Shooting film with the Mamiya RZ67

Shooting film with the Mamiya RZ67

Film photography has been a love of mine for a couple of years now, but it was only last year that I first got my hands on a medium format camera (referring to the size of the negative). Back then, I was living in Prague and picked up a Flexaret VII, since I wanted to document my life there with a Czech camera. Even though this is such an old piece of equipment and the optics are nothing to write home about, it still produces impressive results. After all, a 6×6 negative simply captures an immense level of detail.

Ever since then, I started reading up on other medium format cameras and ended up laying an eye on the Mamiya RZ67 Pro II – a Japanese camera aimed at professional photographers that produces 6×7 negatives. It’s intricate mechanics for turning the film back, advancing the frames and the bellow focussing just fascinated me. However, since their supply in Europe is rather limited and they seemed to have gained popularity over the last couple of years, I refrained from picking one up. That is, until now.

What should I say? This one is a keeper! Getting back the first couple of roles on Sunday, I was blown away by the level of detail and razor-thin depth of field – as one would expect from a medium format. I’m also very satisfied with the slight green hues from the Fuji Pro160 (without messing with skin tones too much), which I shot for the first time too.

Obviously, these smartphone pictures from actual prints don’t do these photos justice, but you get the idea. Definitely planning on lugging this beast of a camera around more often from now on. Having my tripod here from Wednesday on – yes, the stuff I shipped from Germany will finally arrive! – should certainly help with getting steady shots on longer photo sessions.