Atelier Winsonli

I haven’t been blogging for ages. A few months ago I got my first film camera, the Yashica Mat 124G. Information on film cameras, especially of these types, are rare on the Internet. I’ve spent countless hours googling for phrases like TLRs, Yashica Mat vs Rolleicord and 120 film. Most results are forum posts which are not well organized. So I thought it would be nice if I could blog about what I’ve researched over the past months. We’re going to talk about medium format films in this post.

What do 120, 645, 6×6 mean?

I was confused by these names when I first researched about medium format. The most common type of medium format film is 120, which is a spool film. The number of exposures you can get from a roll depends on the picture format you are shooting. Unlike 135 film, where most often the frame size is 36*24 (although other formats like xpan and half frame exist), you can expose a 6*4.5, 6*6, 6*9, 6*12 or 6*17 frame onto the length of the film. These formats are called 645, 66 (most often 6×6 or square format), 69, 612 and 617. The smaller the format, the more frames could be exposed on the film.

Types of Film

There are three types of film:

• Color negative - which give an image of inverted color
• Color slide - which give an image of positive color
• Black and white - most commonly negatives

All three types of films require different solutions to develop the film. Color negatives are developed in C-41 chemicals and should be the cheapest and likely to be available at developing stores. Slides require E-6 chemicals, which is a highly standardized process (i.e. the slides should look the same regardless of the store used to develop the film). Black and white are more special, as there is a wide range of developers to choose from, each gives a different feel to the final result. Therefore most people would develop black and white at home. The E-6 process for slide has precise time and temperature requirements and usually could not be done at home. The C-41 could be done at home, but not easily.

Note that C-41 black and white film do exist. These films can be processed like ordinary color negative films. These films, however, lack the character of traditional black and white emulsions. If you’re planning on developing black and white film at a store, you could consider shooting C-41 black and white such as the Kodak T400CN, Fuji Neopan 400CN and Ilford XP2.

Color Negatives

I haven’t had much experience with color negatives. Color negatives have low contrast and high exposure latitude (the ability to over or underexpose without blowing the highlights or shadows, in other words are more tolerable to metering inaccuracies). One personal observation is that, negatives tend to give a more 3D feel to the picture.

I have only tried Kodak color negatives:

• Ektar 100 - a relatively new emulsion. High contrast and vibrant colors.
• Portra 160NC, 400NC - NC for neutral. ISO400 film has more grain. Note that whether you like grain is a personal taste. The presence of grain is not necessarily a bad thing.
• Portra 160VC, 400VC - VC for vibrany colors.

I used to search for pictures taken with various films on flickr. However, I observed that the overall feel of a picture is determined by the lens, film and exposure. The same film could have very different looks when exposed differently. It is best to experiment with different films and exposures to determine the mix that fits you the best. You could try overexposing or underexposing the film by a little, as it would give different results.

Color Slides

Color slides are my favorite type of film they have a high contrast and vibrant colors. I would describe the pictures as having a “crystal clear” feel to it.

• Fuji Astia 100F - The least vibrant and contrasty slide film of all. I haven’t tried this one.
• Fuji Provia 100F - My standard slide film. It is good for shooting almost everything.
• Fuji Provia 400X - A high speed slide film, has similar characteristics to the Provia 100F. This one could be pushed to ISO 1600, where this film really shines.
• Velvia 50 - Extremely saturated colors and high contrast. Perfect for shooting landscapes.
• Kodak E100G - A medium contrast, medium vibrancy slide film.
• Kodak E100VS - Very saturated slide film. Could be described as the Kodak version of Velvia.