#6
Pentax 645

And here comes my second medium format addition. Wow what a camera. Thanks to Robin Assner for loaning the camera for me for entirely too long. I never understand why I take so long to shoot 120. There's only 12 pictures! Well, because of this camera's 6x4.5 format, it took about 15 shots. Still, it should have taken me all of 15 minutes to spend every picture on here, but sadly it took me about two weeks. The struggles of being a perfectionist.


I recently was able to purchase an array of different medium format films and excited to do so because I have little experience shooting with the range that is offered in medium format. I am also always excited to see other photographers use these films so successfully to play with different tonal ranges, both harsher and softer. I know from previous experience that Fuji PRO400H is a pretty vibrant film, so I was excited to shoot with some Kodak NC films to see if the pictures would be a bit desaturated (comparatively). I shot a roll of Kodak 400NC through this camera to achieve, what I believe, are some pretty even, and not too risky tonal ranges. I am a HUGE proponent of Fuji films, so its hard for me to openly shoot Kodak. I hate how some Kodak films (maybe all) turn an awful shade of green in low light conditions, when I feel Fuji holds up tonally very well in low light settings. However, that's all just a personal taste thing, and for now, I am very happy with what the Kodak NC has been doing.


The camera itself is probably one of the most high-tech film cameras I have ever shot with. It has a diopter ring on it that you can adjust for near or far-sightedness! And me being a lifelong glasses wearer, I was pretty excited and a little shocked to see that I could focus a camera without my glasses on. I felt like a cyborg. The camera has auto film advance, which is nice on a medium format camera. Its also the first medium format SLR I've shot through, which of course made composing a cinch. The shutter mirror sounds like a drawbridge, but obviously works with much more haste.


The LED on top of the camera told me my shutter speed, aperture, picture count. It has exposure compensation, you can use a range if ISOs, and to top it all off, it has a sweet machine gun-like black handle on the side to help you steady the behemoth that weighs about as much as my head. You definitely know you are holding a camera. Half the time when I'm holding my Holga I forget about it and it drops to the ground because it weighs about as much as chewing gum foil, sans chewing gum.

The drive power for the camera lives in the black handle, four AAs. The camera I borrowed had a hard time reading these batteries and at times I would be standing for a while in front of a scene I was shooting thinking that if I pressed the shutter button harder, it would fire. When the camera seemed low on charge and I tried to fire the shutter, it would just turn off. I replaced the batteries and rejuvenated the connection points a little bit and eradicated the problem, but not before I missed a couple good picture opportunities, and had one misfire:

With a separate back attachment, you can also shoot 220 with this camera, which is a nice feature. I haven't shot much 120 in my life, but know that it is a pain in the butt to change when you are missing a great photo opportunity.

Other than that, the camera takes a perfect picture practically every time. I'm never very excited about the 6x4.5 format, I know that I usually shoot medium format for the 6x6 square format which appeals to me more. But if I wanted a camera that took great pictures ridiculously consistently, I would pick up this one or another SLR with all the bells and whistles this one had.


Check out more shots from the camera and my flickr site here.

If you want to loan me a camera to shoot with for a month, I will send the camera back to you with all the shots I took. The only cost to you is shipping the camera one way. Please take part!