SHIP PHOTOGRAPHS, BLACK AND WHITE, URBIEHOME

Since I was maybe 16 years old I have been photographing in B/W. In the beginning of course with less performant camera's like a fixed lens Yashica in 6x6 cm. Later I had my Nikon 35mm camera's which were perfect camera's like my favorite Nikon FM2. I am still astonished now of the quality of this 35mm camera. Some of the photographs shown here are from 35mm negatives taken with a FM2. For website purposes and book printing they are suitable, but not for large format projects. But the lure for medium format kept me searching and with the Mamiya RB 67 Pro S types I really found the best camera suited for my kind of photography.

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Recently a Mamiya RZ67 with APO lenses was added which perfects my range of 6 x 7 cm camera's. I should not forget the Mamiya 7 viewfinder camera which is a very handy camera and much less bulky and heavy as the RB or RZ. Ok, you may wonder why these heavy camera's always on tripods which makes free movement a bit difficult. I have digital camera's from Nikon and Fujifilm as well, but still I stick mainly to these old mechanical things. The film (120 size) was hard to find after Agfapan disappeared but the Fuji Across B/W film suits me perfectly as well now. The films I develop myself in Studional developer, but the negatives I scan for printing in a Nikon Coolscan 9000. I know, sometimes fellow photographers at the waterfront eye me with pity and wonder why I still take the burden of analogue photography when digital images are so easy to get now. The new digital camera's are of a very high standard as well nowadays. But I stick to B/W film as long as I can… and therefore I need medium-sized negatives. When well exposed, well developed and fixated… they will last for ages. That is my goal.
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On the right is a Mamiya 7 viewfinder camera. I practically always use a RZ67 with a 250 mm APO lens next to a RB67 with a 180 mm. I like the low point of view to create some perspective and depth of field close to the river front, so the tripods are on their lowest possible position.
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On the left is a RZ67 pro II with a standard lens. The cameras are loaded with 120 film will and expose 10 negatives per film holder. A couple of pre-loaded film holders can assure continuity because removing an exposed film and reloading takes some time even for the most experienced.
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Above one of my faithful old RB67's with a 180mm.

The RZ and RB are heavy like 3,5 kgs. with a 250mm and prism viewfinder, but also the maximum speed is maximum 1/400 sec so sturdy tripods are mandatory for landscape photography of moving objects like ships.