Best MF camera for a $1000?

[macfred]

I love my ga645 so much. SO much. I've rarely seen a bad photo come out of that thing no matter what I am shooting.

I agree! I have both - the GA645 with the 60mm and the GA645Wi with a 45mm lens. The f/4 60mm EBC Fujinon is a great lens and I like it for portraits.
This one is captured at shortest focussing distance and wide open :

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Few things in life compare to the satisfaction one gets shooting with a Rolleiflex.
Try it, you'll like it.

Actually a LOT of things in life favorably compare to shooting with Rolleiflex. I have the 3.5 F with Planar, no complaints about it, it is in pristine condition too, only stitching on case gave up in few places. Still, lots of fun with lots of other cameras. I'm not married to my Rollei or any other brand. I love Zeiss Tangor too, BTW.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Rollei Wides and Rollei Teles make Hasselblads look affordable. Of course we know that Mamiya TLRs are superior to Rollei Wides and Rollei Teles on so many levels.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Rollei Wides and Rollei Teles make Hasselblads look affordable. Of course we know that Mamiya TLRs are superior to Rollei Wides and Rollei Teles on so many levels.

Just wait until the film flatness police show up and tell us that anything without a straight film path is not worthy.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Just wait until the film flatness police show up and tell us that anything without a straight film path is not worthy.

I never had that problem with a properly aligned cameras and film backs.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

I never had that problem with a properly aligned cameras and film backs.

I used to be a believer in the phenomenon and even did my own tests (which confirmed it in a Yashica D and Rolleiflex automat!) but as I've begun conceptualizing a roll of 120 as something that is intended to last for one outing, not for a week, I don't see it as a real issue anymore. That said, if you let film sit on the rollers in an Automat for a week, it will get kinked and reduce sharpness in some parts of the image at large apertures.

Practically it's not a real issue unless you're shooting infinity landscapes wide open after leaving a half finished roll of film in it. But if you really want to insulate yourself against this phenomenon, you need a Mamiya TLR, an Autocord, a Pentax 67, a Koni Omega or one of the other rangefinders.