seriously thinking of getting an m/f

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joelhall

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joel
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ok so im a total novice, not really a photographer id say (thats the mrs' thing) though i would like to look into shooting medium format.

ive done a little reading up here and over the net, thing is i have no real idea about brands other than flash guys saying they use rollei 6000s and so on.

bronica and mamiya look good from what ive seen, and of course the price is more attractive. so any advice on a total newbie to m/f on what to look for and which cameras are more reliable than others... and planning for the future which has a good assortment of affordable optics?

im looking around the £200-250 mark for the body as the upper limit if this is helpful?

thanks guys,

joel :)
 
Assuming you want a SLR and not TLR, then your budget is going to give you options including

Bronica ETR / ETR-Si
Bronica SQ-A
Mamiya 645

You really need to read up the basics of these cameras as various revisions and models were produced over a long time (in particular the Mamiya)

Optics can be expensive when you get dow to 50mm and wider, but normal lenses are pretty reasonable.

For example, last year i bought..

Bronica ETR-Si with waist level finder, 75mm f2.8 lens and 120 film back for £180, then added another film back for £29 and a 150mm f3.5 lens for £90.

Not far off your budget. A 50mm lens would add £250 to that, a 40mm £300. (All dealer supplied, warranted goods).


Take a look on www.mxv.co.uk and www.ffordes.co.uk websites - these 2 tend to have reasonable stock at fair prices. If nothing else they give you a chance to gauge prices.

The biggest cost with MF is the developing unless you want to DIY. Develop and scan a film is around £13. If you want to use more than one roll/month then its probably advisable to sscan your own negs/slides once they are processed. There aren't too many scanners than can handle MF sizes, but the Epson 4490 or Canon Canoscan 8800F seem to come highly recommended here at around £160 a piece.
 
Think about what you need the camera for. If indoors/studio an RB67 would be fantastic but bear in mind it is a heavy and bulky camera if you wish to travel around with it. If doing that a Bronnie ETRS(i) or SQA(i) would be ideal. I've owned all three cameras in the past and each are superb for their own uses/requirements.
 
Blapto said:
There's an RB67 in the for sale section right now that's in your price range.
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The downside of the RB67 is that you have to factor in the costs of gym membership to build up your strength to be able to carry the thing! :D It's enormous and extremely heavy, and that's without lenses!

I started out with a Bronica ETRSi (which is tiny by comparison) and it got me hooked. For SLRs you've got to consider how to hold the camera if you want to do vertical (portrait-style) shots as most of them come with a waist level finder. You'd either need to add the cost of an eye-level prism finder, or bypass the problem altogether by going for 6x6 square format. The only 6x6 camera Mamiya made was the Mamiya 6 rangefinder which is beyond your budget, but a Bronica SQ, SQ-A, SQ-Ai or SQ-B would all fit the bill.
 
snowy said:
The downside of the RB67 is that you have to factor in the costs of gym membership to build up your strength to be able to carry the thing! :D It's enormous and extremely heavy, and that's without lenses!

I started out with a Bronica ETRSi (which is tiny by comparison) and it got me hooked. For SLRs you've got to consider how to hold the camera if you want to do vertical (portrait-style) shots as most of them come with a waist level finder. You'd either need to add the cost of an eye-level prism finder, or bypass the problem altogether by going for 6x6 square format. The only 6x6 camera Mamiya made was the Mamiya 6 rangefinder which is beyond your budget, but a Bronica SQ, SQ-A, SQ-Ai or SQ-B would all fit the bill.
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I have an RZ67 Pro II I handhold, but I do have a gym membership.

The RZ and RB have rotating backs, so shooting portrait isn't an issue, the camera stays still (as the imaging circle is, err, circular) and the back rotates to use a different part of it.
 
Blapto said:
The RZ and RB have rotating backs, so shooting portrait isn't an issue, the camera stays still (as the imaging circle is, err, circular) and the back rotates to use a different part of it.
Click to expand...

Yes, the rotating back idea is quite clever, but also partly explains why the cameras are so big. They also take a 6x8 back if I recall correctly, and the only other 6x8 SLR I can think of is the similarly huge Fuji 680. They're usually considered studio cameras where they'd be left sitting on a tripod...
 
thanks for all the replies folks :)

as it happens i was looking at sq bodies earlier on. having said that the rotating back on the rz is pretty tempting over 6x6 as i guess i can always crop photos.

going to have to have a long think about this i reckon. any links which have good info on these models so i can swot up a little?
 
The RB67 outfit here is great value currently at £275 with 2 lenses and poloroid back.

I have an RB67 Pro S and 3 lenses (soon to be 4) 3 120 backs (soon to be 4) and it all fits in a Lowepro bag, yes it is a heavier than my Digital outfit, but not too much to be honest.

Here's miy outfit, body with 90mm, WLF and 120 back, 50mm, (65mm on way), 180mm, 2x 120 backs (space for 4th, on way) space for 45mm Ext tube (on way), Gossen Lunasix F meter and a selection of filters and hoods.

Mamiyakit.jpg


You will learn a lot from using medium format, the reduced number of frames available on a film makes you a lot more careful about what you shoot and how you shoot it, it slows you down, and the large finder allows you to see things you might otherwise miss.
 
Blapto said:
There's an RB67 in the for sale section right now that's in your price range.
Click to expand...


Thanks for pointing that one out :nono::nono: - i must resist :eek:.

Have to say it looks decent enough for the money - if i didn't have an ETR-Si set up in almost mint condition i'd be snapping that lot up. The rotating back would make my life so much easier :thinking:
 
joxby said:
Square would make your life easier...:D
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But by the time you crop it down to a rectangle you have lost all that lovely extra size. :crying:

Not all images sit well as a square. Now I can chop my 6x7 or 7x6 negs down to 6x6 with little loss of quality! :p
 
There's no denying square doesn't fit well in a printing scenario, but that's not squares fault if papers are only manufactured in odd shaped rectangles...:LOL:
Square fits round better than oblong, that's scraping the barrel.
I dunno, I make images fit square, I don't think its true to say that square fits less subjects than oblong, but to be fair there isn't a load of difference between 6x6 & 6x7......6x9 is too oblong :shake:

You can't win this one without the print scenario, 6x7 is the most economical.

It gets less economical when you crop 15% off each frame (film wastage) and loose two frames per 120 roll......harrr....:rules:
 
I'll pitch one of my 6x7s against one of your 6x4.5s. :p And my 6x6 will be the much the same as yours. ;) Yes the 2 frames is economically less sound, but the difference in quality on a full sized rectangular print more than makes up for the less frames. :p

Where's the na na na na na! emoticon?
 
:razz::razz::razz: That should do ;)

Always fancied a Mamiya 645 set up, no logical reason apart from it seemed closer to a SLR than some of the others. :shrug:
 
I don't shoot 645.....:|, I shoot 6x6 because its square.
If you wanted to shoot square format, what would you buy, an RB and chop stuff down to 6x6.....lullz, I actually could understand that, RB's are luvly, but not my personal choice.
I could live with 6x7, but only just..:)
 
dod said:
:razz::razz::razz: That should do ;)
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Hey, I was only joshing :LOL:

To be honest, a good Blad neg will probably be better than a good 6x7 neg anyway, but don't let on I said that :puke:
 
joxby said:
I don't shoot 645.....:|, I shoot 6x6 because its square.
If you wanted to shoot square format, what would you buy, an RB and chop stuff down to 6x6.....lullz, I actually could understand that, RB's are luvly, but not my personal choice.
I could live with 6x7, but only just..:)
Click to expand...

You can get a 6x6 back for the RZ! I think you can get a 645 back as well, but that's just silly.
 
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