Soviet Salyut Camera
Photo thanks to Yuri Boguslavsky

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There is no doubt that since the early 1950s 35MM photography has really taken over from medium format, which was the main popular format used world-wide in folding cameras, twin lens reflexes and box cameras on 120, 127, 116, 616 and 620 film.

I lived through that era and the changes in photography and I am giving my observations on the subject here.

With the collapse of Eastern Bloc communism we have seen loads of Russian/Ukranian cameras flow into the USA. Many of these cameras are Medium Format/120 models...... Kiev 88, Kiev 60, Kiev 6C, Moskva, Iskra, Lubitel etc. ..... Why so many medium format models?

Most of these cameras were made for use by the "people". Many people did their own lab work and with 120 film a person could easily develop the black and white negatives and make contact prints which were large enough to easily see an image on.

Of course in the USSR there eventually were commercial labs and eventually enlargers were sold, so 35MM camera sales went even wider than medium format. I have heard that it sometimes took a long time to get back commercial prints and that people liked to process their own film and see their photos fast. I have always felt the same way.

It was not that different earlier in the USA. 120 and 620 6x9cm box camera images were printed by labs as same size contact prints. Home technicians also made contact prints. That is what I did when I started with a 620 Kodak Brownie Hawkeye for 12 6x6 cm prints per roll. As I expanded to 35MM I wanted to do my own developing and eventually needed an enlarger to make more than contact prints.

This gets to be more of a process and one needs a home darkroom, instead of just borrowing the kitchen to make a few contact prints under red safelight. I even remember a print paper which could be used in a lighted room.

The main reason early on for the large popularity of 35MM in the US was the making and projection of Color Slides. People did not just want small black and white jumbo prints but were impressed by the large screen color images. Kodak's superb Kodachrome made this all possible. I think that today the projection of color slides has lost its great popularity. 35MM color transparency film is now mainly used by pros for publication.

Pros, especially on Life Magazine, took to 35MM cameras, in a field formerly dominated by 4x5 press cameras. Of course, by having their own high quality labs, pros maximized the image quality possible from 35MM. This led to 35MM accepted for pro use by many publications.

Earlier on, 6x6cm Medium Format photography had started to replace 4x5 press cameras, due to one camera only- the Rolleiflex and its superb images. In the 1998 book - SHOOTING STARS - photos by celebrities- there are numerous images of top quality, all taken by Rolleflex cameras in the hands of celebrities from Grace Kelly to Ed Sullivan.

In today's world we have new super-sharp, fine grain color and black and white films, auto focusing, motor wind auto exposure 35MM cameras with high quality lenses. These 35MM cameras from the compact point and shoot to the pro Nikons, Canons, Minoltas, Contaxes and others are the easiest to use in any format.

If one considers the same fine grain film on a larger 6x6cm image - Medium Format - on a good quality camera, the images are even better than 35MM. They can stand a greater degree of cropping than with 35MM before it looks grainy. In short, with 35MM one should compose the final image exactly during shooting. With Medium Format one can compose well beyond the desired subject and crop later on in the final printing.

Beyond this is the digital darkroom - scanning a negative into a computer, where it can be sharpened up, grain removed and then printed out or sent out as a digital file.

I use this technology and I have scanned in photos from large 8x10 prints to tiny images on 35MM and 6x6 contact sheets. I have taken a photo, sharpened it up and then sent these images out as email attachments where they have been used for the following purposes- edited into TV documentaries, used on movie DVDs as extra features and used in national magazine articles.

Making tests for sharp photos using old folding cameras, twin lens reflexes, various Russian cameras and other unusual equipment, gives today's photographers a wide alternative to the most high cost equipment, and which can still deliver good quality on todays fine film stocks.

While the 35MM cameras are smaller and in many cases very compact, I enjoy the larger Medium Format cameras more as I like having the larger negatives and transparencies. While either format has really limitless use, if it is good on 35MM, it is even better on Medium Format. The photographer makes the choice.

- Sam Sherman