technical note on Diane Arbus and the world of 6x6 and 6x7

Tue Jul 6 19:11:53 2004

My first camera too was a Yashicamat TLR.  It had a gadget which allowed loading 35mm film as well as 120/ 220, though the results weren't too good.  My favorite camera was a Nikon SP rangefinder 35mm, which I bought for $50 used in Houston in the late '60s.  It was stolen from my house in Berkeley in the mid '80s.  These days it is a rarity and sells for big bux.

"Wayne Johnson" <cadaobh@shentel.net> wrote:

>I used to own a Mamiya C220 with both a regular and wide angle lens sets.
>It could shoot both 120 and 220 film and the lens specs were very high.
>Stopped using same when I got my Mamiya ProS67 as it was SLR format.  Imogen
>Cunningham used a Rollei twin lens reflex, I'm pretty sure.  Sure looked
>like one.  This was once a great pro-journalism camera because you could
>hold it upside down over your head at arms length and "shoot" over the crowd
>while looking straight up into the view finder.  Imogen could "hide" the
>fact she was shooting people because she appeared to be staring at her feet.
>People may be smarter now.
>
>My first camera was a Yashica TLR and it was pretty good for its day.  All
>of these are 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" or 6cm x 6 cm.  Hasselblad pretty much
>dominated this field for years.  And for all the right reasons.  Love these
>big negatives.  You are already 2.5 times larger than a 35 before you get to
>the enlarger.  All cameras mentioned have/had great lenses.  Much fun
>although veddy, veddy "old fashioned" by today's high-tech standard.  Great
>for people who want to shoot medium format and use the Zone System or
>similar approach, esp. in B&W.  Need fairly hefty tripod although I used to
>shoot high speed Afga hand held (with pistol grip) for great evening color
>shots.  One thing fer sure, when you hoist one of these puppies up, people
>give you some room.
>
>wayne the J
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Madelon Umlauf" <madelon@austincc.edu>
>To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
>Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 12:02 PM
>Subject: technical note on Diane Arbus photos
>
>
>> Connie,
>>
>> Thanks for the report.
>>
>> According to the Aperture book, Arbus used a
>> Mamiya twin-reflex square 6x6cm format for most
>> of her pictures. This is like a Rolleiflex but you can
>> change lenses for different shooting situations.
>>
>> Looking at the pictures themselves in the Aperture
>> book, all or nearly all are full frame, not cropped in
>> the darkroom. If the picture is square and indoors,
>> she took it with the Mamiya (a big somewhat clunky
>> camera). I suspect she used the Rolleiflex more
>> outdoors as it is lighter than a Nikon even much
>> less a Mamiya Twin-Reflex.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>

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