Jul 03, 2021
150
by matt
I’ve been really happy shooting using an 80mm lens on my medium format cameras. The Yashica Mat 124G has a fixed 80mm (but you can buy extensions/adapters – no thanks). The Plaubel Makina has a fixed 80mm (amazing glass), and the Bronica SQA is a ‘system’ camera which means it has interchangeable everything, including lenses. 80mm on medium format is approximately equivalent to 45mm on a 35mm camera. I like shooting a ‘nifty fifty’ on a 35mm SLR but I’ve always found myself feeling happier using something longer than 50mm on 35mm. I love using a 105mm on my Olys, or the beaten up old 135mm on the FM2. So I bought a 150mm for the Bronica which is equivalent to around 90mm on 35mm. And it is just incredible. The relationship started with a little bit of trepidation because even though the lens was sold in ‘excellent condition’, my experience with analogue photography gear has taught me that it’s always good to test newly purchased (which means second, third, fourth … hand) equipment out before going crazy and using it solidly. I didn’t do that with the ‘new’ 150mm and I just used it almost solidly after it arrived. But everything was fine and I needn’t have worried. This image is the first one that I took with the 150mm on the Bronica. When I developed the roll of film around 2 months after shooting it for the first time (having subsequently used the 150mm a lot, including on a lovely holiday in Norfolk), I knew it was going to be the start of something special. Another first was using Kodak TMax 100 and pushing it to 400. Not high contrast but beautiful tonal range.