Medium Format Film

I've been wanting to go back to medium format film since the very beginning of the pandemic.  In fact, I restored a 75 year old folding 6x6 medium format camera in January of 2020 when the pandemic first began (pictured below, at left).  Now it is six years later and I still have not shot any film through that camera but I'm still itching to go back to film alongside my digital photography.

I do occasionally shoot some instant medium format film through a twin lens reflex camera (shown in photo below, top center) and I have a medium format film printer that prints any of my digital images on medium format instant film.  My Sony a7 images look great on this film.

I suppose the main reason I have delayed shooting any film stock in my older film camera is because I have had COVID twice a year, every year, since January of 2020.  Each time I get this virus, it knocks me down for a few months.  By the time I'm feeling well enough to tackle anything, my list of priorities has changed drastically with repairs that must get done around the house.  Of course, life in general gets in the way too with trips, events, grandchildren, etc, and I only have so much energy to expend on even a good day.  Bad health days means I get absolutely nothing accomplished.  

I started my photography journey by shooting black and white film 51 years ago.  At that time, I was even developing my own film in a darkroom at school.  I was also given an old twin lens reflex camera by dear ole Gramps around this time.  By the time I was in college, I had purchased my own little 35mm rangefinder.  That camera was great and I still miss it dearly.  I keep telling myself I will find one of these little rangefinders again on eBay and purchase it but it has been a cost I can't justify for something I probably won't use.  (They cost more now used than I paid in college for a new camera.)  Honestly though, there are other film cameras I would prefer to use (ie, large format).

As mentioned above, my preference lies in going back to medium format photography both in film format and digital format.  If I'm going to shoot film, I really prefer to go medium format or larger.  My medium format folding Mamiya camera shoots 6x6 film.  This old camera (now 80 years old and shown at left in the photo above) is completely manual with no metering for exposure so I need to accurately calculate the exposure and set that on the camera manually.  Fortunately, I can use an app for that and get results that are accurate enough.  

As I've mentioned in a few past blog entries, I'd also like to pick up a used medium format digital camera.  This is where today's blog entry begins.  

In preparation of finding a low cost, older medium format digital camera, I have always felt it would be wise to pick up a medium format film camera that can use the same lenses as a digital camera.  Medium format lenses can be crazy expensive but not if you adapt older medium format lenses.  So, I've been keeping my eyes open for good deals on a few specific lenses that would suit my needs. 

Little by little, I've accumulated a few medium format Pentax 645 lenses.  I now have three medium format lenses... a 45mm f/2.8, a 75mm f/2.8, and a 150mm f/3.5.  I could easily use these lenses on my current digital cameras, a cheap older film camera and a newer (but still used) digital medium format camera so they are definitely versatile lenses.  I've used these lenses on my Sony full frame digital camera and I'm really liking the results.

For years, I've also been keeping my eyes open for a used Pentax 645 film camera.  I can use these three lenses on that camera with no problem.  The problem has been finding one of these old cameras (40 years old) in excellent condition (because that is the condition I will accept).  The next problem is finding one in excellent condition and at a low cost.  

Medium format cameras generally range in cost from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.  I can't afford that so I've been patiently waiting while searching for that needle in a haystack.  I recently found a Pentax 645 film camera in "mint" condition for less than $300 so I jumped on it.  It arrived late last night.  I found it on our doorstep sitting in a damp and snow-covered box in the dark as heavy snow was burying it.  Inside the box was a beautiful mint-condition medium format film camera!  Now that is what I was hoping to find and at the right price point!

Incidentally, I purchased that old 6x6 Mamiya folding camera for about $120 but I needed to restore it.  After putting some work into it, it is now a unique camera that I would rate as in excellent condition.  It is unique due to the one of a kind bellows I had made specifically for this camera.  The guy in Europe who made the bellows says mine is the only camera of this sort on the planet.  Although I had to do some major restoration work on this 80 year old camera, it was a steal at $120.  I didn't want to go down this restoration road again so I've been searching for a Pentax 645 in excellent condition at a minimum.

This morning, I tested the camera that arrived last night and it seems to be working perfectly and it looks like it is brand new other than some minor light scratches on the underside of the camera body.  I used my Pentax 75mm lens for testing this camera but I plan to test my two other lenses on it very soon.  This camera is a big ole clunky thing that produces big ole film negatives.  I'm looking forward to capturing some landscapes with this camera this summer.  And, I hope to capture a few nice portraits too!

And, I'm still on the lookout for an ultra-low cost medium format digital camera that will work with these medium format lenses I already own but, in the meantime, I have this new-to-me Pentax 645 film camera to play with (shown below but also shown in photos above)...

UPDATE:   January 1, 2026 - I have had some questions about this old Pentax 645 so I've been doing some research over the past few days.  My particular camera wasn't matching with what I was reading and seeing in the user manual.  Naturally, I want to understand how to most effectively use this camera so I needed to figure out why my camera was differing from the user manual.

This evening, I was informed that the reason my camera differs from the user manual is because my camera is a very rare special order camera!  

Ironically, this is not my only extremely unique camera model.   As I wrote in the above blog entry, my 80 year old folding Mamiya camera is a one-of-a-kind camera due to its unique bellows I had custom-made.  After it was hand-made, I installed it on the antique camera making it a one-of-a-kind. 

My primary digital camera as of this writing is my Sony a7rIII.  This particular a7rIII is a rather rare "A" model which was manufactured much more recently.  What is unique on this "A" model is its higher resolution LCD making manual focus noticeably easier.

What is interesting is that I never had any intentions of purchasing the one-of-a-kind models of these three cameras.  They ended up in my possession simply by chance.

Back to the Pentax 645...  The electronic settings on this 40 year old camera cannot be set nor tested without film in the camera so this is making it difficult for me to figure out exactly how to use this camera.  I am making some progress though.