Back in April of 2022, I decided to finally make the jump to film photography. The majority of 2021, I tried to create various “film like aesthetics” with my digital cameras. I eventually realized that until I actually use a film camera, I would not be able to fully understand the science that goes into trying to recreate this process on digital. Also, I am fully aware now since shooting film for 7 months that trying to recreate that covenant “film look” with a digital camera is almost impossible. But you can get close with the right technique and device.
Any who, I purchased a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II and a Mamiya 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens from KEH Cameras. I went with the Mamiya RZ system due to shooting on digital aps-c and full frame since I started photography in 2018. Plus after using Fujifilm GFX 100s and 50sii cameras, I really just wanted that big format for my images. More defined quality and size was the biggest determining factor when choosing this 6x7 format film camera.
With the purchase of the Mamiya, I was completely unsure to which film I should use. After scouring through hours of Youtube videos, I saw everyone was using Kodak Portra 400. This seemed to be the most renowned color film for portraits. I also love black and white photos and was really excited to create some using the RZ67 Pro II. With my Portra 400 purchase; I also included a 120 roll of HP5 Ilford Plus.
Later in the week Keya and I went out on a beautiful sunny day to test out the camera. As nervous as I was on using this for the first time, I was also very confident with my knowledge of basic camera settings from my digital days. All of this mind you, is before I learned the Sunny 16th rule. But we will discuss that in another article. The 180mm f/4.5 lens is pretty tight as it’s equivalent to 90mm in full frame. But a very sharp lens within it’s own right.
Loading film in this camera is definitely a different experience. Getting it to catch in the spool and wrap around all the way took me about 10 minutes. Especially as I am sweating trying to look cool on camera for YouTube. But, I was finally able to get the first roll of Portra 400 loaded in. As you can see in the images below, I was really a fan of the skin tone rendering that the Portra brand reproduced. There were still some details in the sky but not super visible as I would of hoped. My biggest prayer going into this session was to not blow out the highlights of the film, because during my research at that time - a lot of photographers had horror stories for this specific instance. Now, being a bit more experienced in shooting film I know that the Portra brand has some really good latitude in terms of overexposure. So even if you are a few stops over, you’ll still come out with a decent image. The more light the better. Just don’t go crazy..
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F8 | Kodak Portra 400
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F8 | Kodak Portra 400
Remember I mentioned that the film has alot of latitude for overexposure? I found out that its the opposite for underexposure. The image below isn’t horrible but I can definitely tell it was underexposed compared to the earlier photos. My advice is to always shoot at perfect exposure or a stop or two above. Especially when dealing with black skin. You don’t want to end up with a muddy image.
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F16 | Kodak Portra 400
Fun fact - at the time of this shoot, I did not realize that this camera had a magnify glass in it’s waist level viewfinder to help with focusing. Needless to say I definitely could of used it, as the majority of my images from the Portra 400 roll were completely out of focus.
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F16 | Kodak Portra 400
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F11 | Kodak Portra 400
Outside of the disappointment from my first roll, the HP5 black and white shots came out surprisingly well. Like I mentioned earlier, I just love black and white images. They remove any distraction of color and helps the viewer focus on other aspects of the photo, such as the subject, the textures, shapes and patterns, and the composition. Looking back at these 7 months later, I might of overexposed these by one more stop for some more light. But overall, for my first roll of b&w film I thought they were pretty solid.
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F11 | HP5 Ilford Plus
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F11 | HP5 Ilford Plus
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F11 | HP5 Ilford Plus
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II + 180mm F/4.5 W-N Lens | Shutter Speed: 400 - Iso: 400 - Aperture: F11 | HP5 Ilford Plus
Film can definitely be tricky and intimidating. But with some basic understanding of camera settings and other photography aspects, you will always come out with a decent photo. Manual focus was completely new to me and it takes some patience to get the image right. Overall, I am happy with my purchase and am excited to share more insight from my journey in upcoming articles.