In this shoot I mixed it up and was shooting with the Yashica Mat 124G and the Nikon FA with some wonderful Portra 160. Now in rarity we get bright blue skies in London, England. I finally had the chance to check it out on both Medium Format and 35mm and it was not going to disappoint!
Both these cameras I have shot outdoors with natural light but not in these conditions before. Previously I had shot with the Yashica and Portra 160 in very cloudy and wet weather and got some modest results and I hadn't shot Portra 160 on 35mm before so I was quite excited about this.
What I enjoy about using the Yashica Mat 124G is the viewfinder on top, you can just pop it open and there’s this little magnifying glass inside so you can go super into detail framing the shot.
One of the great things about shooting with this camera is it forces you to move, move into new angles and positions which you would not consider when using a regular 6x45, 6x7 or if you’re going full out on a 6x9 medium format camera.
The Yashica comes with a f2.8 viewing lens, but the taking lens is f3.5, which is pretty much the same as a Rolleiflex Camera. As I mentioned before, the image in the waist level viewfinder is so beautiful to look at, you want the world to look like that, especially when captured on film.
This camera is really built for natural light portrait photography and I wanted to capture something chilled and relaxed outside in this post industrial setting. So it was a no-brainer shooting with some Portra 160 because of the tonality but also perfect for the urban landscape and weather conditions we had on the day.
We started off one side of the bridge and slowly made our way to the other side grabbing the opportunity to change things up and outfits too. What I love about shooting outdoors is the almost limitless options on how to use the environment around you to create some unique shots.
The camera comes with its own onboard light meter which is a dream to use and saves you fumbling around with an external handheld one. That said I still would recommend shooting with a dedicated light meter such as the Sekonic L858D.
Which brings me on to this wonderful Kodak Portra 160. I like getting my film developed right away and as it requires C41 processing it can be a little bit of a money saver too
In my previous shoots I have often used Kodak Portra 800, this is mainly down to the very variable weather conditions outdoors but also the wider exposure latitude is much more forgiving. The bright sunny conditions provided the perfect opportunity to shoot Portra 160 as long as I kept remembering to meter on the camera.
My favourite shot from the Yashica Mat 124G was the one with Paula sitting in front of the turquoise door and the one with her standing in front of the tree which gave a real vintage vibe especially with what she is wearing and the context of the background. The other shots were great too, like this one in front of the red garage door, the colours have rendered really well here and this one of her standing in front of the green hedge.
Both Medium Format and 35mm performed beautifully on the day. It’s really down to you how you want to shoot this film. If you are shooting fashion or beauty then you really ought to be shooting in Medium Format as this will give you that added detail. Ofcourse, if you’re shooting casually then go with the 35mm for a greater range of frames!
This was a super day out shooting with Portra 160 on medium format and got to shoot some on 35mm which I hadn’t done before. I want to thank Molly aka Eclectachrome for helping filming the video on location and Paula for being our wonderful model on the day.
Thank you for watching all my videos, do go ahead and comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts on this shoot, the images, how you have shot with Portra 160 which are you likes and dislikes? What do you recommend I shoot next with it? On that note I’ll see you on the next drop, in the meantime check this one out!
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