The medium format advantage

Ernst Wildi's guide covers the medium-format camera family in full, from SLR and twin-lens models to panoramic, rangefinder, wide-angle, press and view cameras. Each type is examined in terms of how it is operated and what it can do.

The book also looks at the supporting gear that goes with these cameras, including lenses and their accessories, motor drives, films, flashes, filters, slides and slide projectors. Black-and-white and color photographs and drawings show how to handle the equipment and apply various techniques and effects, with an emphasis on getting the best possible image quality.

Sitting between 35 mm and large-format photography, the medium format combines qualities of both. The author explains why it suits everything from handheld, fast-moving shooting to deliberate studio work on a tripod. Dedicated chapters match particular kinds of photography to the equipment most likely to serve them.

The text weighs the format's strengths and weaknesses and compares it with other formats, so readers can judge whether it fits their own work. This edition adds coverage of panoramic format, apochromatic and aspheric lenses, tele extenders, glass and relative illumination, and motor drives, and updates material on perspective and tilt control, built-in metering and the use of apertures.