A little over a year ago I bought a Fuji GS645S camera, shot a few dozen rolls and then sold it to a friend who uses it far better than I would have.
The thing about medium format is that if you enjoy working with 35mm film, then you are really going to like shooting 120 film. Hands down the Mamiya 7 is the camera to shoot- A new Mamiya 6 would be just as great if you want square photographs. Since I couldn’t afford a new Mamiya 6, I swapped some books and gear and ended up with a Mamiya C3 TLR, a Bronica S2, and a vintage Mamiya 6- all in that order and in about 2 months this year. This let me get to know several different types of cameras in the 6×6 format. It just wasn’t for me though. As of the other night they’ve all found new homes and I found myself back with another Fuji 645 camera.
Over the past few months I’ve been paring down my camera collection down to simply only what I can use enough to justify keeping. The compactness of this Fuji rivals most SLRS, and it handles superbly. For now, I am digging the all auto capabilities it provides. It’s like a large point and shoot. Sometimes it’s better to let the camera make most of the decisions, as long as you are the one doing the aiming. The 645 format presents it’s own challenges (vertical orientation) but this is exactly what helps keep things interesting.
Not being exactly sure what you’re going to get out of a picture is part of the charm of any film camera.
I’m pleased to announce that Tokyo Camera Style is featured in the June 2009 issue of Nippon Camera.
About three weeks ago I shot the opening spread for their twenty page special feature called “The New Generation of Used Camera Enjoyment” (中古カメラ新時代の遊び方). The section is all about taking advantage of the recent drop in used film camera prices, and suggestions for beginners on what to buy and use. Additionally there are several used shops suggested as places to buy cameras.
The final page is about how I go about getting content for Tokyo Camera Style, and my reasons for doing so. There is also a little part about my habit of asking to take family pictures (so that everyone can be in the shot together), and a picture of me doing just that. After I handed them back their camera, the family that I photographed was probably wondering just what the guy in the background pointing a DSLR at me was doing in both of the pictures I took for them.
This issue is available in bookstores across Japan from May 20th to June 19th, 2009.
Many thanks to the editors of Nippon Camera for this experience.
Digikazi’s cameras and my Bessa.
Back by popular demand, due to the emails about taking these pictures down in the first place I present to you some digital pics of 6×6 negatives from the past 2 months. The dastardly light area at the bottom of each frame is from the drop off from the fluorescent bulbs that illuminate my light table from underneath.
I don’t particularly care for square formatted pictures, but I love polaroids so perhaps the disconnect is in the actual cameras. Looking through an SX-70 viewfinder is hypnotic but a TLR is awkward at best and maddening at worst. As far as the pictures go, there is a bit of “purity” in a square, but it it hard to work true dynamism into this format. I suppose each ratio has it’s own visual charms and burden of historical aesthetics, but for now that longish rectangle that 35mm film provides has been drawing me back. The current series I have with that is shaping up fairly well.
