History of Medium Format

[andrew_catozzi]

I'm doing an Independent study in Photography on Medium format and

need to have history about it. I started looking around and really

couldn't find much on the topic so i figured i would post a question

hear. If any body could help me out i'd greatly appreciate it.

[todd frederick]

That's a fine question...I would think that one of the oldest companies would be Rollei and an internet search might turn up some historical sites...I had a few bookmarked before my hard drive crashed.

 

I also think George Eastman was the first to produce a flexible roll film for his box camera...that seems to be the first medium format "system." I recall seeing a photo of him on board a ship with his box camera. Do some research on that.

 

Also, the McKeown: Price Guide To Cameras, lists tons of items with dates on medium format cameras going way back. This might give you some names and manufacturers as a starting point for your reserarch.

[colm boran]

Check out Ernst Wilde's "Medium Format Advantage". I'm pretty sure he has something in there regarding the history of MF.

[patrick_drennon]

Very interesting topic. I think you'll find that the term 'Medium Format' is a relatively new one in the perspective of photography in general. Prior to Kodak's introduction of the Instamatic in the late 60's the most common consumer cameras were what we call medium format (120 and 620 roll film). The 'medium format' nomenclature is likely even younger than that, dating to when the 35mm took off in popularity with the introduction of affordable, user friendly SLRs (Canon AE-1, Olympus OM-1 & OM-2, etc.). The consumer switch to 35mm set these roll-film cameras apart, rendering them temporarily as undesireable. The limits of the negative size became quickly apparent hence the distinction between 35mm, medium and large formats. The tiny Instamatic formats have now been deemed unacceptable (the cycle of 'what's hot' is often so strange). But your history is more likely to be about roll film cameras as opposed to medium format itself.