Medium Format¶
287 words on Photos
After a number of eBay indulgencies (a bigger development tank, a medium format camera), I finally got the opportunity to develop my first medium format films. I quite like their really simple design with film in paper and a little strip to glue things shut. With the paper at the beginning of the film indicating that the film is unexposed and the paper at the end stating it is exposed. And it’s great to have a development tank now which can take the large spirals for the medium format film. Actually it’s even smarter as the tank can either take two normal spirals with a 35mm film each or a large spiral which can take two medium format films. To top things off, there is only one type of spiral which you can extend from one width to the other. Quite cleverly thought out.
As this was the first time I handled the larger film, things were a bit tricky. It’s amazing how hard things become as soon as you can’t see what you are doing and have your hands stuck in a dark bag. The fact that one of the films was taken with my ancient box camera which decided to tear and crumple the film while transporting didn’t make things easier.
Eventually I did manage to process everything. And while the processing was alright, the results weren’t impressive with many of the images being ruined. With the Box camera I blame the friend who accidentally opened the camera while checking it out. With the new medium format camera I blame myself for not knowing how to operate it properly yet, particularly together with a flash (which amazingly does work but requires a bit of care).
