It has been a hot minute since I’ve posted onto the blog here. I’ve still been creating, just not sharing as much. Some of this has been in part due needing to improve my process of scanning my instant film photos. In terms of scanning them, I have a backlog so big it would make the head of the NHS blush. The Mint camera that produces those images has for a good few months now been my go to camera of choice for creating images.

I recently saw a YouTube video which slated that camera, and whilst I acknowledge I had a couple of quality control issues with mine initially, that isn’t why they were calling Mint out. The YouTuber in question seemed to think that the Mint cameras were intended as an upgrade to a point and shoot instant camera, such as an entry level fujifilm instax, and therefore couldn’t see the value in it, shooting just auto it was a waste of money.

I don’t think that’s what that camera is for though. I think it’s for people who already understand the exposure triangle and want to take control of those elements creatively, but with instant film. Yes there isn’t much latitude on the exposure, but it’s also probably unfair to compare it to a colour negative stock in that way. It gives you a colour image straight up after development, so is probably closer to slide film, which in itself doesn’t tend to have that much dynamic range anyway… By that, I think this is a tool for photographers, rather than an upgrade to a point and shoot camera. It is very much a niche product, and in that sense, and that in itself probably explains why it comes with the price tag.

But why am I talking Mint, with a title of Bronica on this post?

I think a quick discussion on the Mint camera sets the background. That camera has very much been a gateway drug for me into wanting to shoot film. I already understood the exposure triangle. Although I tend to shoot aperture priority now, I spent over a year when starting out shooting purely in manual learning, but digitally.

I like how the Mint slowed me down, and the costs per shot made me more carefully consider what I was shooting. Yes sometimes I would still miss, and sometimes get it wrong, but I started to move away from a more ‘spray and pray’ mentality, even when picking up my digital Fujifilm camera.

I already watched a few film photography YouTube channels, but the more I used the Mint, the more I sought out a wider and more diverse range of that content. Looking at film stocks, looking at metering, looking at cameras.

Enter the Zenza Bronica.

I recently purchased a Bronica S2a. Originally released in the mid-60s, this is a fully mechanical 6x6 camera with interchangeable backs. The ‘a’ version released later is broadly the same camera with slight upgrades to the winding mechanism to improve reliability. I’ve often read that it is affectionately known as a ‘Japanese Hasselblad’ however this has been predominantly in adverts of copies for sale.

The kit I purchased had 3 lenses, 45/75/135 which are 35mm equivalents of roughly 24/42/85 respectively, meaning they cover a similar range to the primes I use on my digital camera. Overall the camera is in relatively good condition given it’s 50 or so years old. Two of the three lenses are in great shape as well. The ‘main’ lens, the 75, has a lot of scratches on both its front and rear elements that mean I may want to upgrade it down the line, but it’ll do for learning the system for now.

I have so far shot two rolls of film. I would have liked to have shot more, but this summer is turning out to be non-existent, and as a result I’ve not had the weather. Hopefully we’ll get some summer days soon.

The first roll I shot was Lomography 800 on a wet and gloomy day at Seaton Delaval. This is the highest ISO stock I purchased when waiting for the camera to arrive. Most of the roll was used on portraits of my little ones, but here are a couple from around the hall.

One thing this has shown me, is that I cannot handhold this at anywhere near as slow a shutter speed as I can my other cameras. Even with my Mint, which is like a pseudo-medium format with it’s negative size, I can handhold down to about 1/8 if I need to (although I’d prefer 1/15 or faster) because of it’s leaf shutter.

My Fujifilm is getting old now, it’s an XT-3 so doesn’t contain IBIS, so whilst I can’t get handheld shots reliably sharply at a low shutter speed, I can compensate by taking multiple images to ensure I get one that hits in terms of sharpness.

What this may mean with my Bronica is that I require to use a faster film stock than I expect if shooting my dark and tenebrism style to ensure sharpness.

The second outing with the camera was to Belsay. Having not had my first roll developed yet, some of the same mistakes were made again here. I tried to handhold at a slower speed than I am capable of. The below were taken on Kodak Gold 200.

Starting with a pair of the Castle, these images were taken a couple of seconds apart with the same settings, but on different lenses. I had done this to test my 45 as I’d mainly shot the 75 to that point, but what it shows me is some of the flaws in the 75. The images were developed and scanned in a lab.

I’m not sure how well this will translate to web compression, but the first image below is the 45 and the second the 75. The colour and contrast for me are much better on the first image. If I zoom into 100% on the 75 image, and then zoom beyond 100% to make the castle details the same size in the 45 image the sharpness and quality seems about the same, but in that instance as a like for like the less cropped image should have appeared superior.

I am not quite sure why the colour looks so off in the second image, but I tried to correct for it slightly, but couldn’t align them from basic adjustments. I’d have had to overhaul the HSL in lightroom and I was trying to avoid doing that for comparing my first few rolls so ended up leaving that purple cast to the blues.

In reality it will probably be a rare occasion that I have two images sat side by side like this, especially whilst learning a new medium. This may become more of an issue if I start on projects with a theme, and I do have a couple in mind to start once I’m a bit more well practiced.

Below is the remainder of that roll of Gold. No family portraits this time so I’ve shared the hits and the misses.

I like the sharpness of the film, I think that sings on the exterior shots. Some of the interiors are too soft though. Most of them were taken at 1/15, so I know for the future to swap for higher ISO film if the speeds fall that low. That is the advantage of an interchangeable back after all…

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