Medium Format VS 35MM Film (For Photographers)

Hi internet – I’m sorry for the back to back post for photographers! While I’m apologizing for things…sorry for not blogging…at all 😉

Moving on.

I started shooting a bit of film this past year for my own personal growth & state of mind and with that came my curiosity into different formats of film. I was curious as to what the visual difference between shooting 35mm & medium format film while shooting the same stock of film. While I do not plan on upgrading my film system to medium format, I did want to see what all the hype was about. If anything, this little amount of research showed me that 35mm is really beautiful and perfectly suits what I use it for. As I mentioned briefly in my previous film post, I wanted to learn for myself – not for my business. Yes, I do use it for business work so that I become better but it comes out of my own pocket and is not funded by my clients. My goal was to breathe new life into my business and just in a few short months, I have done just that.

One of the things I decided to do to give back to myself & my personal life was take a film mentorship with Kristin Sweeting Photography . Honestly, that was a huge step for me because in my 9 years of business, I have not asked anyone for help…I have taught everything I have learned to myself. It was a nice change. She is calm, kind, wise & she doesn’t make you feel small or inadequate – you are her equal, in this thing together…and that was empowering to me. She doesn’t try to bully you into thinking one specific thing – just tries to get you to think about your why & what you want to accomplish. She genuinely cares about you and your success. And for a little shameless plug, she is hosting a Study Abroad program in Iceland & Paris this summer and I think she still has a few spots left if you want to meet new friends, see amazing places & learn something. Sign up is open until February 15 <3

I brought along all of my film, lenses and my film camera ( Canon 1V ) and tried my best to remember to shoot a few similar comparisons of both formats so I could show you the difference.

**My images are not perfect as I am still learning.**

In the photographs below, all LEFT images were shot by me on Kristin’s Contax 645 Medium Format Film Camera scanned by Kristin Sweeting and all RIGHT images were shot by me on my Canon 1V 35MM Camera scanned by Kristin Sweeting . A few of them are not wonderful comparisons because the medium format ones are black & white but oh well…sorry 😉

What do you think of the differences?

{{ All credits bottom of post }}

contaxvs35mm_0290contaxvs35mm_0291contaxvs35mm_0292contaxvs35mm_0293contaxvs35mm_0294contaxvs35mm_0295contaxvs35mm_0296contaxvs35mm_0297contaxvs35mm_0298contaxvs35mm_0299contaxvs35mm_0300STYLING / MENTORING / PLANNING : Kristin Sweeting    INSTA

GOWN : Claire Pettibone

GOWN BOUTIQUE : The Dress Theory , Nashville

MODEL : Catherine Claire

VENUE : Dover Hall Estate

FLORALS : Nature Composed

EQUIPMENT : LEFT images Contax 645 (mostly Portra 400/800)

                            RIGHT images Canon 1v (mostly Portra 400/800) all scanned by Kristin Sweeting .

STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM : http://www.kristinsweeting.com/study-abroad