MF Format Choice

[SteveGangi]

I like 6x6 TLR cameras for their simplicity and light weight. But except for the Mamiya C cameras, you can forget about interchangeable lenses. For a really small light camera you can fit in the luggage or a pocket for trips, it can be hard to beat a folding camera, but let the buyer beware and again, forget about changing lenses. First maybe you need to decide if changeable lenses are what you need, and then pick a format. Or the reverse, pick a format and then whether you need multiple lenses. It is a matter of narrowing down the field. It can also help to make a list of features and functions you do NOT want. Don't go for bells and whistles, the general rule of thumb is get the more expensive simple camera rather than the cheaper do-everything camera. Generally, if you stick to known brands and models, it is hard to get a bad camera.

[Ed Sukach]

lens that stops down to f128..while you get great DOF the results look a little better that a pinhole.
Mike

I've gone down to f128 with my 19" Artar and the results look a LOT better than a pinhole. Sometimes movements just won't help.

I've finally researchd "diffraction" using a very informative book from the past courses in physical optics: "What is Light", by A.C.S. van Heel and C.H.F. Velzel (translated from the Dutch by J.L.J. Roenfeld).

I was trying to condense "diffraction effect" inot a bite size formula ... and I've had no such luck. Diffiration is the result of light waves "bending" around the edge of an opaque substance. It might help to note that *no* substance is perfectly opaque - all will be penetrated by, and refract light, to *some* extent.

"Diffraction" as we know it, is a result of scattered light waves from an edge (one side of a camera diaphram) interfering with other similar scattered waves from the surface opposite. The effect is a result of the *phyiscal size* (actual size - not the relative size indicated by the term f/stop) and the wavelength of the light in question. This is a wavefront propagation and the total effect will be modified by distance from the diaphram.

An "Aperture" of f/128, given a long focal length, say 19", is much larger in physical diameter than a f/128 aperture of a shorter focal length lens - say 10" - therefore diffraction errors are much less in the "long" system.

As for the optical system itself - it is not entirely accurate to say the the lens has "*no* effect on diffraction - it does, but much less of an effect than the aperture diamter - wavelength - propagation length - combination.

I had hoped for a simple formula - hah! The description and mathematics pertaining to diffraction are lengthy - and *invloved*, consuming many pages of the book.

The only subject more complicated is "Polarization" - after intense study - and passing grades - I *still"* do not wholly understand what the hell is going on there.

[Donald Miller]

I began with 35 mm and a couple of years thereafter moved into medium format. (Bronica Etrs). I still have that system today and haven't made an exposure in almost 12 years with that system. I have a complement of lenses from 40 mm to 500 mm. The advantage to a system such as this is the interchangeability of lenses, finders, and backs. Leaf shutters in the lenses allow sync speed flexibility. It is, to me, a super sized 35 mm system with some bells and whistles. The negative size is almost three times the size of 35 mm. For budgetary considerations, I felt it an attractive alternative to a 2 1/4 square system. Conventional enlarging paper would normally involve cropping some part off the square negative or off the paper. I have shot LF and ULF exclusively for some time now. However, I must admit, that I have thought of putting a 150 mm lens on the Bronica with a waist level finder and doing "street photography". Something about that sounds like a nice break for me.

[phampl]

Hi,
my father had YashicaD TLR (6x6) and I've got as a small boy the russian bakelite Smena (=exchange,shift) for 24x36 (seems to me that still it had better lens than todays small Minolta which my son uses :O).

At the high school I bought Pentacon SIX (6x6) from Eastern Germany with Karl Zeiss Jena lenses and later a 180mm Sonnar to it. My wife has an older Exakta 24x36 and I bought an interface between it and my PSIX lenses. It was cheap and the Exacta is more handy, but still I am returning to the heavy PSIX. Probably it is because of my father, but the MF square format looks better for me.
The PSIX is not that good as Hasselblad or Mamyia, but the Zeiss lenses are pretty good and I am very satisfied with them. But for sure if I had possibility to try one of those other cameras, I would not hesitate at all :O)

Pavel Hampl

[Jeremy]

I started with a Rolleicord and then moved over to the Mamiya m645 system. I would like to add a wide-angle and the russian fisheye and then it would be "complete" but lately I've actually just been using the rolleicord instead.

[brimc76]

I started with my father's twin lens Richoflex and went on to a Bronica ETRs.

[AndrewH]

buy a Mamiya C330f and an 80mm lens and learn the format. It's cheap, good lenses, and built like a tank. If you like it, buy another lens, if you don't, sell it.

[JohnArs]

Hi

I vote for the Bronica GS1 6x7 ( its only around 1 kg) or if you are happy with a rangefinder the mamiya 7 with booth you get 10 pictures and with the Bronica you can shoot with a 4.5x6 , 6x6, or 6x7 back so you have all the choices!
Jerry Uelsmann works with the Bronica so it can't be bad!
Mine is 15 years old and I had not one single problem with it! Bronica is the most underrated camera in the world!

[Cheryl Jacobs]

I'm 6x6 format, myself. I prefer that format over anything else because I just naturally see in squares. With 35mm, I always end up cropping off one end or the other (empty, meaningless space.) I have a Bronica SQ-Ai, and used to have a Hassey (which I loved, but had to give up.) Really, I don't care the kind of camera as long as it's solid and dependable. It's the neg size / shape that I'm after.

[Ed Sukach]

Cheryl - I agree, I have become enamored with the "square" as well. To me, it is not a compromise - it just works well.