Yosemite in the summer on Pentax 6×7 medium format film camera
It’s been a while since my last post. I’m glad that I’m back on time for the summer. I was a big Lana Del Rey’s fan years ago. In her songs, I got the impression that summer is the most beautiful season of the year. All the summer vibes in her music are so goldenly youthful, vivid and full of lust for love. From her “Young and beautiful” lyrics, a perfect summer scene stuck in my head and I will forever looking for a summer moment in mid July, when the heat turns overwhelmed along with the humidity and the fruits are so ripe with all the juice about to burst out of their soft skin just before they turn rotten in the heat of summer. I just love how lively and vigorous but also nostalgic summer is in her mind, it’s the best suit for young and wild hearts that are full of love in the relentless summer heat.
My photos are quite different than what I posted here before, I don’t know why my “style” [if I had one] has changed but I’m glad with how it looks now. It’s a coincident when I wrote the intro for this post and realized how Lana Del Rey’s summer vibe was so similar with what I got here.
Here’s the slideshow for quick look at the series.
I like to begin the set with the photo of apples fell on the ground beneath an apple tree. The composition is not my best but I like how the apples lead our eyes from the bottom right of the frame to the top left. I like that the apple in the bottom right is out of focus giving a sense of depth in the photo.
apples on the ground
The next three photos are from an afternoon walking around my airbnb house. I was fascinated with the reddish tree trunks that look so vivid in the sun light. I like how the red and green contrast each other in these photos.
Next, I walked to a small waterfall near my airbnb house in the following morning to scout the waterfall and enjoy my time alone with my camera. The waterfall was nice but there weren’t a lot of water sine it’s summertime so I stepped on rocks that supposed to be under water to look around and go upper the stream.
How the water carved the rock into those interesting shapes
A scene from the upper stream. I like how green the bank was with many kin of grass and plant. Such a cute little eco system.
My favorite from the batch. I used the polarizer filter to cut out most of the reflection in the water. I love this photo because there’re so many things to look at, I like the fact that there’re many kind of plant around the stream and they brings so many shades of greens and yellow into the photos. I also love the texture beneath the water giving the nice pattern of purple and brown/yellow. I can remember the heat and moist atmosphere of the summer noon looking at this, and I love how peaceful and satisfied I felt when I was alone in this stream. I wish I tried with different variations of the polarizer filter to play with the reflection because I think there’re so much more in this scene that I can get out of.
On my second day in Yosemite, I went inside the National Park and visited some famous views. The first stop was Tunnel View. The view was beautiful but I wish the sky were clearer rather than misty and hazy as in the photos.
Tunnel View
A scene under the bridge
A view on the Vernal Fall hike
In the afternoon, I walked around the house again for some more discover. Here’re some photos that I like from the walk. I love the tree below because of its interesting gesture. I thought I need a wider lens to capture the whole tree but this frame still balance to me so I’m quite happy with it.
Sunset through the trees
On the following day to Glacier Point I brought my digital camera instead of the Pentax 6×7, I end up didn’t take much photos because of the hazy sky but I still got some photos that I might like. But in the end, I just love the feeling of shooting film. Lastly, I walked to the near by waterfall in the last morning in Yosemite to make some long exposures. Here’re the results.
I took these photos backlit so the waterfall is quite dark, but I like how the waterfall is nicely placed against the dark background. I like the second shot better because the rocks at the bottom feel much stronger and dominant. The orange of the rocks contrast nicely with the greens in the photos. I also like there’re some patches of sunlight peak through the branches and appear on the stream. However in the first photo, I like the sunlight’s reflection on the water at the bottom right and the sunlight hitting the leaves at the very top left of the photo, I think they add more dynamic to the photo. But over all I like the contrast in the second one better.
After these shots, I fell into a pond while trying to get over a rock to compose my next shot. My Pentax get wet and stopped working. Although it means I have to send the camera to repairman now but I don’t feel regret or upset at all, that’s my choice, and to me all will be worth it if I got some photos that I’m proud of. So, cheers for a vivid beautiful summer.
I went to the beach town by Victoria beach few week ago in sunset hour to take some sunset on the beach shots but got caught up in these residential houses scenes. I love the calmness and quiet atmosphere here, along with some nice little houses and windows that feels so warm and homely.
Before get into the photos from that afternoon, let me show you 2 photos I took in another morning walk in the same area. These shots are not anything special but I was testing my Mamiya 645 150mm lens before I sell it. Even though the composition is not that great but I love the tones here and the sharpness is really nice.
Mamiya 645. 150mm/3.5. Fuji NPS 160 expired
Mamiya 645. 150mm/3.5. Fuji NPS 160 expired
The next 2 shots I took one in golden hour and one in blue hour. That wasn’t the plan but somehow I feel drawn into the windows and the way it’s slide open just a bit to show a present of a person inside the room is quite nice and elegant. When I got back to the car after take photos on the beach, I came across it in blue hour and the yellow light came out of it is just nicely contrast with the blue sky outside. I think this is a short and straight forward form of “story telling”, something I desire to do in this blog. Wish that I were having the same composition so that the similarity and contrast are highlighted but it’s good to learn that same composition sometimes can help in story telling. I know that the trash cans are distractive but sometimes I just think if it’s there and I was capturing the scene, is it bad to exclude something out just because it’s not aesthetically pleasing? Or I should document the scene as its good and bad? So, I show you the non-crop and cropped version of the photo. Let me know if you hate the trash cans so bad 🙂
This one is a photo that I really like but I still feel something doesn’t work out in this. The whole house feel very mysterious and old, all the windows and doors were covered with white thick curtain like the owner doesn’t want anyone to look inside. The house blends into the blue hour sky and those bush in general feel weirdly but sad at the same time.
Bronica ETRSi. 75mm/2.8. Fuji Pro 400H
Bronica ETRSi. 75mm/2.8. Fuji Pro 400H
This photo is my favorite in the day. It’s the first scene captured my eyes in the town. I like the way the branches twist and the straight up street light glowing just in front of the tree. The scene was much more dynamic as in the photo but I think my photo is kind of 7/10 get to that atmosphere. The sky is subtle and soft while the green is quite saturated and pop.
After not successfully capturing the vibe of the house, I went back another day to try again. And these shots turn out okay I guess. The photo with the Harley sign makes me go down into the rabbit hole again about include and exclude things as it is or get the thing you want and ignore the rest. The others are nice in term of tones and composition.
Pentax 645. 75mm/2.8. Fuji Pro 400H
So now you know how the whole house looks. This time I went in the morning so there’s no warm light as in previous photo but the photos are nice nevertheless.
This blog is not meant to talk about gear but since I had opportunities to try some 645 SLR cameras I think I may can give you some advices if you are wanting to buy your first medium format camera. Other Youtubers or people on the Internet may give you a bunch of 645 cameras and talk about the pros and cons and leave the decision to you, I think it’s cool because no one asks you to choose like them, you have the freedom to decide for yourself. But since you’re already here, I give you the short answer, Bronica ETRS/Si. Of course, this is my opinion and you literally can use any 645 camera to take beautiful photos as long as you you know what to do with the camera, Bronica just happen to be the easiest one to use. Or, if you find any good deal on a 645 camera, just take it, price can overrule all of the reasons I’ll show you below.
First, let’s talk about Mamiya 645. I haven’t use the m645 or the 1000s yet, so I can’t speak for those, but I used the Mamiya 645 Super, and I believe the Pro/Pro TL are very similar. Honestly, the Mamiya 645 Super/Pro is the one I wanted when I looking for my first ever medium format camera, but I couldn’t afford it because the price tag. I like the design of this series a lot, and while using it later, I really like the form factor of the camera, it feels really nice to hold the camera and take photos with it. Even though the box design may feel weird to hold but I was really surprise how fast I like to hold it, without using the grip. At first, the mechanism to open and remove the back and prism feel a little annoy (because you have to press 1 button down and slide the other button with the same finger at the same time) but I believe you can get used to it very quickly. The other thing I don’t think ergonomic about the camera is the ISO dial, it’s so damn hard to turn the dial. You have to use your finger’s nail to turn it and it’s not easy to move, not mention that the dial is half beneath the prism finder [as photo below] makes it even harder because you have a very little space to move your finger around. Of course you can dial the ISO before you put the film back onto the camera to avoid the prism finder (but it’s still hard) and yes, you just have to dial it once per roll or don’t have to redial if you continue to shoot same ISO film but to me, it’s worth notice. The Metering Mode dial and Exposure Compensation dial are the same, they’re just on the top of the prism so they’re a bit easier than the ISO dial but you get the idea. The shutter speed dial on the other hand, so easy and friendly to use! Other than that, the camera is great. The lens are a bit rigid to turn when you’re focusing but not too much, compare to Pentax or Bronica lens. One thing better than the Bronica is it has a hot shoe on the side. And of course, why I said Bronica is a better choice for your first medium format camera? The price.
Top view of Mamiya 645 Super and Prism Finder
Photos taken with Mamiya 645 Super
Next, the Pentax 645. I will not talk about the N and Nii because I haven’t use them, and since they have auto focus and higher price range for “first medium format camera” we newbie looking for, let’s just talk about the 645 original. Not having interchange backs, fully battery depends, no Mirror Up, and buttons for mode, not dials, these are some downsides for the Pentax. If you can get used to the buttons operation, you are good to go take beautiful photos, but it can be hard at first, and of course, it can be more time consuming when you want to change mode or setting, compare to dials. The Pentax 645N has dials instead of button if you’re curious.
Pentax 645 buttons locate on top of the camera
One big drawback of the Pentax 645 is the battery holder, it’s extremely easy to break, especially the plastic holder is couple decade years old. This is a common problem of the Pentax 645, because the way people designed the holder was not very effective I guess, 6 AA batteries are hold in a thin plastic holder (not that thin and fragile but if you have to put the batteries in and out quite often, there’s a good chance you will break it at some point). And of course you have to put the batteries in and out because if you don’t use the camera in weeks or months, you have to take the batteries out or corrosion will happen to your battery compartment. And it’s hard to put the 6 batteries in, especially if you have big fingers. If you buy a Pentax 645, careful with the battery holder please. It’s super hard to find the replacement because there’s no replacement. Pentax discontinued the battery grip long before, and there’s no left. There’s no single one on eBay. The replacement you may find is just from Pentax 645 cameras that stop working and they take their parts for sell but trust me, the holder always breaks before the camera. My battery holder was broken as you can see in the photos here and it’s so freaking hard to find the replacement battery grip or holder, until I bought a remote battery pack for Pentax 645, which is a battery pack that not attachable to the camera like the original grip, you connect the battery pack to the camera through a cord so the camera can use battery but now you have to solve the problem how to attach the battery pack to the camera. Luckily I tried to put the holder from the remote pack into the original grip and it works, even though they’re not identical! Keep this in mind if you are purchasing a Pentax 645. The remote battery pack is available on eBay but there’re not so many and around $100 or more/pack. The Pentax 645 is cheaper than Bronica but you don’t need to deal with the battery holder issue with Mamiya or Bronica because they have battery compartment inside the body, and they also require one single battery only. Please note that even if you can buy a replacement holder for your Pentax, there’s always a change you can break it later because they’re just easy to break. Here the link you can check to see the headache of having a broken battery holder 🙂 https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/48-pentax-medium-format/400427-645-battery-holder.html
The holder of the battery pack also works on the original grip!
Okay, so now we talk about Bronica ETRS/Si. The ETR is the oldest in the line and doesn’t work with the AE prism finder, the ETRC doesn’t have interchange backs and mirror up feature. The ETRS/Si can use the AE prism finder for meter and interchange backs, they’re best choices in ETR line. If you use Bronica ETRS/Si, you may need the speed grip because the boxing design is harder to handling like the Mamiya. I don’t know why but I feel more comfortable to hold the Mamiya Super without a grip than the Bronica. And 1 more reason to buy a speed grip is you can attach flash on the grip, because the camera itself doesn’t have a hot shoe mount. Another disadvantage of the Bronica is the aperture ring on the lens is small and hard to find (because they placed it more to the front of the lens, not way back like other lens), you may looking around to find it when taking a photo but you will get used to it eventually. Other than that, the Bronica has everything you want, affordable, effective, build quality, interchange backs, interchange finder (but please use the prism finder, the waist level finder is super hard to use if you want to take vertical photos), mirror lock up, multi exposure, leaf shutter in the lens (means you can have flash sync at every speed). It’s easy to use and as far as I know, there’s not much common problems with it.
A photo taken with Bronica ETRSi
Other cameras can be mentioned are Contax 645 but that’s another level and super expensive, Mamiya 645AF/AFD is also great but high price range for first time Medium Format shooters, too. I didn’t talk about lens or photos quality of these brands I mentioned above because honestly I don’t see much a different. Every camera here is more than capable of taking beautiful photos as long as you know how to use it. I hope these experiences I share here can help you on choosing your first medium format camera. A man in a camera shop once told me “If you want to shoot film, you better shoot now because film will go away” so I guess my advice is buy it because the price are continue to raise because film is trendy now and yes, film will go away eventually. Shoot more, have fun!
film sequence 