think are going to be at 1/500. Trust me, it’s useful. Compared to other models, this body is a little slower. Perhaps Mamiya’s excuse could be that it’s the first of the lineup, which is fair. Other, newer, M645 models finish their shutter choices at 1/1000.

Once I had all of the pieces and the camera was ready to fire, I went out to buy and load a roll of Kodak Portra 160.

And the pictures turned out awful.

At this point, I only had the 150mm lens by my side. It was slow and bulky. Not only did it tire me out on a photo walk; but I felt that even during blue hour, the F/4 lens just couldn’t handle the light. It was a slow lens. The pictures were either blurry from the seismic slap of the mirror, or under-exposed because I didn’t have enough light. Once I was able to get used to a system that held that much power and size, my medium format pictures underwent a much-needed upgrade compared to round one.

Once I got used to the mirror slap, I felt comfortable enough to not use a crutch, like a tripod, without feeling helpless without it. Of course, by the time that rolled around I learned of the camera’s mirror lock feature. A simple switch on the side of the camera slapped up the mirror before the film was exposed to light to ensure there was no shake, no motion blur, when taking the photo. I was annoyed, but, I was happy to have the feature included. I’m quite happy it’s a flip of a switch as opposed to a button. It’s in a spot that my hand runs into all of the time when taking photos. If I were to accidentally flip up the mirror in between shots, there goes my accessible viewfinder until I take the next shot. So, the agency behind the switch makes me grateful for finding this system as a beginner in medium format photography.

Spending more time with the camera, I grew accustomed to the fun features I wasn’t as familiar with coming from 35mm SLRs. For one thing, loading the film was entirely new. I had to put the camera down, remove the 120 backing, roll the light proof paper around and feed it through the “take-up spool” teeth. It was new, but exciting. As every photographer can agree, trying something new results in a lot of crap work. But those small moments of success are really what the art is about. Welcome to film photography.

Around the time of getting used to this camera, COVID-19 steadily became a greater threat. Throughout the summer of 2020, I had nothing but time: stuck inside, confined to my house, scared of the virus. So, I was able to put an astronomical number of rolls through the Mamiya. I would strap a mask on and walk around my neighborhood, trying different compositions at three times the resolution than I was used to with a 35mm camera.

I truly became accustomed to this camera when it was my companion on a road trip around New England. After taking COVID safety measures, two of my friends and I planned a route to hit New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont while doing online school. It was one of the most unique experiences of my life. We slept in tents, random airbnbs, and motels too expensive for their own good (when we were desperate).

This camera subsequently summited Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast, on my back. The camera is extremely heavy. It made our hitchhiking, regular hiking, and all around shenanigans more difficult than they could have been. I captured some of my most colorfully gorgeous, compositionally eloquent work yet. The upgraded resolution allowed me to see in a way that I would’ve never been able to with the dingy rangefinder I was also carrying with me. I shot through more than ten rolls on that trip, truly feeling bonded with the system. And now I have a crisp 11×17 of my own work hanging on my wall.

I carried with me the 55mm lens, equivalent to a 35mm lens on a 35mm system when compared to a 645 system. Its largest F-stop was F/2.8, which was unfortunate (though not as unfortunate as the F/4) when the sun started to set. But I realized during travel that you choose your battles. On my system, I had an eye level viewfinder. Mamiya also offers a waist level viewfinder, but my brain wasn’t prepared for the directional inversion that came with its lefts and rights. My eye-level viewfinder was a gem. Unfortunately, there was no light meter. I learned that was pretty common, especially when looking for a cheaper option, in viewfinders with this camera, although viewfinders with built-in lightmeters are available. I learned with medium format that the viewfinder is so much more pleasant to look through than a 35mm. It’s sharper and easier to focus. It feels like Christmas for my eyes each time I switch systems. To wrap up the conversation of added pieces that are needed for this camera along with the body, I must speak about my irritations.

The fact that to load this camera with a roll of 120 film you need to detach the “film-back,” is unbelievably irritating. Imagine this: you’re hiking, harnessing your inner Ansel Adams and you suddenly shoot your 15th shot (only with 645 shooters, sorry 6×7). Now, you must sit down, open the film door, take out the film back, unload your film, load a new roll, and put it back in. With other systems like the Pentax 67 or Mamiya c330, loading is a breeze: a simple pop of the film door and a stretch of the film, just like most 35mm cameras. With this Mamiya, it had a vendetta against the impatient. On top of all of this, I could complain about the poor design of camera strap holders, but that seems like a battle that could only be won in the ’70s.

The M645 does have a multiple exposure feature. There is a neat little knob on the side that isn’t the easiest to turn, preventing any accidental multi-exposures, something I dealt with in the past in many different cameras. No one likes wasted exposures. On the same side is the latch that will bring the mirror up, mentioned earlier, along with the film advance crank.

My biggest gripe with the Mamiya M645 is the poor placement of its shutter buttons. The system has two separate shutter buttons, one on the bottom right of the lens mount, and one on top of the body next to the viewfinder. They’re basic shutter buttons: you press it, it fires. Simple.

However, since I always seem to forget there are two, I accidentally expose a negative while walking to my next composition. There is seemingly no safe and comfortable way to hold the camera without entering the danger zone of a wasted exposure. That zone is, truly, a scary place. I’ve learned to sacrifice my hands’ comfort for the safety of one of my extremely limited exposures. Ah, the joys of medium format.

That complaint lodged, I do appreciate that the camera has a shutter lock. This comes in handy when a relative wants to see the beast at Thanksgiving, or photographer friends ask to inspect it when looking to upgrade. Regardless of scenario, a quick turn of the front shutter button will lock both buttons, perfect for travel, whether camera in hand or in a bag.

The camera most recently accompanied me on an annual vacation which I take with my hometown friends. Along with the earlier road trip through New England during which I first bonded with the Mamiya, having the camera for this latest trip was, in hindsight, something for which I’m super grateful.

At this point, I’d been using the Mamiya for over a year. During this trip my camera shot through five rolls of medium format film. I flitted from Ektar, to Portra, to Cinestill, and shot my camera at every peak, tree, or lake that I thought was interesting. It had been a year since I summited Mount Washington with the Mamiya for the first time, but adventure called and we made our way back to that same forest. We explored reservoirs, hikes, local restaurants, and shops. Finally we summited Killington Peak, one of the most challenging hikes I’ve ever gone on, with this five pounds of camera on my back. My closest companions and I watched the Vermont sunset in an abandoned fire watch tower. There we sat, with only one exposure left. I shot it when I thought the time was right. In a way, I was grateful I was able to put the camera down and digest the sunset. But I’m also ecstatic that this beautiful camera that I’ve come to know was able to lay its lens on the breathtaking view at least once.

Overall, the Mamiya M645 is an incredible camera. Rarely have I had any problems with it. It offers a similar aspect ratio to a 35mm camera, but with a bigger negative, making it truly the perfect non-threatening system for someone looking to upgrade from the smaller film format.

It has its quirks, like every camera has, and although these will take some getting used to, some of my proudest images have been made with this camera. And while I do think I’m almost ready to graduate from 645 (maybe to square format or 6×7), for now, I’m more than happy with this system. To more adventures with my Mamiya, seeking New England sunsets.

Buy your own medium format camera on eBay here!

Looking for your own first medium format camera? See James’ list of the best beginner models here!

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The post The Mamiya M645 as my First Medium Format Film Camera appeared first on Casual Photophile.