Premium photography on a budget

I tried to take medium format wildlife and landscape photos on a fraction of the cost. Photography can be an expensive hobby. And whilst I am not the sort to claim that you don't need to spend money to get a certain level of image quality, I have always wondered if you can shop on a more realistic budget and get similar results to the kind taken with gear many of us aspire to own. So, I looked at film, more specifically medium format (a camera that uses film with a larger surface area than most consumer level bodies which tend to shoot with 35mm film). You can get some rather cheap (relatively speaking) medium format cameras for just over £1000 if you arent picky about how medium format is defined (man claim that tittle by only increasing the sensor size a fraction which means the end result can often be very similar to that of a full frame). But a more sort after and more accurately defined medium format camera would realistically set you back a few thousand. Though as a lot of what makes medium format so desirable can be put down to physics and so I decided to go for a second hand 6x6 medium format film camera and see if, for only a few hundred, you can get great quality wildlife and landscape photos for a fraction of the price. Scan advice from Dan: ‘Medium format is a much easier film format to scan compared to the smaller frame size of 35mm, as flatbed scanners will give you good results. (35mm film ideally needs a dedicated scanner with focus for high quality results). The photos on the video were scanned using an Epson flatbed and the standard Epson scan software, ideally software like Vuescan or Silverfast are the best ways to boast quality and control over film scans, and with more time and access could have made the images and eventual prints much better quality. Overall, however, I think it shows the quality you can still get from medium format film when a fairly standard flatbed and the included software gives such good results!’ Dan Dale: Instagram - @danofthedale Website - http://www.danieldale.co.uk/ Mystery Link: /watch/AyaYHeZ_0bt_Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MattGould

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