5 Frames with a Hasselblad 501 C – ZEISS 80mm f/2.8 and Kodak Gold 200 – By Eric L. Woods

Quite a few years ago a kind co-worker basically gave me this Hasselblad 501c at the price I paid. And from the first roll I was hooked.

I heard someone say in a video recently that the process of taking the photo was his favorite part of photography. This is a camera well suited to that way of thinking. Of course it is not alone in this. The same can be said for other, more affordable options like my Yashica MAT LM. But the Hasselblad is a nice way to go. Everything is intentional. For me some concentration is required. To load the film. The metering. The focusing and framing, especially when I need to reorient myself to the reversed image where left is right and right is left. I did score an eye level finder to address this but I never use it. Framing through the waist level finder is a key part of the process for me. And I always enjoy the resulting images as well.

What got me out this day was an Instagram post by Hamish.

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A post shared by 35mmc / Hamish Gill (@35mmcblog)

In the comments he asked if I had tried a Makina 67. I have not. Would love to, but I have yet to cross paths with one in the wild and they are a bit too precious for me to buy currently. Largely because I swore off of my Pokemon got to catch them all antics of the past. There was a point where I had a herd of medium format and 35mm film cameras. Then I had the great culling where I kept my favorites to use and those worth more to me than I would get for them. Still too many. As evidenced by a camera used in a 35mmc post. But a little more manageable too many. Back to the task at hand. After the exchange I was inspired to take the 501c for a walk to kill off a roll of film. Developed at home that night with Cinestill CS41. All 12 came out but here are 5 of my favorites.

That about wraps things up. A bit of analog therapy inspired by Hamish.

Eric L. Woods

I shoot a variety of new and old digital and film cameras. Industrial Engineer by education, IT is my vocation, and I really enjoy using, testing, and writing about cameras. All three of the latter are very therapeutic exercises for me. If you are so inclined my blog address is ewoodsphoto.com and I can be found on Threads and Instagram. All the best to you.

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