Venice with a Mamiya C3 / 65mm f/3.5

[Ashley Pomeroy]

A couple of weeks ago I went on holiday to Italy, and took along my Mamiya C3. It's pretty bulky and heavy - and I had to carry around a lightmeter as well - so I only had space for one lens, a 65mm f/3.5, which is a modestly wide focal length in medium format land (about the equivalent of a classic 35mm lens in 135 format). Judging by that link my camera dates from 1962-1965, which is more than ten years older than me. Still works, mostly - the advance crank jams the shutter if I rewind it at the end of a stroke, so I just advance and leave it sticking out.

There was another wide lens for the Mamiya C TLR system - a 55mm f/4.5 - but I haven't used it. I get the impression that most people ignore the 65mm, because it's squeezed out by the 55mm and the standard 80mm f/2.8. I like it; there's moderate vignetting wide open, a tiny bit of barrel distortion and some corner softness in the very extreme corners wide open, but apart from that it's sharp and have nice smooth bokeh. Versatile focal length, has the odd effect of turning the C3 into a much sharper Holga! The slow f-stop is mitigated by the fact that 1/15th, 1/30th aren't all that difficult with a heavy TLR, because the shutter just goes snick.

These images were all scanned with an Epson V500. I haven't edited them beyond boosting the contrast a bit. They still have dust, hairs etc, just like real life.




The top shot was taken in the cemetery on San Michele, using some old expired Portra 160VC, the bottom one is that famous boy with frog sculpture that everybody has photographed, shot with Kodak Ektar 100 just as a huge cruise liner was passing by. It shows off one of the things I like about film - the wide dynamic range. I was exposing for the boy, who was in shadow, but the sky isn't totally blown-out.





The top shot there was taken with Velvia 100, the other two with Ektar again. I used Ektar because I didn't want to complicate things

49mm filter thread, too, although this being a TLR it was fiddling using a polarising filter. I had to stick it on the viewing lens, work out the rotation, and transfer it to the taking lens. Here are a couple of shots taken in Lecco, on Lake Como, with a polarising filter, again using Kodak Ektar:




I also had a look at the old banked circuit in Monza, which is on the way to Milan:



Ektar again. I also took along some expired Portra 160VC, and I'm sad I didn't use more of it, because it makes for a nice contrast with Ektar. It's much subtler.




Second shot from Monza there. Looking at the negatives I can understand why medium format has a hold on people, it makes you feel like a King. I pondered taking along my RB67 instead - it's an SLR, so a polarising filter would have been easier - but I don't have a team of porters to carry it, so no.[/img]

[Attila]

Very impressive results! Congrats!

[Orio]

Fantastic series and stunning image quality!

[iangreenhalgh1]

[yinyangbt]

Congrats! Another style of Venice shots , I liked all the series . Good quality !

[Ashley Pomeroy]