Medium Format: Do You Need It?

If you’re like many photographers, you’re always looking for the perfect image. In addition to a good, well composed photo, you want the best technical quality. You want your photos to show the fine textures, subtle hues, and crisp edges of your subject matter. You want the ultimate image.

Medium format photography can help get you this image. Medium format, in contrast to 35mm, uses a much larger film size. By using a larger film area, medium format cameras, such as the famous Hasselblad 500 series can capture significantly more information, and therefore a much sharper, more vibrant image. A larger slide or negative will always give a better image, all other things being equal, as it simply allows for that much more information to be stored.

Additionally, since medium format cameras a generally all “professional” cameras, the quality of the lenses used is very high. Some of the best lenses ever made have been for medium format cameras. You’re not going to find much cheap, low quality consumer grade glass in the medium format world, though TLR cameras like the Rollei TLRs can be a little cheaper. The best lens makers in the world have made som awesome medium format lenses. Some of these lenses are a wonder to behold, and can help you create some spectacular images.

All these factors add up to give you an amazing quality image that will blow away any 35mm image taken under similar conditions. If you look at a medium format negative or slide under a loupe, you will be shocked by the magnitude of detail that is visible. It’s hard to describe, but the difference is immediately visible and striking. This is not a small quality improvement that is visible to only an elite few, this is a radical change in the quality of your photos.

Indeed, it is this quality that leads many professionals to deal with the added cost, size, and weight of medium format gear. To be sure, its not the most convenient and affordable of formats. The larger negative requires a larger, more complex camera to deal with. A larger lens is required to focus enough light to expose the medium format film pane. These larger, more complex cameras and lenses are also significantly more expensive than 35mm cameras. For the amatuer, medium format is not ideal. Rather, it is for the professional or advanced photographer who demands the best looking images possible at the cost of portability.

So, should you go out and buy a medium format camera today? Given the nature of most medium format cameras, probably not. If, however, you demand only the best, medium format is the way to go.