my name is mwd

Whilst at EMF I spotted someone carrying around a Twin Lens Reflex camera, something I know a lot about but have never used before. Being EMF, I just went and chatted to the owner and they kindly let me have a play with it, and I was blown away by how good it was to use. I’d imagined the viewfinder would not be very good, at least it would be blown out, but it was fantastic: lots of detail and a very strong sense of depth of field that I’ve not had on any camera, including an SLR cameras where you still are looking at the light directly. It even had a pop out magnifier for when you’re really trying to nail focus.

The other concern I had was I’ve heard a lot of people don’t like that the view is mirrored, so although it looks like from the picture I had someone with a blue jacket to my left, they were to my right. This makes panning to compose your image a bit tricky, and something not everyone takes to (like I can never drive a radio controlled car that’s coming towards me). Thankfully I found composing with it fine.

Definitely now on my to acquire list, as I’ve always wanted to try medium format, though in now rush so I can take my time until the right one comes along.