J-7 avant le lancement ! Je ne peux m'empecher de vous montrer la photo en detail ... Oui il faut qu'ils sortent maintenant ! :-)
Well, we’re D-7 before the launch 
and I can’t resist to show you a closer look. Yes, they’ve got to get out ! 
Un peu la flemme de traduire sur le coup .. Ben oui .. Ca arrive ... :-)
Medium format photography has never been for me on the top of my list. I mean, I’ve read about it, about the larger negatives you get, the better contrast, but never gave too much thought. Oh these twin lens reflex look nice of course but they seemed a bit odd to use, not very convenient. And well, I was playing with my rangefinder anyway and very happy about it. Last week, a member on dslreports.com (cwnorris) offer to give his old Yashica Mat 124 to whoever is willing to pay shipping. This was on the Digital Imaging forum and not a lot of people are interested in film photography so the offer was there for me to grab. I thought to myself: "Oh boy, another old stuff which will end up in a box …" but I took on the offer. I received the package a few days later. To my surprise, this was a very nice setup ! The whole kit was in an old red steel box. The camera was in pristine condition ! I mean, no scuff anywhere to be seen. Lots of small accessories, leather pouch, a big flash from the old time, old battery, old lens cleaning solution and old cleaning paper !! Everything old but in perfect condition. I thought … Wow … This is nice !! But I really thought the camera would have a problem … Either a stuck shutter, slow speeds, some haze in the glass … I don’t know … Something wrong. Well I had to try right ? So I bought some 120 black and white film at my local store, read the manual, mount the camera on the tripod and shot with a release cable my 12 exposures (with Neopan 400 pushed at 800). Mostly of my pregnant wife and my daughter of course. They’ve been very patient by the way 
… I spent something like 30 minutes to learn how to load a 120 film on my reel (what a pain in the neck !! I’m getting better though) and developed the film as usual. I was getting pretty serious about the whole things since the speeds on the camera seemed pretty accurate from the sound of it. I took the roll out of the tank. First I had something on the negatives which was already surprising … But then they looked stunning !!!!! Actually, these were my best negatives ever ! Lots of contrast and details everywhere. Exposure was spot on (I didn’t use the camera meter, which is functionning, but my more reliable Sekonic …) … It was a pleasure to look at ! I told my wife I didn’t even want to scan them (was affraid to be disapointed …) but just frame a couple !! .. Anyway tonight I’ve spent some time scanning them (Epson 4490). Wow. This is what they were talking about … So much freaking details !!! Everywhere !! It’s unbelievable. Contrast is gorgeous ! I didn’t need to touch a thing !! I left the orange cast (I scan my black and white in color mode, just like everybody else I guess …) because I thought it added a "je ne sais quoi" touch 
… It’s difficult to really realize the details you get with the picture I’m posting. I’ll write some more on the experience some other days. But I wanted to share with you this new adventure ! The whole experience reminds me of the pleasure I got when I first handled a Leica. Some kind of mystiscm around the whole thing. Of course, I bought some more films. I won’t use this camera on a daily basis. But I think I’m gonna have a lot of fun to use it with my twins (due in less than a week !! Stay tuned !) and will try to produce some nice pictures … The whole experience is really refreshing for me !!!
A big THANK YOU to cwnorris on dslreports.com. I think you’ve started something !!
