Film Friday: Hasselblad 500C Love by Massimilliano Farinetti

April 23, 2015 film, Hasselblad, Landscape, User Reports 29

Film Friday: Hasselblad 500C Love

by Massimilliano Farinetti

My photographic evolution brought me back to the roots and after the Leica M2 (daily inspiration #736) I traded it in for a very nice 1961 Hasselblad 500C with three CZ lenses (50/80/150)

It is almost six months I shoot only film, only medium format and only black&white (self processed) and I am enjoying it like a kid in a toy store.  Why? Because I am re-discovering the pleasure to experiment, the slow decisions about framing, playing with exposures…

In a word: photography.

I like to shoot long exposures, from some seconds to minutes with an accurate calculation of reciprocity failure time correction, using ND and GND filters on low-speed films

But the whole process doesn’t end up with film processing and scanning: analog photography is a chain from exposure in camera to exposure of paper in the darkroom and so it went. I live in Genova, in the north-west of Italy on the Ligurian Sea, so my favorite winter scenes are at sea either when it is calm or when the waves are strongly beating the shores: long exposures will turn the latter in a “time suspended” surreal atmosphere.

Here I enclose some of those scenes I like most, film I used for them are either Ilford FP4+ (exposed at 80 asa) or Fomapan 100 (exposed at 50 asa), Hasselblad 500C with Planar 80/2,8

Thank you again if you will admit my photos to your always stimulating website

Cheers!

Massimiliano Farinetti

arenzano-2

arenzano-3

arenzano-6

boccadasse0203-1-3

boccadasse0203-2-3

boccadasse0203-3-2

celle-1

long-2

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29 Comments

  1. Nice shots Massimiliano. If the clouds had moved faster on your last two images, then it had looked pretty infinity Sugimoto-like.
    Maybe you should try Fuji Acros one time – it’s famous for long time exposures because of its reciprocity values. Cheers and keep up the work.

  3. Hi!

    Absolutely great, very beautiful pictures. This is what B&W is meant to be for.

    This is the first time I see long exposure shots through ND filters on film, not on digital.

    I’m going to do the same with my Linhof Technikardan, got everything together, bought a ND 10 and ND6 and ND3 and calculated everything with reciprocity. I’ll be shooting Tmax 400 film. Didn’t make test shots yet, but in the summer i’m off to San Francisco for six weeks and I’m camping at Big Sur then, with its beautiful coast.

    This is a great motivation to actually start shooting this, thanks a lot,

    Bye,

    Dirk.

    • Thanks Dirk for this comment
      It is funny because your shots with XPan and Linhof have been a motivation to me either…so I must thank you too!

  7. I have never even had a Hasselblad in my hands, but I so admire the photos that come from these cameras, and the Rolleiflex. They seem like a tool, that with their Planar lenses, leave the photographer alone with his/her creativity. That is, never a need to make allowances for the equipment. I think I see much of the advantage in the highlights that seem to never be blown out and colors that are always in control. In B&W, the connection between highlights and blacks are always in balance, gracefully connected by the mid tones. It might be that the people that use them treat them with the most respect, not often considering a replacement.

    Thank you, Massimiliano. Your contribution is an inspiration.

    • This is mostly because of the rolloff – curve in the highlights of film. But the real fun begins after the correct exposed negative in the darkroom, where you get all those fine details in the white back….a huge difference to the digital scan process.

  9. These are all beautiful images. My favourite is the one of the tide receding and the pebbles-though they are all really good. Medium format and black and white are a beautiful combination.

    Bravo !

  10. Lovely photos. I really like the long exposures a dreamy look they yield. It is inspiring be me to try some more long exposure shots. Perhaps you can share some unformatioh on the time of exposures and what strength ND filter you used.

    • I’ve used ND8 + GND2 (Cokin P series)
      Most of the pictures have exposures of 1 o 2 minutes except photo 4 (16′) and 5 (4’30”)
      Photo 3 is a snapshot actually…

  13. Love these! Its very rare to see long exposures with film but when done right (like here) the results are exquisite.

  14. Thank you guys for these comments and happy you liked them
    After last session (the first three pictures actaully) Planar 80 has got a CLA because wasn’t perfectly focusing to infinite

  15. #6 takes me back to a quiet seaside town, jaded and stuck in time – brilliant and thank you for a lovely selection of shots. I love my Leica but my Hasselblad fits my hand like glove!

  16. Wow you may not think these photos are legendary but of nothing else it makes me want to try this medium format

    Some interesting pics and like what he did with them with the long exposures. Thanks and keep having more fun

  21. Massimilliano, your b&w’s are fabulous. Composition, exposure, subject, they have it all. I will not pick a favorite because they are all so good.
    Thank you for sharing with us.

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