Film A winter stale

pdh

Legend
Well, remember this? ... I loved this little camera ...

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Shortly after Xmarse I was trying to repair the umpteenth pinhole in the bellows (new ones appeared every time I opened the damn thing) when - possessing as I do all the patience of an overtired toddler - I managed to wreck them beyond repair.

So, I searched the interwebs high and low, and decided that the MF bug had bitten me so hard the itch could only be soothed by a Proper Camera ... so in the first week of January, this landed on my doorstep ...


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Isn't she beautiful? Oh yes, a bit heavy, a bit boxy ... a bit noisy ... but ... so beautiful ... and that lens ...

One roll later I found a significant mechanical fault and back she went almost the same day ... but I'd actually owned a Hasselblad for 24 hours ...

But I had to have a MF camera, and I can't bear the thought of a TLR, so in a moment of uncharacteristic compromise, I got myself this little beauty ... well, "little" is a trifle kind ...


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Not quite compact enough to slip into a pocket, and it's a 645 rather than a 6x6 so you don't (quite) get the same magical MF look to the negatives, but it's pretty sharp, is a rangefinder and has a decent meter (+O- led type) ... also the focusing tab isn't quite in the right place for me ... but it's very light and Takes A Nice Snap ...

I still think there is another 500CM in my future though ... but perhaps that's the same sort of fantasy as wanting to believe Sofia Helin will fall in love with me and marry me ...
 
well, you have excellent taste in cameras and after Googling (and oogling) Ms. Helin I can definitely say you have excellent taste in women. I have had different permutations of the Fuji 645 on my eBay watch list several times and then I remember that I'm not grown up enough for film. I will be looking forward to your shots with the new rig. And the Hassies are lovely, no doubt. But I feel like I'm always reading about someone sending one off for repair.
 
I think you might have a better chance for the 500CM, Sofia seems out of your price range. I kinda want a Hassy but I haven't yet even shot all that I have. Even if I did one a week I wouldn't get done in a year mind you some are box cameras and I'm not sure I will bother shooting, just nifty to have them. As I will shoot, probably after tax time, I will sift and then I will sell what I don't want. I got them because they were cool to have but I also made sure they worked [mind you not with film but that all seemed functional] and so now I am compelled to try them, fridge drawer full of film and just loaded the Medalist I. It awaits.
 
Congratulations on the Fuji GS645S. I have one and love it. The Fuji lens is quite sharp, and it's an easy camera to load up and carry around.

I have the Hasselblad 500CM too, with some Zeiss lenses. And, yes, it's a bit like a brick, a gold brick, though. Although I got the 45 degree viewfinder for it, it's still not really an easy camera to lug around, and street shoot with; I find that I use it mostly on a tripod -- out in the canyons, though, despite its reputation as a studio camera. If that's all it was, I wouldn't be very useful to me. I don't use my strobes very much. I love it, and I hope you fulfill your dream to get another one, but if you're like me you'll end up liking that Fuji more than you expect to.

Long live film! (I finally got my new darkroom up and running)

Exit, pursued by a bear....
 
Probably one of those finicky new digital do-dads that needs all the repair! Seriously, though, the Hasselblads are pretty intricate machines. I haven't had to repair my recent acquisition, and my former Hasselblad, from the early 50's had just been rebuilt before I bought it in the late 80's. And a print from a Hasselblad negative can be so damned pretty. I dream about Zeiss/Hasselbald lenses. I'll never own any Leica other than my 1938 IIIb I suspect, so a Hassy from the 80's (according to the serial number) is thrilling to me. I feel well, justified.

I'd get one of those Fujis you keep looking at. Watch out, though; you'll be looking for an enlarger next.

well, you have excellent taste in cameras and after Googling (and oogling) Ms. Helin I can definitely say you have excellent taste in women. I have had different permutations of the Fuji 645 on my eBay watch list several times and then I remember that I'm not grown up enough for film. I will be looking forward to your shots with the new rig. And the Hassies are lovely, no doubt. But I feel like I'm always reading about someone sending one off for repair.
 
Larry, can you show us some of your film shots in the film thread? Maybe a series for the Fuji and one for the Hassie. I dream of Hasselblads too. One of my favorite shooters of my contacts on flickr I just bumped into by chance because he has a dog that looks a LOT like my girl Lucy shoots mainly a Hasselblad and so many of his photos are better than my best. Of course, I know there's some magic in that camera, but deep down I know he just has a way better eye than I do. He's also better looking and impossibly cool and races motorcycles.

Show me some Hasselblad shots and give me the fever!
 
OK. give me a couple of days, as I'm putting finishing touches on the darkroom. I'll look at some scans in the meantime.


Larry, can you show us some of your film shots in the film thread? Maybe a series for the Fuji and one for the Hassie. I dream of Hasselblads too. One of my favorite shooters of my contacts on flickr I just bumped into by chance because he has a dog that looks a LOT like my girl Lucy shoots mainly a Hasselblad and so many of his photos are better than my best. Of course, I know there's some magic in that camera, but deep down I know he just has a way better eye than I do. He's also better looking and impossibly cool and races motorcycles.

Show me some Hasselblad shots and give me the fever!
 
... it's still not really an easy camera to lug around, and street shoot with; ...

Congratulations on the Fuji GS645S.

I had some luck shooting street with my 500C/M:

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Gary
 
I love your citrus picker shot Gary. I just cured myself looking at a bunch of Hasselblad shots and then some shots taken by the same photographer with clearly lesser diigtal cameras. The camera is great, but the photographer means more.
 
Yeah, a friend of mine did a whole Vietnam series with his Hasselblad. My preference is to use it much like I would a 4x5. Not exclusively, but for the most part.
 
I know you've been cured of Hassy Gas, but here are a couple of shots from one of mine that I pulled out from . The cabbage shots are among the, not really rare, but much less frequent hand-held shots I've taken with the camera. They were shot as a set, but the half cabbage wasn't framed right and required cropping in the print, which I don't have available. The Tent Rocks shot was shot from the bed of my truck on a tripod.





 
The way I think about taking photos has changed in the last couple of years.

I bought into m43 because of the compactness of the cameras, knowing that I would never leave the house with a big dSLR and it would end up a very expensive ornament on a shelf. It was a good decision.

Compactness and lightness has become much less an issue for me now, and I even lugged a tripod 3 miles in the snow the other day to do some LF pinhole shots ... and I'm not really a "street" snapper anyway (mind you, I saw some excellent street portraits the other day - done with an RB67, and that really is a monster)

So the idea of having a biggish heavier style of camera that I use more rarely but maybe more thoughtfully has become more attractive ... not a dSLR though :rolleyes:

Still love my E-P2 though, I just wish I could get film into it ...
 
Still love my E-P2 though, I just wish I could get film into it ...

The Bessa R isn't really too much bigger than the E-P2, and the rangefinder is really quite good. I like both. And you get to take advantage of the bargains on Leica screw mount lense -- which, of course, you can then use on your E-P2.
 
Well the very reason I have a Bessa R2A is that I already had a 35mm Summicron M, which I'd bought for the E-P2 but which wasn't getting used much as the 70mm-equiv FOV didn't really suit me. It's definitely feels bigger and heavier to my hands than the E-P2 (which I mostly shoot with the 17/2.8 now)

I also have a beautiful Ultron 28/1.9 that I bought for the Olympus, but it's a bit of a lump on the Bessa and of course the R2A doesn't have framelines for 28.

The rf on the Bessa is amazingly big and bright compared to the Fuji (I've never so much as held a Leica M so I have no comparison there), There's no doubt it is a very nice camera indeed. Luke even had one for 5 minutes as I recall ...
 
oh don't get me started on that beautiful Bessa. I could kick myself for selling it, but it was the right thing to do. I'm not a film shooter. I just desperately want to be one...... if that makes any sense.
 
I really want an R2M, or maybe an A ( I usually shoot manual, but an auto option is nice sometimes), but got the R because I already have screw mount lenses for an old Leica IIIb and figured I'd never be able to afford M glass. Silly, really, since i could use the thread mount lenses on the M body with an adapter. Also never held a Leica M, though I've seen a few I wouldn't have minded taking home. But you can't have everything, and the R with the screw mount lenses satisfy my urges to shoot a rangefinder. Getting back to your original post, the rangefinder, medium format, I really, really want is the Mamiya 6 with all three lenses. But I don't believe that is on the near horizon.

Beautiful Bessa, wake unto me,
Stop bath and fixer are waiting for thee..


Just sing it, Luke; it's a great tune and will ease the pain.
 
Yes the 6 was top of my list until I started looking at prices.
A decent user body and one lens would run 5 or 6 times what the Fuji cost me.
 
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