Does medium format work with mobile technology? Of course it does, I hear you say. There are numerous examples of medium format photos posted to social media.
I shoot medium format because I love the clarity and detail it captures. 35mm does not even come close. And here is the rub. That clarity can easily be lost on mobile tech.
Whilst building my website, I have noticed two main issues. Look at the photo below. How does it look?
Late evening Xmas market, Venice. Yashica 635 TLR & Ilford HP5 @ 800.
Your answer to that will vary greatly depending on what sort of device you are using to view this blog.
The photo contains lots of detail, just look how the texture of the paving stones has been captured, you can imagine just how they feel by looking at them. Then there are the details in the shadows, you can clearly make out what is there. However you only see all this properly using a device with a decent size screen.
To fully appreciate the photo, you need a screen that shows the photo with a 30cm x 30cm, where the clarity and lack of grain of medium format is clear. If you are looking at this photo on a mobile phone or small tablet, it will look like a dark mess and you will probably ignore it and find something more interesting to view.
Patrons eat and sip hot mulled cider at a late evening market, Venice. Yashica 635 TLR & Ilford HP5 @ 1600.
This above photo has the same issue, to a slightly lesser extent. Look at the way the medium format has captured the pattern on the glass bowl.
The medium format has even recorded with clarity the light bulbs, the glass globe being clearly differentiated from the brightly glowing filament.
There is clear detail of all the items under the counter. But once again, much of this will be lost on a small screen device, and what is an interesting photo may be discarded.
Small screen devices work better with photos that have bolder and simpler compositions, so should I alter my photography to appeal to small mobile devices? They do account for a large amount of internet viewing.
I think not, because if I do, I may as well ditch medium format and just shoot 35mm. So apologies to small screen viewers, but this site works best with a large screen.
Bar tender serves hot mulled cider to patrons in a late evning Xmas market, Venice. Yashica 635 TLR & Ilford HP5 @ 1600.
Another consideration is file size. In order to fully capture the clarity and detail of medium format, I scan files in at high definiton.
But with mobile tech, these files can be slow to download and a reader may get fed up and leave the page. However once again, when viewed on a large screen, this large file size enables the viewer to fully appreciate the clarity of medium format.
In the above photo I love the way the camera has caught the vignetting from the lights, it adds atmosphere to the photo, but the vignetting is not obvious on a small screen.
I love medium format because of it’s clarity and do not intend to restrict my shooting to subjects that are small screen friendly, so this site will continue to be best viewed on a large screen device with a fast internet connection in order to fully appreciate the pictures.
This may mean it does not appeal to those on the move with small screen tech and I may lose followers, but I don’t want to stop doing what I enjoy just to attract more followers, after all, this is a hobby, not a business.
And I have my 35mm site for small screen friendly stuff – www.richardhunterphotography.com