A 50´s styled Shoot

Shooting Film in a style out of the 50´s.

(Waring this Page contains partial nudity and is maybe not suitable for younger viewers!)

I asked Julia if she is interested in doing an analog shoot with me, since I am building up my analog portfolio.

Our idea was to shoot something with an erotic touch, but still kind of old styled. Julia came up with the Idea of shooting the Images in a ” sexy 50´s” style.
Since the well-known Pinup style is totally overused I thought the idea was great. Since I never shot in “50´s ” style before, I had to do some research about the Style itself. For this, I searched the Internet for Ideas.

Now we just had to mesh this all up with a touch of erotic.

Some Things that were important.

• The light
• The Makeup
• The used Film
• The Location (in terms of space)
• Finding the right style, with and without the dress.

The Film

I decided to go with Kodak Tri-X 400 Advertising on my medium format camera. Since it is a nice and contrasty film with a pleasing amount of grain.
So it should perfectly support the contrasty style.

I also loaded some Portra 400 Advertising to the Hasselblad. But due to a lack of chemicals, I did not develop it yet. As soon as they are developed, I will load them into the gallery. Well if they are worth it. :-)

For my 35mm camera, i used Rollei RPX 400 (just to try out the film).

The Camera

I decided to use my Hasselblad 500C/M, even that I just own one lens for it, since it is one of my most reliable cameras. My RB67 maybe would have been the better choice in terms of the image format.

My backup camera was a 35mm Nikon, with some Rollei RPX400 Advertising loaded.

The Location

Arriving at the location, i had to find out, that for my particular lens (120mm) the given space was all but not enough.  The room did not really give a lot of space for lots of different angles. But since it was my first try shooting this style i simply decided to go for it and shoot.

The Light

We used available light only, what sometimes tended to be complicated since the light was very changing that day, meaning that starting at an f 5.6 at 1/500s ASA 400 I ended up using the same roll of film with F5.6 at 1/15s at the same location within 10 minutes. That was kind of a pain.
For the images in the kitchen, I had to push the Tri-X 400 Advertising to 1600.

I brought a reflector with me, but it was simply to big to be used in the small space. (you can see in the video).

For measuring the light i used a spot meter as well as a incident light meter.

The Results

For the fact that most things that could go wrong actually went wrong, i am quite happy with the results of our black and white photoshoot.
But see and decide for your self.

The Mamiya RB67 Pro S

A reliable beast.

She is quite a lump of metal, relatively heavy and chunky. But since she was originally created for studio work,
you can forgive the Mamiya RB67 Pro S (Advertising)  these small drawbacks.
First of all, I have to say that with the Mamiya RB67  Pro as well as the Pro S and Pro SD,
you are holding a reliable and high-quality camera in your hands. It is completely mechanical, which makes it independent of batteries and other power sources. Well, apart from the light, that we need for taking pictures.

Feel free to watch my Review video at the end of the page.

A (Very) brief history of the Mamiya RB67 Pro S Advertisement

The first model, the Mamiya RB67, was launched in 1970. It was fully mechanical, made entirely of metal and about 3kg heavy. The Mamiya RB67 enjoyed great popularity because the magazine (or better the back where the magazine was mounted) was rotatable and so the orientation could be switched from landscape to portrait format.
In the first models, only the magazine slide (the thing made of metal in the magazine) prevented the film from being double exposed. The newer models are working with mechanical locks, to prevent you from accidentally double exposing your image.

In 1974, the Mamiya RB67 Professional S came onto the market. It differed from its predecessor primarily by the use of various plastic parts and
the already mentioned mechanical barriers, which should prevent double exposures. Lenses, magazines and viewfinders are compatible with the previous model. What today sometimes leads to accidental double exposures on a Pro S :-P.

Finally, in 1990, the Mamiya RB67 Pro SD came onto the market, which was also the last model before the electronic RZ67.

RB stands for “Rotatable Back”.

The image format

As the name of the camera “RB67” already suggests, the picture format is
6x7cm. Recorded on 120 film, which is still available today.

That’s what the RB67 Pro S is capable of

Besides other things, The RB67 Pro S shines with the following functions.

• High-quality lensesAdvertisement with a leaf shutter.
• Flash sync socket
• Mirror lockup
• Waist level viewfinder with a magnifying glass
• Prism viewfinder
• Modular design
• Interchangeable magazines
• The magazine can rotate to change the format from landscape to portrait
• Connection options for a cable release

Good to know, the mystic scale

Unlike other cameras, The Rb67 Pro s is not focused directly on the lens, but with the help of a bellows.
Only the aperture and shutter speed, flash and mirror lockup, are set on the lenses.
Due to the fact that a bellows is used for focusing, the way of the light, from the lens to the film, is getting longer and the exposure times must be adjusted accordingly. This is done with the help of the “mystic” scale on the side of the
Mamiya RB67 which becomes visible when the bellows are extended.

Please transport the film by hand

After taking a picture, it is not only necessary to re-load the shutter, but also to manually advance the film.
This task is not happening when re-loading the shutter, like on newer Hasselblads but has to be done by hand. Unless you have a magazine from the first series and want to create a double exposure. Then you can safely leave the lever untouched.
If you have a newer magazine, but still would like to make multiple exposures, after re-loading the shutter, press the small metal burl right above, on the side of the magazine and you are able to releases the shutter.

The thing with the old magazines

Anyone purchasing a Mamiya RB67 will often encounter the problem that the seals of the old magazines are in bad conditions.
This inevitably leads to the incidence of light in the magazine (light leaks), which can be seen as an ugly stripe on the negative. Here it usually helps to renew the seals by a repair service or to replace them yourself. Here you can order a pack of new light seals. Advertisement

Watch my complete detailed review on Youtube!