The Minox Factor
During the second half of the past year I have had quite a pivot towards film photography. I’m not sure why, but maybe I just find it more creative, especially working in my local area (air travel with film is not something I’m planning on returning to). The most significant evidence for this is my acquisition of a Hasselblad 501 CM, which so far I don’t regret. But following along with my usual philosophy of never avoiding unnecessary complexity, I am now working with 3 film formats (35mm, 35mm pano and 6x6) and 4 camera systems. For 35mm I have always had at least one compact camera alongside my Olympus OM kit, and since the mid 1990s I’ve usually had a Minox lying around somewhere. So I thought it was about time to dedicate a blog post to Minox 35mm cameras.
Square Space
I’ve been virtual window-shopping V-Series Hasselblad’s for quite some time now, but, rationally, my X1DII in square crop already does everything they can do… doesn’t it? Well, yes, but it doesn’t shoot film, and it doesn’t quite give the 3D depth of those Zeiss lenses on true 6x6 format. I thought I wanted a 503cw, since those were the last word, but they are expensive and that, luckily, stopped me. Following a bit of revision, I realised that the only difference between a 503cw and a 501cm is that the 503 has extra features for flash photography. And I really, but really, do not do flash. Shortly after this, a very nice looking, very late model 501cm popped up on a Swiss auction site. And it was black, which inevitably as it goes against the flow, I prefer. So I put in the minimum bid, and to my surprise I won.
612 Slightly Delayed
I didn’t really have a happy relationship with the Linhof 612, despite it being a camera I’d wanted to use for well over a decade before I bought the first one. I was drawn to the camera through the works of one of my earlier influences, New Zealand landscape photographer Andris Apse. He was a great exponent of the Linhof, or more precisely, the 612 format. I originally discovered his work shortly after I started working with the Hasselblad XPan, and immediately felt that the 612 format was often more to my taste than the wider 24 x 65 of the XPan*. Also, the Linhof 612 lenses all have a built-in 6mm positive shift, which can be a huge plus in landscape photography. And the camera body has a tripod socket on top, as well as beneath, so that you can invert it to get a 6mm negative shift.
Scanning rediscovered
I’m very, very late to the party on this one, but I’ve finally discovered camera film scanning. By which I mean digitising film using a setup based around a film holder, light source and digital camera.
The results are astounding. I am now able to dig into shadow detail of positive (slide) film to a level that was completely impossible before with any of my desktop film scanners, or indeed the mythical Hasselblad/Imacon Flextight X1.