I thought I’d let you all know that I’m off to Ethiopia sometime in the next few weeks. I won’t be able to post anything on the blog because there is no internet access there, but what I do intend to do is write up a journal about my daily activities and the ‘memorable’ photographs I hope to capture each day. This is with the intention of coming home and creating a pseudo-diary of events on my blog, with the processed film pictures to go with the writing. I think since I’m a film shooter, this is going to be a really nice way of letting you see what happened each day etc…. I think it matters little that the entries will not be in real time.

So anyway, I was on Eigg last week with a group of eight people. We had a great time and I have a really nice mixture of different nationalities: Swiss, Swedish, Polish, Portuguese, English and of course one Scottish person too ;-) I hope to post a contact sheet or two from the groups efforts later on this week once I have had some time to rest. We ended the workshop on a nice note by putting together one big long slideshow with everyone’s best images in it and married it to the music of Martyn Bennet and some of his recordings from the Glen Lyon CD. Very atmospheric it was too!

35mm negative, Voightlander Bessa R3a, 40mm nocton lens

I’ve been busy writing about how I prefer prime lenses and that I prefer to go out with only one or two lenses with me. Often it’s only the one lens I use. In the case of India and Nepal last year, the entire collection of images I made were shot with my Contax 645 and an 80mm lens. I didn’t need anything else.

I’m a big subscriber to keeping things simple and cutting down on the amount of gear I travel with. It can be back breaking bringing too much kit with you, but it can also inflict a sense of creative constipation because you also have too many choices at hand. You think that bringing all the lenses you can think of will mean you’re going to be prepared for just about any photo situation, but the truth is more often the case that we just confuse ourselves with what to use and when.

It takes time to master lenses, but that’s not really the issue at hand. It’s more about immediacy. If you have one lens on your camera at all times, you learn to work within the confines of that. I prefer primes because they make me roam a location and work the scene more. I also prefer primes because I don’t have to think about different focal lengths. I make do with what I have. I also prefer one lens because there is no delay in choosing another one. I also start to ’see’ every potential encounter in the focal length of the lens I have on me.

Using one lens makes it easier for me to ‘visualise’ and be proactive, rather than reactive. And it also means I’m much more free to move around.

I feel that many people assume that having the same camera as me is going to make their images better, which I misleading. But for those that are intrigued by the camera and want to know what I think about it, I’m going to give you the low down here and now.

Mamiya 7II with standard lens

Q. Why did I choose this camera over other Medium Format systems?

A. Because first and foremost, I wanted something with maximum resolution and lightest weight. I do a lot of traveling and it’s important that the camera is light and that the lenses are light too. Try out many other MF systems and you’ll soon see why the Mamiya is great for compactness and light lenses.

Q. What is the resolution like?

A. It’s a rangefinder system, so the lens designs were not compromised by having to ‘work around’ there being a mirror in the way. The wide angles in particular extend right into the camera body and are a few mm close up to the film plane. The distortion in these lenses is almost non existent. Point the camera down and the horizon is at the top of the frame – straight as an arrow. No barrel distortion.

Q. Are the lenses fast?

A. No. This is the real downside – depending on what you are shooting. With maximum apertures of f4.5, they are a few stops slower than other MF systems. This is because Mamiya couldn’t guarantee precise focussing with a rangefinder MF system. For instance, a standard lens in MF land is 80mm or 90mm. Now think about the DOF (depth of field) you have on a 90mm lens in 35mm land…. it’s not that deep is it? If your focussing is slightly off, chances are that at f2 you’re going to notice it. So the best compromise is to make the lenses slower. So that’s the downside. Slow lenses, but on the bright side, because they are slow lenses, they’re not that bulky / heavy / big. A plus point. Ideal for travel.

Q. What is a Rangefinder anyway?

A. A rangefinder is a system where you do not look through the lens. You actually view through a side window an ‘approximation’ of what you will get. The problem with this is that focus is achieved by overlapping two paralax images onto the same spot… this requires some mechanical calibration so that when the images are overlapped correctly, the lens is actually in focus.

Q. So why use this system if it doesn’t allow you to see through the lens then?

A. Because it makes the system more compact (no mirror in the way), you also get to see the scene at the point of exposure (no mirror flipping out of the way for a moment obscuring your view) and the system is also very, very quiet (no mirror to make a big slapping noise). The Mamiya 7 System has the shutters placed inside the lenses, making the shutter tiny – and therefore less prone to vibration. So images are often sharper than systems with large shutters that are 6×7 in size!

Q. What are the other limitations of the Mamiya 7?

A. Close focussing is terrible, due to limitations gaining accurate focus with a rangefinder system. No decent telephoto support either – the biggest telephoto you can get for it is a 210mm lens – at f8 !!!! and it’s not even coupled to the rangefiner – so you have to guess the focus point…. bit of a silly lens unless you intend to use the camera for landscape work.

Q. So what do I like about the camera?

A. I keep coming back to the camera time and time again. I swear at it, curse it while I’m using it, feel I’m missing shots with it, but each time I get the films back and look at those sharp 6×7 transparencies on my light table… I instantly forgive it its weaknesses.

A. I also actually like composing the shot through the rangefinder window. Because it is an approximation of what is there, I have to ‘visualise’ more in my head what I am wanting to create – no bad thing.

A. I tend to use it in manual mode all the time for landscape work. I have a Sekonic L-608 light meter which I use for zone system metering, so I can determine where and if I should use a grad filter. So I tend to slow down with the camera and think more about composition.

A. I also love the 6×7 aspect ratio.

A. I also love how quiet the camera is when out shooting street scenes. Even though it’s big, it doesn’t attract as much attention as a small SLR does.

A. I also find placing the grads on the camera to be a non-issue. I compose, I check how much area the sky is using – if it’s using a 1/3rd of the scene, then that’s how far down I put the grad. Because the grad is so close to the front element, it’s diffused anyway. I only use the hard grads. The soft grads are no use to MF or 35mm shooters because the lenses are small. For Large Format, the soft grads are worth holding onto.

A. I find the camera great for the landscape work I do. I have my process with this camera nailed down now, and am comfortable with it. I can take it anywhere with me and its been up the side of glaciers in Patagonia, on an ice field for a week (it uses small batteries), and its been completely soaked in New Zealand and it still worked the next day once all the water evaporated off all the lens elements.

Q. What don’t I like about the camera?

A. No close focussing.

A. No decent telephoto support

A. Slow lenses

A. To change lens, I have to pull a curtain over the film via a dial underneath. Can’t take any pictures until the curtain is released and I *always* forget to release it once I’ve changed lenses.

A. It’s poorly made, bits keep falling of the camera.

But I keep coming back to it. But be warned : it’s not for everyone.

It was a hectic journey on the boat with everyone staggering back and forth on the upper deck or hiding under the roof to shelter from the spray and winds that would often take us of our feet. Literally.

At one point I managed to make my way to the back of the boat, and to my surprise I could see the dingy that was attached to the back of the boat almost flying in the sky. I know, it looks like it’s been superimposed, but my workshop amigos will vouch for me on this one. It really was taken in one go. A lovely rainbow in the sky, a 17mm lens to get it all in, and an air born dingy.

I’m always intrigued by what is round the corner. I could have never anticipated this shot.

Now, if only my workshop amigos had captured me whilst I was outside trying to save my camera bag from disappearing over the edge of the boat in a pretty awful storm. I thought I had managed to rescue my bag whilst maintaining a degree of dignity (I got completely soaked!). I returned to the cabin where everyone hadn’t seemed to notice, only to discover later on at dinner that everyone on the boat had been watching me with mouths agape, wondering when I was going to go overboard along with my camera bag…..