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How Does Medium Format Digital Do vs Medium Format Film for Portraits?

Chris Gampat
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07/26/2018
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Essentials Medium Format Beginner (1 of 6)ISO 1001-30 sec at f - 4.0

Last Updated on 07/27/2018 by Mark Beckenbach

How far has medium format digital come vs medium format film?

We’re very well aware of the fact that 35mm full frame lenses have improved significantly over the years. In fact, 35mm lenses can be used pretty commonly for portraits at this point. If you think about this, then medium format must have become proportionally better, right?

 

Medium format, for some, may be a very odd beast. A 63mm lens on medium format digital is almost like a 50mm lens equivalent on 35mm digital. But even at the smallest medium format, which is 645, a 75mm or 80mm lens is more like a normal option. So with that said, you get a 50mm field of view with even less of the scene in focus at a given aperture. Let’s take a quick, informal look at how medium format has held up vs film.

Fujifilm GFX 50s with 63mm f2.8 (GF Format)

The Fujifilm GFX 50s uses Fujifilm’s GF format. It’s smaller than any other medium format film standard. But Fujifilm’s lenses and technology are very ahead of many of the film cameras that have been around for years. So how does it hold up?

1/60th f2.8 ISO 6400

Bronica ETRS  with 75mm f2.8 (645 film)

The Bronica ETRS is one of the best and most affordable 645 cameras out there if you’re looking for something that offers good bang for your buck. The lenses were made by Tamron for years and some of them were said to be made by Nikon.

 

Shot with Kodak Portra 120. Outdoors during daylight
Pro Tip: the latest emulsions of Kodak Portra were designed to be scanned. We recommend Portra 400 more than almost anything else out there.
This image was shot with Kodak Portra 400 on a Bronica ETRS: which means it was done in the 645 format.

Pentacon Six TL with 80mm f2.8 (6×6 film)

Square format is personally my favorite. I use a Mamiya 6 as my main, every day film camera. But in this case, the Pentacon Six does a better job. The80mm f2.8 lens used with the camera was made by Zeiss.

Pentax 67 75mm f4 (6×7 format)

The Pentax 67 is one of the most lusted for medium format cameras. I’m in between this and the Mamiya RB67 due to the fully analog nature of the cameras and therefore higher reliability. Plus, the lenses are just fantastic.

Fujifilm GW690 III (6×9 format)

Lastly, we’re showing off the 6×9 format–this is one of the largest medium format camera options out there.

120 format

aperture camera digital film fujifilm images lenses medium format normal pentax portraiture
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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