16 THE HASSELBLAD MANUAL
The 6 4.5 cm Format
In the V system cameras, you can obtain images in the 6 4.5 format by attaching a fi lm mag-
azine A16, A32, earlier E16, or E32 types. The Hasselblad cameras in the H system are made
specifi cally for the rectangular 6 4.5 format so you need to turn the camera for vertical
pictures. The H cameras and viewfi nders are beautifully designed for doing this handheld or
on a tripod.
The exact image size of the 6 4.5 cm format is 54 42 mm, which corresponds closely
to the shape of standard enlarging papers. Because the long side of the image is the same as
on the 6 6 square, image quality is identical. The 6 4.5 cm images are not smaller images,
only images of a different shape. When you photograph in the 6 4.5 format, you must
decide before you photograph whether the picture should be horizontal or vertical. In return,
you obtain more images on the fi lm: 16 on 120 type and 32 on 220 rollfi lm (Figure 2-4).
Figure 2-3 Square image format. Most outdoor scenes can be composed effectively in the
rectangular or square format. In either format, we must compose to have important image
elements going from side to side and from bottom to top. The white waves lead the eye from
the bottom left to the Italian village at sunset on the upper right. (Photo by Ernst Wildi.)
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