What is “medium format” film?

I’ve shot film my whole life. But I’m young enough that “film” only meant one thing — those little cans of 35mm film, hanging for sale by the cash register at the grocery store or pharmacy. Even going to film school, and making movies, film mostly meant 35mm, with two neat rows of sprocket holes down the side. When I got serious about photography in 2006, that meant getting a nice 35mm Nikon and a new Pentax digital SLR. I didn’t have a clue what “medium format” was, or what those words might mean.

Now in 2016 there is a whole generation of photographers who have never even shot film, 35mm or otherwise. This post is not a lament; it’s a cry of recognition. I recall how confused I was in 2006. I started looking at photographs on the web. One particular image jumped out at me; the subject matter was pedestrian (a wooden dock jutting out into a placid lake.) But the image had a detail and presence which I had never been able to attain with my 35mm photography (or my new DSLR.) I clicked on the picture and read the posting. All it said was “shot on medium format.” Those words were Greek to me, and were like a maddeningly clue. Medium format seemed to be some peculiar synonym for a bunch of other nonsensical words — 120, rollfilm, 6×6, two-and-a-quarter, 220, Brownie …

A roll of classic Kodak Plus-X black and white film in 120 format. Plus-X has been discontinued. Both Ilford and Fuji make suitable replacement films — Ilford FP4+ and Fuji Neopan Acros.

So at the risk of boring all the film fans, let me do some explaining. I have a feeling film is going to need more and more explaining over the coming years anyway. You old photodawgs* (Mike Johnston’s term, beloved proprietor of The Online Photographer) should feel free to skip ahead; come back later when Part 2 of the Belair review is up. For everyone else, here’s the deal on film — and on medium format.

First up — film.

It’s what captures the light of a scene after it passes through the lens of the camera. In a digital camera, a light-sensitive electronic wafer (or “chip”) sits behind the lens, carved up into so many different dots (“pixels”) — making a camera sensor. Film works chemically instead of electronically. Light sensitive particles are suspended in a gelatine goo (“emulson”), which is spread very evenly and thinly over a little sheet of plastic (the film “base”.) Placed behind a lens, the light-sensitive coating will react to the light. Soaking the film in another chemical (“developer”) will multiply the reaction, revealing an image burned into the film. The film is soaked in another chemical (“fixer”) to lock the image in place, and prevent the image from completely disappearing when looked at in the light.

Originally, light sensitive materials were coated onto glass or metal, which were lovely but inconvenient. George Eastman (of Kodak fame) had the great idea to put the photosensitive coating onto a flexible sheet of film that could be cut into any size or shape. A long strip of film could be rolled up and loaded into the camera, and wound past the lens, allowing many pictures to be exposed onto one roll of film. It was the basic idea which made possible both convenient photography, and the movies (which are made one photograph at a time, on a strip of film, twenty four times a second.)

“Medium format.”

Photosensitive film, taped to a paper backing.

So what then is “medium format” film? It’s a meaningless term without a 100-year perspective on photography. Let’s rewind to George Eastman.

The first photographs were, broadly, “plate” photographs. Light sensitive emulsion coated on rigid glass, metal, or other material in sheets that were loaded into a camera one at a time. When flexible film is cut into a single sheet and used like a “plate,” it’s just called “sheet film.” Most sheet film is large… 4 inches by 5 inches, 8 inches by 10 inches, or bigger.

Eastman’s invention of “roll” film also came in various sizes — but economic pressure favoured making roll film a bit smaller than sheet film (most of the time being two to four inch wide strips.) George Eastman was marketing to the people, and the simplicity and economy of roll film afforded many folks the first opportunity to own a camera. At the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, various sizes of “roll film” and “sheet film” were the only salient formats of photography. These two formats (roll film and sheet film) would only take on their modern names (large format and medium format) when a third film size became popular for photography — miniature format.

Sheet film and roll film were rarely enlarged — paper prints were made directly from the film by laying the paper into direct contact with the film. In this manner, prints were the same size as the film from the camera. If you wanted (and could afford) larger prints, you would select a larger camera and larger size of film.

Movies, however, were intended to be enlarged. By showing movies in a projector, the image from a tiny 35mm strip of movie film can be thrown onto a huge auditorium screen. George Eastman created 35mm film for Edison’s new movies in 1892. But by the early 20th century, enterprising photographers and camera makers would adopt movie film for their still photographs. Accepting that the tiny film would need to be projected as a slide, or printed on paper using an optical “enlarger,” miniature-format still cameras slowly rose in popularity after the seminal introduction of the Leica in 1925. It took until the 1960′s for 35mm to become the dominant film format, and lose the title of “miniature.” For forty years, popular photography came in three sizes: large format (a.k.a. sheet film, 4×5, 5×7, etc;) medium format (a.k.a. roll film, 120, 116, 127, 220, etc;) and miniature format (35mm, 126, 110, 16mm, etc. either in rolls or cartridges.)

Historically there has been a huge variety of sizes of medium format roll film. (Check out the list at http://www.brownie-camera.com/film.shtml .) Each film and spool type got their own numerical designation from Kodak. More than a hundred years after the invention of roll film, there is essentially only one remaining medium format rollfilm — 120 — which was introduced in 1901 for the No. 2 Brownie camera. (A vestigial amount of film is also still available in 220 and 127, or cut specially for even rarer formats. I’ll talk more about these in a later post.)

Future past?

120 film is the true analog survivor. Cameras, both amateur and professional have been made and sold for 120 film from 1901 until today. I count more than a dozen brand new cameras being sold today for 120 film:

• Mamiya 645 AFD III (digital and film)
• Mamiya 7 II
• Mamiya RZ67
• Rolleiflex 2.8FX
• Rollei Hy6 SLR
• Hasselblad H series (digital and film)
• Hasselblad 503CW
• Fuji GF670 / Voigtlander Bessa III
• Voigtlander Bessa III 667W
• Arax Foto Arax-CM
• Arax Foto Arax-60 / -645
• various specialty models from Linhof and Horseman
• various Holgas from Lomography
• and, of course, the Lomography Belair X 6–12.

Using the stuff.

120 is a 30-inch strip of flexible photographic film, taped to a slightly longer strip of paper, and then rolled onto a single plastic spool. A second spool (not included with the film, but usually found inside a camera) is needed, allowing the film to be wound off the original spool, exposed behind the lens, and then wound up onto the second spool. 120 film isn’t “rewound”; at the end of a roll you just keep winding until the whole roll is on the second spool.

Loading the camera.

The paper keeps the film from being ruined by light when not inside the camera. The back of the paper is also printed with numbers, that correspond to the photos exposed onto the film at that point. This quaint feature allows 120 cameras to eschew any mechanical frame counter. Expensive cameras will tick a counter over as each frame of film is dragged through the camera; but older and cheaper models like our Belair simply provide a wee window through which you can read the numbers printed onto the paper. Winding the film to the next shot requires you to look through the window and watch for the next number to appear while cranking the spool.

Winding by the numbers.

At the end of a roll, when the whole roll has been wound onto the second spool, the camera can be opened and the now-spent roll removed. The paper backing on most films will have the word “EXPOSED” printed at the tail end; after shooting, this readily identifies a used roll. Further printed instruction advise you to fold the end of the paper strip under itself, allowing the roll to be held tightly together by an adhesive strip. A tiny tongue of paper hangs off the end of the roll, with adhesive backing. You either peel it, like a sticker, or lick it, like a stamp, and paste the tongue down over the end of the paper. This keeps the film from unspooling in your pocket or in the camera bag.

Where to get the stuff?

120 film hasn’t been commonly available at grocery or pharmacy stores in decades. But it is widely available from “pro labs” that offer quality photo developing, and through big retailers on the internet.

If you are local to Toronto, I recommend FilmPlus, ElPro Photo Centre (3 Elm Street) , Toronto Image Works, Downtown Camera, or Henry’s. These places will also be able to help you with processing, getting a scanned CD, and even making paper prints from 120.

Internationally, check out Freestyle Photographic, Adorama and B&H Photo Video.

120 film may seem archaic, but it is still a very viable medium. A huge variety of film is available for most tastes — including colour print film, colour slide film, and black and white film. Who knows how long 120 film will be made; but right now it enjoys the commitment of major camera makers, all of the world’s film manufacturers, and dedicated artists, amateurs and professional photographers. I expect to see the price of 120 film go up over the years, and the selection of films go down. But, like oil paints, I expect 120 film will be available as an artisanal product for a very long time.