I don’t think I’ve written anything about cameras for a while so I thought I’d post some of my thoughts from recently changing from shooting mostly digital to film. As some of you may know I have a Leica M8 also and recently tried my hand at shooting film. I started out with Canons, L series lenses and tilt shift lenses but moved on to rangefinders and medium format. I have since progressed to owning mostly film cameras now (after selling one of my Leica M8′s) and have chosen film as the medium for our new wedding photography business. The reason isn’t because I think film rules the world and digital can kiss my a** (although the look of film can never be achieved with digital) , it’s because of how rewarding it is to shoot film and the ease of the work flow. Starting out our new business the first thing I thought about was do I really want to be editing around 1000 photos after a wedding? But knowing me, I am obsessive about every detail and I knew I would just spend way to long going through editing all of the photos. I also wouldn’t have charged the clients extra for editing as there is no way I could deliver a product that I felt wasn’t the best I could give them.

So, I thought long and hard about digital versus film and came to the decision that spending hours in front of a computer wasn’t how I wanted to start my business off. The great thing about having a film / digital hybrid work flow is how easy it is to achieve beautiful results without thinking “what am I going to do to this RAW file to make it look good?”. Everything is controlled in the camera at the time of shooting, which made me think a lot more about what I was actually photographing. All the film photos on my blog here and on my website are exactly what I got back from the professional lab without any editing. It’s great that I will be able to offer a client a beautiful consistent product guaranteed every time, not a product that doesn’t fit together because I processed some photos with different actions in Photoshop. Also the benefit is that my clients will be able to keep their film negatives for generations without the worry of only having digital files that may become corrupted or unreadable. But they will also get these digital files from high resolution scans put onto disc as everyone still wants digital.

So, back to the camera! The M7 is quite similar to the digital M8 whereby it has a light meter built in, it also has an aperture priority mode which I often use. The shutter on the M7 though is whisper quiet, something that I absolutely love. The way the M7 captures candid portraits is amazing, half of the time the person doesn’t even realize they’re being photographed which makes for really natural photos. If you’ve never shot a rangefinder then I definitely recommend it and if you’re one of my friends feel free to use any of my cameras when I see you next. The Leica M7 being a film camera handles high contrast situations a lot better than the M8 digital does. When I shoot a similar scene the M8 digital fails to capture the latitude of light, whereas when I get the film back it captures a much wider dynamic range. Details are still there in the shadows, and the highlights aren’t too blown out like digital. I’m not saying you shouldn’t shoot digital because most people would rather not “spend money” on developing film because digital is “free”. But, if you think about it if you’re buying a new digital camera every 2 years which you will as it’ll become outdated by then, it’s not so “free” after all. If you feel like saying, “You’re an idiot for shooting film”, or, “You’re such a try hard wannabe Cartier Bresson” then please feel free to leave a comment! Pictured: Leica M7 with Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.1. Shot with: Leica M8, Leica Summicron 90mm f/2.

So, a couple of weeks ago I finally got my own Hasselblad. I ended up getting a Hasselblad 500 CM in black, Zeiss 80mm Planar T* f/2.8, 120 and 220 film backs, and polaroid 100 back. So far it has been a lot of fun using it, and a lot different to the medium format Contax 645 I have. I will be getting the first rolls of film back tonight taken with the Hasselblad. I never use any of my cameras with tripods, everything is hand held so I have free movement when I work.

Compared to the Contax the Hasselblad’s construction is of a lot higher standard and made in Sweden. The body is all metal and the smaller dimensions make it a bit lighter to use also. Most of the body is covered in a leatherette covering compared to the Contax’s plastic / rubber combination. I do however find the Contax a lot easier to shoot and get critical focus due to the auto focus and prism finder. The Hasselblad definitely wins in the handling and shooting experience. Taking a photo with it is a completely different feeling to any other camera I have and the sound of the shutter is very unique, kind of a ” KA CHUNK” sound. It’s definitely louder compared to my other cameras, especially the Leica M7′s whisper quiet shutter.

For those of you are thinking “How much, how much?” I picked it up on ebay for $750 US, then bought an original lens cap and 220 back which gives me 24 photos per roll at 6×6 (the famous square format). If you’re interested to see what this combo produces then check back here over the next week or so.

Photo taken with a Leica M8 and Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.1 @ f/1.8

Here’s a few shots of our new but old Contax 645 medium format camera. We are really looking forward to shooting this in our weddings and portrait sessions. Some people believe that film is dead and that digital is the only way to go. I personally am looking forward to combining medium format film with my digital work from our Leica M8′s. We get everything scanned digitally from the film at super high resolution and the results are amazing! I’m looking forward to showing you some photos soon.

So, to the gear. We purchased a Contax 645 kit which came with the body, film back and 120/220 film holder, Zeiss 80mm f/2, and hard to find Polaroid film back. Before the year is out we’re hoping to purchase a second 645 as a back up because we love this camera so much. Comparing it in size to the Leica is like a battle between David and Goliath. The Leica is very precise with it’s image output from the digital sensor and very calculated. The Contax provides the uncertainties of film, and weighs in at about four times the weight of the Leica.

I considered the possibility of getting a Hasselblad 500CM instead of the Contax, but the Contax offers so many more important features to a wedding photographer that the Hasselblad lacks. It has a 1/4000 sec max shutter speed versus the Hasselblad’s 1/500 sec (perfect for shooting wide open on sunny days). It has a prism viewfinder which makes it much easier for critical focusing during portrait sessions. With a 6×4.5cm film area it gets 16 shots on a roll of 120 film versus 10 shots on the Hasselblad. It has a Zeiss lens at f/2 which is insane versus the f/2.8 of the Hasselblad, the depth of field has to be seen to be believed. My f/1.1 on the Leica doesn’t even come close to the Zeiss on the Contax.

But with all the positives there are always negatives… The Contax requires a 2CR5 lithium battery to operate, finding rechargeable ones have proven to be difficult, whereas the Hasselblad requires no battery. The Contax is a lot heavier than the Hasselblad and also feels a lot more automatic and SLR like when operating. Oh, and it’s heavy… Wait, did I mention that already?

Even with these negatives we think the pros out way the cons and couldn’t be happier in our decision. For those of you who are looking for a hybrid or all-film wedding/portrait photographer let us know! *UPDATE: We have since bought a Hasselblad 500CM to go with the Contax. Also we replaced one of our Leica M8′s with a film M7 as we are shooting film exclusively now!