Phillip Tang with the Pentax 67 Kit

The biggest thing that turned me off to medium format was being limited to ten frames. I had thought that ten frames was almost nothing. I could go through ten frames in less than five minutes if I wanted to. Although transitioning to film had already taught me to be more selective when shooting, I didn't want to be limited to that extent when shooting. So I was shocked when I started using the Pentax 67 and I was actually struggling to finish a roll.

Being limited to such a small amount of frames forced me to only press the shutter if I absolutely knew the shot was going to be a keeper. Switching to a new format and seeing things in a new way helped inspire me to approach portrait photography differently.

The Pentax 67 is a little too clunky to be used as an everyday camera, but it's amazing for portraiture or other fine art projects. The amount of depth in the images is stunning and unlike anything I've ever seen.

It took me a second to get used to the differences of medium format such as the differences in depth of field and focal lengths. But once I figured that out, the Pentax 67 was incredibly easy to use. It's essentially an SLR on steroids, so you just have to get used to weight.