Taking the wrong camera for the job. 

For being the 'wrong' camera, the square format worked perfectly. Great images. I think the point you make in many videos is that the pictures won't come to you, you have to go out and get them, no matter the weather.

I had some initial regret about having bought my Autocord but have actually come to thoroughly enjoy shooting with it. I use it for landscapes as well. The images you captured are truly stunning and I would be entirely satisfied were they my own. Thank you for taking the Autocord out and documenting your day with it!

I started photography in 1960, back when Rollei was king and the Autocord was the poor man's Rollei. over the years I wore out two Autocords, but I still have two working ones. Some of my best photographs were shot on Autocord plus my Weston Master light meter (far better than the built-in meter.) As you point out - that Rokkor lens is brilliant. It was always our best kept secret back in the day, that our Rokkor wide open was sharper than the Rollei (although by f5.6 the Rollei had caught up and was probably sharper at f8 and f11) One difference - even though I shot a lot of 6x6, I always hated square format and always had 645 horizontal and vertical lines in the focus screen, and always thought in 645, composed in 645 and thought that the 6x6 advantage was never the square format, but that you could mentally change from horizontal 645 to vertical without rotating the camera. The downside was of course the parallax close up. As much as I never liked 6x6, I did love the handling of the Autocord, and the bottom focus lever - that was so much better than the Rollei focus mechanism. Of course Rollei always had an advantage of being better built, it was difficult to wear out Rollei internals, but I proved that the Autocord internals could definitely wear out. Even so, I would choose an Autocord over a Rollei all day long. Now, just like then, the price differential still makes them the poor man's Rollei. Your photographs demonstrate that the old Autocord can still deliver the money-shots just like it did with fashion and portrait back in the 60's and through to the 90's.

WOW what a breathtaking destination to shoot!!

The square format on those shots of the rocks and sky were terrific.

Again a very nice video. Thanks!

Thank you Steve for taking us on this trek, for the Ordnance Survey graphic, and for your unconventional approach with regard to equipment for this shoot. Highly enjoyable. I was particularly taken by the wild ponies, which I've encountered on the Long Mynd in Shropshire. And for those interested, I found this about the ones you filmed: "the Carneddau Mountain range in the Snowdonia National Park is home to a small population of around 300 semi-feral Carneddau ponies whose history stretches back several hundred years. Although they are not designated as a rare breed, they are genetically distinct from the Welsh Mountain pony and carry genes specifically related to hardiness and waterproofing".

Every time I look through the viewfinder of my tlr, I’m blown away. It has a magical quality imo, and the photos are proof positive that you took the right camera!

Awesome photos.

Well done ... thanks for sharing.

always a pleasure to watch

Glad to see you brought proper clothing for the high ground. Many tourists here in Norway are fooled by the warm conditions down at sea level and have to be rescued from the mountains. Great video. Thanks for sharing your trip.

I loved how the foreground rocks mimicked the mountain tops. You are to commended for your perseverance in such challenging conditions. I also appreciated the map view of your route.

Love these square-format images on film! This video shows that the best camera is the one you have with you, even when it might not be the ideal one. It was good to see close-up video panning over the images to appreciate some of the detail.

The photo you got when the clouds lifted was just gorgeous.

Some of the best shots I've ever seen on youtube, truly a magical location and well worth the effort.

Clearest explanation for the choice of a square format I’ve heard. I don’t think I have ever encountered more austere conditions even in my native New Hampshire except climbing above the timberline on Mt Washington. I have never found a medium format camera I was comfortable using. The old eye level Praktika which one held like a 35mm might have worked for me, but I never owned one. Still getting that higher image quality from the larger format is always a big factor. Really engaging video. Thanks!

Cracking photographic experience every time, your pod casts are very different each one, your narrative is spot on easy listening with the knowledge you have gained through your own experience 👍 thank you

These are truly brilliant images. I am envious to say the least. Thank you.

The work you showed is wonderful.

Beautiful images, certainly some of the best I have seen on your channel and well worth the effort

Amazing images Steve. Well worth the work👌

Sweet video of the horses

Another brilliant video. The shots you got were stunning. The square format was right. So great call that was Steve. I would call that day a winner. Well done

Hi Steve, I am in amazement of your videos what a climber you are, WOW, i am right now watching your, Right place, Wrong camera, beautiful images, i love them, Thanks...

I recently acquired a cheap old TLR (CiroFlex), and while I learned on film, it was with SLRs (Minolta). I have enjoyed learning, and really appreciate the added composition work to get a good shot with a non metered TLR. Great shots there.

Happy memories with the Minolta Autocord in the late 60s just the job for those 20x16 mono prints that I used to do! Thanks for the reminder....

I used to carry a Mamiya 330 with me when hiking in Yosemite. I found a much lighter, folding Zeiss Ikon 6x6, it folds into pocket size. These are very well made. Some are zone focused and some have a rangefinder.

Hi Steve, great video and images. Thank you for sharing the route also as I love watching your videos just for the walks too as we’re not far from North Wales.

I think the shots were great! Testament to your skill and patients with the weather and camera!

Beautiful images 😍😍😍

I really like the shot at 7:13 where the triangular shape of the rock complements the triangular shape of the mountain right behind it.

Great pictures and it brought back many happy memories of half a century ago when I owned an Autocord. As you say a great lens as good as the Planar on my later Rollei and with only one weak spot which is the focusing lever which was all too easy to over strain- use slowly!

Worth the effort for the shots you showed.

Beautiful shot of the rocks (first non misty photo with mountains in the background), superb contrast. It is true it is harder to shoot, it forces one to take their time and think through a scene. Of course a handheld light/spot meter is a plus.

Fantastic Friday my friend

Bonjour Steve. When I go out with my Yashica D, I take a monopod. Quite light and handy.

Very enjoyable, thanks for sharing these super shots, those ponies were a little bit wow.

Great pictures! Tlrs can be a tad limiting at times, but like all cameras they have trade offs. I learned to shoot on an old Yashica 127 Tlr and it was great... For slides especially! Thanks for putting together these great videos! You are a treasure 📸

Try a good monopod!! I never used one until I had too because of age related tremors. It saved my efforts and allows me to continue my work. Mine is light and has an excellent ball head. I never go anywhere without it! I love your efforts and study your work to improve my efforts. Thank you for the guidance and stimulation.

Beautiful images, congrats ! I also love 120 square format :)

Always been a fan of B&W emulsion. Your vids are therapeutic, btw. Thanks

great video, and nice photos, you have reminded me to get my mamiya 645 out again ,haven't used it for a while....

Great photos Steve. Expecting a snow storm Saturday and you’ve inspired me to dust off my TLR and try to make some images. Maybe make a snow angel too!!!

I did take a 4x5 camera to a wild and windy moorland here in Cornwall just before Christmas. But, to be honest the biggest problem I had was getting acceptable sound quality in the video.! Mind you, the walk wasn't as long as yours. Excellent images as ever Steve.

Love the square format in 120mm . My rolleiflex sl66 is a prize. You can even do Marco with it by reversing the lenses in the camera without an adapter.

I adore the 6x6. I have the Mamiya C3 and an Agfa Isolette II. You can guess which one I would take hiking ;) You got some great shots Steve and I marvel every time you do one of these long hikes with your gear. A sacrifice for your art.

Beautiful images. Great examples of square format.

I think you mentioned before: Travelling lighter we don't feel so tired and we see more photo-opportunities. Being gear limited also prevent us a bit of taking some of those opportunities. But looks that your walk was enjoyable and you took nice photos. A route that you might walk again with different gear... or maybe same gear, who cares, the goal is to enjoy. Thank you for sharing your video.

You’re lucky I usually end up in the right place without a camera. A phone is not the same at all it has no soul. Thanks for the video.

The tonal qualities in your printing Steve are incredible. The square format is always great compositionally. Oh yes those horses on that hill with a telephoto would have been amazing prints. Maybe next time. A real pleasure watching your videos. Your videos flow smoothly and keep me engaged the whole way through and I always feel like I’ve been on the adventure with you.

Bravo - again very enjoyable images.

Excellent photos. 👍 Think I'll have to do some square format as well as it gives a different feel to the images.

The first one you got when the light came is excellent in every way👌. Those rocks are spectacular aren’t they. Love square format. I too have an autocord which I don’t use nearly enough. I need to practice more with the back to front waste level view finder 🥴 but the camera is really not to heavy to carry compared with other medium formats. What a great hike you had Steve.

Fantastic picture at 0:51 👍

Great pictures, I love photographing rocks, tree stumps, old buildings etc. things with that rough, weathered look and texture. They look great in B&W. My first medium format camera (I have several now, having decided medium format is my "thing", the optimal middle road between the ease and convenience of 35mm and image quality of 4x5 large format) is a Meopta Flexaret V TLR, a really nice camera but unfortunately mine developed a shutter problem a couple of months ago. I should find the time to take it apart and see if I could fix it as it is a reasonably light and easy to carry (compared to my latest acquisition, a Mamiya RB67, for example) camera and takes very good pictures.

Thank you Steve for what you do for us! Great shots and video. Have yet to find a bad video from you yet! I too love the square format and waist-level finders (Mamiyaflex). I even have a WLF for my Nikon F if I ever get around to getting the thing running. What are some square format 135 cameras out there? Maybe some with square format large enough to shoot with the holes too? Know if anyone has ever modified some for that? Thanks again for all the work to make this awesome Channel!

VERY nice! Thanks for your effort and for sharing the results. -- Totally agree with what you said about the focal lengths in mountains! Simply cannot understand why people use wide angle lenses, which make great mountains look like molehills. -- Keep up the good work with 6x6.

Great camera, recently got that very same model myself, the images you got look great, must use mine more.

Loved the images. You must be in fantastic physical shape to do an arduous walk like that. And that Mamiya looks heavy. My TLR cameras look about half that size (Rolleiflex and Ikoflex). I must say that the images were fabulous and dramatic. Too bad about missing the horse images, but a lightweight 35mm camera has other compromises. We need to invent an equipment teleporter machine. Then we'll be ready for anything. But perhaps reducing the challenge of it would also reduce the enjoyment. I think that the Mamiya has interchangeable lenses. Or am I thinking of another camera?

Great video, Steve. I sure wish I had your energy, to climb mountains, but I have my bike. Yes, square format is my favorite . My Super Fujica 6, is my medium format P&S. I may start carrying that camera in a bike bag this year. KB

Nicely done Steve. Some good images there. I like squares, too. Hwyl

Well worth the effort, time and the six mile hike. Beautiful images Steve. I have over the last couple of weeks purchased a Mamiya Six Automat, I'm sure you know it's a 120, so I won't go into detail about it. THE good news for me is, it fits into my lowepro bumbag along with my Weston V meter, film and some 36mm slip on filters. Just the job for clambering around on those wet rock's, or hiking with the missus. HP5 rated at 800 developed in DDX for 8.5 minutes. On the crappy overcast (but loved by me) days I find it a great film and dev combination with hardly any grain in my 9x9 darkroom prints. Keep me coming mate.

Too bad about the weather Steve but you got some beautiful shots. I appreciate the effort!

Although you didn't feel comfortable with the handling of the camera your pictures are just gorgeous. Great video and shots!

Square format for those times when neither horizontal not vertical 35mm quite does the job. I now have an Autocord once more.

Great shots really inspiring! Which film stock were load in the tlr?

A couple of years back I picked up an eye-level finder for my Rollei, it had a bit of balsam separation at one point and cost 25 pounds. It really makes a TLR into a different camera, and adds a different perspective when you are looking through the VF. Unfortunately the Rollei then becomes a bit top heavy but I can live with that for those occasional moments when it is useful.

I think you nailed it with that camera, maybe except the horses. Great video as always.

I use a Rolleiflex Automat and it's really not easy to use.. When i was a pro and studio, It was Mamiya C-series needed for lenses. Outdoors a catastrophe! Heavy! BIG! Heavy. :-) Your images superb. I love 6x6 for creamy prints but my printer, a great guy, passed some years ago. The BW of rocks very Ansel! Congrats. I find 12 exp rolls more than long enough... Again best regards.Bravo!

The XP2 appeared to handle the situation very well indeed, tricky rough terrain, the horses would have needed to come into just the right place, maybe against the skyline and would probably take days to follow and photograph satisfactorily, but what a reward that would be for such perseverance. Funnily enough I can hear a couple of horses clip clopping past the house as I write these comments.

Great video Steve, made even more special by having my print of Carnedd Gwenllian nearby (purchased from you). Magnificent landscape. I like 1:1 or 6x6 format and could use your recommendation for a camera using 120 film that is not (yet) ridiculous in cost. I have historically had Rolleis, (now too expensive) and recently sold my Autocord. Keep hiking!

These are great shots after all. Either you are fishing for compliments or don’t see the advantages that the limitations that you felt brought to your photography. At least as it can be judged in the instagram format. The quality, the point of view and perspective as well as the square format and your way of development support those images definitely. Forget about 35mm and a long or other lenses, you grow with the challenge of that limitation! Here less IS more for sure. Period.

Beautiful pictures! The square format is beautiful perfect, as is all Euclid's geometry. Of course, every camera has its limitations, but for you these camera limitations result in great photos. I have only one TLR, that is Start-B produced in Poland in the 1960s. The optics of this camera are very imperfect, and mine has only one flawless shutter speed of 1/250 sec. Despite this, I like to use my TLR because it gives characteristic, though imperfect opically images - it brings them closer to picorialism. Best regards

A clumsy difficult camera appeals to me right now. I haven’t mastered photography by any means, but at least with the digital I can with some regularity finagle out a WOW image but it tends to be just as same-y as everyone else’s WOW image. Right before the world wobbled, I came into a C330 and c220 with 80 and 55mm lenses. Hopefully new seals will go in soon and I can get back out again and enjoy some good old-fashioned photographic aggravation like I remember 😁

You need yourself a 6x6 Folder! Beautiful video.

I very much like the shot at 8:12 with the contrast between the jagged rocks and apparent smooth hills in the distance which have a lovely light on them. Youre gonna have to get some Welsh pronounciation lessons though, you spend enough time over here!! Great video and lessons learned here as I am determined this year to try my Yash-D that Ive never used.

The right camera and nice pictures.

Excellent 3rd image 👏 Glad the slog was rewarded, certainly a nice place. Intrepid next time ? 😂

I do know what you mean, I have a Mamiya C330 which has all the disadvantages of your Autocord but weighs about the same as the average washing machine. However, I personally find the waist level finder a great help for low level shots with lots of foreground. As I get older I find the ground is further down than it used to be, and getting my eye near enough the ground to get those shots with a "look through" viewfinder is tricky. Having said all that, if I'm going on a long walk I'll take the new Mamiya 6 or even the Nettar, I'm not a body-builder! I really love the shots you got on this trip though, superb work.

Thanks again for a lovely video, Steve! That was quite the trek you did there. I was wondering, I see you use XP2 in a lot of your BW shoots. As somebody who does predominantly BW photography and develops at home, I find that an odd choice (yields great results though). Do you develop C-41 yourself too? To me the temp sensitivity and short time the chemicals keep prevents me from doing C-41 development. Or do you send XP2 out do get developed for you? Cheers

Beautiful work under adverse conditions..

Thank you very much . Jan. 27th 2022 Wed. 23:33 from Yokohama City Japan

I really liked the images and thought the black and white format was eminently suited to the subject. I do wonder why you wouldn't carry one of your lighter 35mm Nikons or smaller M43rds cameras and not lose shots. Having committed to the long walk it seems a shame to perhaps miss out on a possible once in a lifetime photographic opp. GX9 + 12-60mm = 735g

Great video. I’ve been pricing the Autocord but have yet to pull the trigger. Say, what software are you using for the 3D simulation of your hike? I’m a professional 3D artist and always interested in what people are using for 3D visualization.

Those shots are better than most that lay claim to landscape photography on RU-vid. They look like photographs, not a graphic design montage.

These are all kind of cinematic looking. Like they could be on some movie set in the mountains. I think it's the rocks. They almost don't look real.

10:54 Those two horses really are a perfect shot. I like it as it is. Guess the video resolution is not good enough? Maybe enlarge it with one of those special tools to increase resolution?

I love my two 6x6 cameras but they are better used on a tripod, at least for me. My Yashica Mat-124 G is a great walking around camera though because it is so light but I still tend to use it on the tripod. Lovely images and yes I’d go back again for those horses with a 35 and a 200mm lens

Very nice! I’ve been mulling over the various TLR models and I do like the autocord. Besides the Rolleiflex, are there any others that you’d recommend that won’t break the bank?

I've had a few times feeling similarly between the film or the digital. My digital has a quicker and easier time adapting it to different lighting, which is the most obvious. With the film, I have to change out the entire film for higher ISO, or just take pictures of really still things from a tripod. Doesn't work too well when I'm mostly photographing dogs. =D But the thing I miss most in having the wrong camera on me at any time, is just getting that whole vibe that one can give me over the other. I could take the exact same image with both, and they would both make me feel differently, looking at them. I feel completely different just taking the photo, too. Film really pushes me to slow way down in a way that digital just doesn't have the power to. I have practically unlimited shots, and missing focus on one, I might get it on another. On film, if I don't get that focus, it's often a wasted shot. A physical part of the film made useless, and not just 1s and 0s dissolved into the ether to be forgotten. Luckily, they are both of same frame size, and I have adapted the digital to use the same lenses. So they are able to have a lot of similarities to keep my workflow consistent, too.

I can't help but think that had you brought a 35mm and shot the wild horses that you might not have got the shots that you did get with the twin lens. The shots of the rocks are beautiful, and I believe that the main thing is that you got out in the less than perfect weather and that you made a great day of it.

I agree, a TLR (no matter how good) is heavy and clunky to use for this kind of "walk a lot, photograph a little" venue. I find I use mine (Kodak Reflex II, which will feed from trimmed 120 spools but needs a 620 to take up) less now that I have the even heavier RB67 (which works a treat with a Graflex 22 6x6 roll film back), simply because the tradeoff for the weight is versatility. Your Bronica has that advantage over the Autocord, and unlike my RB67, probably doesn't weigh much if any more than the Autocord (with just the 80 mm lens and waist level viewfinder, anyway) -- and does give the option of mounting a different lens, if that great "I need a longer lens" shot will hold long enough to change the setup. I'm still working on finding an affordable backpack to carry my RB67, a couple lenses, and a couple backs. Then I can start to try to figure out how to shave ten pounds off my tripod... Beautiful images from that peak, at least, most definitely worth the trip.

TLRs are worth the hassle. Your shots are lovely.

Depending on the age and state of the camera cold weather can really hinder you! For example my rolleicord III from the 1950s that is in general in good shape had its oils freeze on me on a cold and windy march day so i couldn't shoot the last frame! I am sure that if I used a hand warmer or some kind of device to warm up the camera between shots i would have been able to continue to shoot!

I love my Yashica D TLR for landscapes but not in the hills - it's just too heavy and bulky. You are after all effectively carrying 2 cameras in one! Having said that, I used to have a Mamiya C220 with interchangeable lenses, now that really was heavy! Built like a tank though. I loved your images of the rocks and sky. That's typical of the kind of thing I use my Yashica for.

The Autocord is an incredible camera and my primary medium format camera.

10:54 if you have a camera to film the horses on top of the hill you can take a picture of them as well, even if it is a blasphemous digital camera

As I was watching the video at the 2:47 mark I thought to myself “Oh please let this be one of your images”. I have an old Yashica A tlr that I bought for about $7:00 and I know it sounds silly but for some reason I have a higher success rate with that camera than any other. 🤷‍♂️

Lovely images. I personally think the autocord played well in that situation. Nice compositions and the tonality and sharpness of that lens is wonderful. I have one and I tested it next to a Rolleiflex and I thought it held up just fine