Bronica RF645 or Mamiya 7II

[Aggie]

I got my Mamiya 7II for $3700. The kit included the 43mm, 80mm, and the 150mm lenses, and a Sekonic 508 light meter. It helped that I had a photographer friend who lives in Hong Kong pick up the kit for me. That price also included customs charges, and shipping fed ex.

I love that camera. I have no problem getting the negs I want on a contact sheet. As for sharp images go check out my picture, "View from the stoop" in my personal gallery. It was made with the mamiya.

Mine is not made of plastic, but metal. I'm surprised that someone called it plasticy. Yet I was in a camera store where the saleman said that the magnesium body was like all plastics, and would break. I guess some don't know their metals.

 

[Muihlinn]

As for price not being a very relevent issue - maybe that's true for professionals or for those of you with trust funds! But cost matters -[...]
Robert

It matters, indeed, but if you were considering the 645RF or 7ii, then I assume that you can afford both, no matter if they are cheap or expensive.

 

[Robert Budding]

It matters, indeed, but if you were considering the 645RF or 7ii, then I assume that you can afford both, no matter if they are cheap or expensive.

I really didn't consider the 7II, even though it is an excellent camera (a friend shoots one). But I do own Mamiya lenses for my 645. And price was a factor - my kids, though fairly young, are excellent students and I need to fund their 529 plans! So, I now have a Bronica Rf645 with 45mm, 65mm, and 100mm lenses for about $1,500. THe difference betweed that and a 7II kit will keep me in film for quite a while.

Enjoy your 7II - it's a nice camera with superb lenses.

Robert

 

[craigclu]

Mine is not made of plastic, but metal. I'm surprised that someone called it plasticy. Yet I was in a camera store where the saleman said that the magnesium body was like all plastics, and would break. I guess some don't know their metals.

It may have been my comment. The body is a painted plastic. The mold marks are still apparent around the window cutouts and there is molded lettering in the bottom that should make it quite apparent that it is injection molded plastic. When it gets this expensive, one tends to call it polycarbonate. There might be confusion in the fact that the paint color is called "Titanium" which describes the color tone. I would love to own this camera and believe it is the most capable 67 made in terms of pure image quality. I had commented about being a bit let down regarding its tactile feel and the hollow, plasticky sense of handling and using it. The Bronica feels as if it came from Solmes in contrast to the Mamiya but I readily agree that when enlarging to any size above 5X7, the Mamiya would show better results when pairing the fine optics with the larger negative size.

Here's the first Mamiya review that came up on Google just now as I was writing this post.. Ken Rockwell Mamiya 7 Review

I hadn't read this one before but it is a good summary of the camera and its versions. He refers to the plasticky nature of the camera and its construction, too.

 

[jjjs]

It may have been my comment. The body is a painted plastic. .

Really? I thought the body COVERING, BOTTOM PLATE and TOP PLATE is... Ok, then the Leica M2 body must be made of vulcanite...

Could you please stop this nonsense, anyone whose ever had it in his/hers hand will immediately understand, that it can not be made of plastic. It weigts
920 gramms, and the body is made of silumin-aluminium. And yes, the covering is made of plastic.

 

[craigclu]

I didn't realize this would be a controversial comment but simply one referring to the tactile nature of the camera. I plan on eventually owning one as it is ideal for my purposes so I actually find its capabilities first rate in my own estimation. I don't currently have the loose funds for yet another addition to a bloated stable! My only misgiving about the outlay was the fact that the handling of the camera is a bit of a let down in the area of perceived quality. The hollow, plastic sense of the camera just doesn't seem in keeping with its price point while the little Bronica is surprisingly solid and leaves one wondering how they made it at the price that they did. I currently own a Bronica RF and find that to be a gratifying trait whenever I use the camera. As a tool, the Mamiya should deliver better results, it's still in production and doesn't feel much bigger than the Bronica in actual use. The Mamiya definitely doesn't feel cheap and I'm sorry if I implied that but it is a slight disappointment in that area for its $1500 price. I'm certain that the construction is actually very robust and clearly better than painted/anodized metal in scratch/dent resistance.

 

[KenR]

Bronica problems

I owned an RF645 for less than 1 year. While I loved the way the camera handled and the results that I obtained with it, I had several mechanical problems with it. The first time that I went for a hike with the camera, the battery door opened and the batteries fell out, leaving the camera dead in the water. As this was just a short, getting to know you hike, I didn't have spare batteries with me, and so I was essentially camera-less. Later, during a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, the winder mechanism broke on the second day of the trip, leaving me with only my Holga to use. As I had run only about 75 rolls of film through the camera, I felt that this was a rather premature failure. Both repairs were made promptly and without charge by Bronica, but I lost all confidence in the camera and sold it shortly afterwards.

 

[MJSfoto1956]

Mamiya 7 comments

My favorite camera of all time is my Mamiya 7II.
Second would be my old Leica M4 (talk about expensive!).
Third is my current Linhof Technikardan.

Truth be told, the Mamiya does have its shortcomings (what camera doesn't?). However, I have learned to "see" with this camera and find its limitations to be minor.

Pros:
- lightweight
- razor sharp lenses (noticably sharper than my old Pentax 6x7)
- 50mm + 80mm + 150mm covers practically every situation
- quiet (like any good rangefinder)
- did I mention lightweight?
- great "handling" camera -- like a 35mm
- bright rangefinder

Cons:
- limited lens selection (nothing longer than 210mm)
- 210mm is hard to focus
- expensive here in the USA
- battery operated shutter eliminates ability to do n-hour exposures
- forget about doing macro work
- wide angle and tele lenses require viewfinder to arrange, switching back to rangefinder to focus (reminiscent of my old Linhof Technika)

Overall a very fine camera. I'm sure the 6x4.5 fans can elaborate on why their cameras are better. Probably the best reason to consider 6x4.5 would be a future that would include digital backs.

Anyway I'm extremely happy with my Mamiya and expect to get many more years out of it.

Michael

 

[raucousimages]

Conceder this, Bronica is out of business as of Oct. 14, 2005 and no longer supports their cameras. The only support you have is the parts already out their and non-factory repair. They made an offer to buy all unsold stock from dealers, this gave them some sort of legal loop hole so they don't need to make any parts and can stop selling parts in 2008. Mamiya is doing well and has a history of supporting their gear.

 

[Robert Budding]

Conceder this, Bronica is out of business as of Oct. 14, 2005 and no longer supports their cameras. The only support you have is the parts already out their and non-factory repair. They made an offer to buy all unsold stock from dealers, this gave them some sort of legal loop hole so they don't need to make any parts and can stop selling parts in 2008. Mamiya is doing well and has a history of supporting their gear.

Bronica has stated that they will support their cameras for 7 years. And I called Bogen Imaging, the US distributor, to verify that they will support the cameras. Also, they just serviced my RF645 - they converted from 135mm to 100mm framelines and adjusted the rnagefinder verticle alignment.

But, hey, this fear mongering is great. That's why I landed a brand new warranted RF645 with 65mm lens for only $550.

Glad you like your Mamiya. But I wouldn't bet much money on the finacial future of any company whose primary business is MF film cameras.

Robert