If it wasn't enough that I'm carting off out into the Scottish landscape at all times of the day, month and year, in all seasons and all weathers, sleeping in my car, driving hundreds of miles in one day for the fun of it and pushing myself beyond my current physical limitations at nearly 60 years old, I've only now gone and bought a bloody medium format film camera, and I don't know why.
Film is fussy, fiddly and not cheap.
Total opposite to digital.
I'm still trying to figure out my reasoning.
Actually, to say I don't know why is basically complete and utter dribble.
I do know why, so please do read on if you've this far.
I opted for a stupidly cheap Lubitel 166B camera (yeah, yeah, yeah, I can already feel the eyes of seasoned togs rolling like the reels on a fruit machine). In fact it was so cheap, my only hope at this time is that the bloody thing actually works. We'll find out soon enough when I get some film, shoot the shots and send it away to be developed :-D
Okay, the "why's and wherefore's".
Truth be told, I'm really quite fascinated by medium format film cameras and have, for MANY years, hankered after a medium format film camera. I love the square negatives, I'm enchanted by the sometimes dream-like quality of the images and I love the prospect of having to completely set up the shot from scratch. There's a certain thrill associated with waiting for the negatives (hereinafter known as "the negs") to come back from the photo lab and the hope that you've actually managed to get at least one image that looks passable. Ah yes, the unpredictable joys of film-based photography.
So with the Lubitel 166B, it's all VERY manual - there's absolutely no on-board light metering, no autofocus, no zoom, no exposure bracketing, no focus bracketing and no auto ISO. Joyful stuff, and I genuinely mean that because working this way really does put the emphasis back onto knowledge, experience and artistry. I'm very comfortable with digital photography, I know the basic concepts of the exposure triangle (the inter-relationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO), I'm getting to grips with composition and I'm happy with how the aperture can dictate depth of field etc.
Technically speaking (sic), the Lubitel 166B is what is referred to as twin lens reflex (TLR) camera. This means that it has two lenses of the same focal length, one of which is the photographic objective or "taking lens" (the lens that takes the picture), and the other lens is used for the viewfinder system, usually viewed from above at waist level.
In addition to the objective, the viewfinder also consists of a 45 degree mirror (hence the word "reflex"), with a matte focusing screen at the top of the camera, and a pop-up hood surrounding it. The two lenses are connected in a gear-like mechanism, so that the focus shown on the focusing screen will be exactly the same as that on the film. Most TLRs use leaf shutters with shutter speeds up to 1/500 of a second with a bulb setting.
So why turn that on it's head and head back into the Stone Age of photography???!!!
Well, why not.
For me, this is all about creativity, from start to finish. Okay, I won't be processing the film - at this time, I really have the motivation or the time for that. However, the prospect of finding my image, composing it, framing it, setting up the exposure and the focusing is incredibly appealing and I feel that it could serve to authenticate my photography in that my practical knowledge and experience using film will help to improve my digital photography. With my trusty little Canon M100 mirrorless camera and my faithful old Canon 60D DSLR, I can fire away and not really concern myself too much if I don't get it right with the first hit of the shutter button. However, using film, and particularly when using a vintage piece of equipment that is essentially automatic nothing, there is a need to get to grips with every aspect of the shot and making every release of the shutter count. My starting block will be with rolls of 12 exposure film, the cost of the film will be around £7 and the cost of processing will be in the region of £20-£25. That's a lot of money to waste because of not bothering to think things through. So you can see how it has the right potential to create discipline and a sense of purpose to each and every image. In turn, one would expect that disciplined approach to organically transition into my digital photography, and, fingers crossed, it'll help develop and improve my overall photographic capabilities.
