Last all-mechanical professional medium format camera?

Luckless · Jun 5, 2019

What would have been the last all-mechanical medium format camera model that was designed and marketed for professional users?

A conversation with someone who spotted me out with a C330f the other day kind of raised this question in my mind, and now I'm curious what the actual answer would be.

No batteries, no LCD screens, or LEDs, no wiring or chips in the core parts of the system. Just a professional camera that was designed to have film loaded, and everything done with gears, levers, and the like.

[However I guess a sticking point might be things like optional metered viewfinders, and whether those should count. - If there were no electronics that connected the meter to anything else in the camera, then I guess that shouldn't be excluded, but wires to allow the meter to pick up camera settings feels like a failure on the 'all-mechanical' spirit.]

We also might have two possibilities for which camera to declare victor for such a thing, with the last camera model/revision to have been introduced to the market vs the last to have gone out of production?

voceumana · Jun 5, 2019

The Fuji rangefinders are all mechanical. The Mamiya RB67 cameras are all mechanical unless you add a metered prism.

Any 4x5 view camera with a medium format back or adapter would qualify as well.

LiamG · Jun 5, 2019

voceumana said:
The Fuji rangefinders are all mechanical. The Mamiya RB67 cameras are all mechanical unless you add a metered prism.

Any 4x5 view camera with a medium format back or adapter would qualify as well.

I think you've covered all the bases, as far as I know- the RB67 pro SD came out in 1990, the GW690-iii is 1992, I think- and of course take your pick of the 4x5 cameras still marketed today.

Dan Daniel · Jun 5, 2019

I'm not certain what the later 500-series Hasselblads had inside them, whether they fit your criteria. And then the Horseman VH and VH-R cameras are certainly electronics-free, but I don't know when they stopped making them.

foveon_m · Jun 5, 2019

Mamiya C330 proS was build untill 1994

Paul Howell · Jun 5, 2019

Borderline as professional, the Yashica 124 was made in Brazil until 1995.

Luckless · Jun 5, 2019

Lots of good model names to go digging into to confirm dates.

Of course any of the large format related suggestions would be out of the running, on the basis of their being large format cameras... You could also load them with micro film backs, but that doesn't magically make them spy cameras.

MattKing · Jun 5, 2019

A later Rollieflex?

Theo Sulphate · Jun 5, 2019

I'm certain the all-mechanical RB67 Pro SD could be bought new from Mamiya well into the 2000's - maybe even after 2010. I was thinking of buying a completely new one and I know it was well after 2000.

Karen Nakamura's page on the RB67 lists the Pro SD as "1990-now", where the date on the page is 2011.

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/MamiyaRB67.html

Luckless · Jun 5, 2019

MattKing said:
A later Rollieflex?

That's a good question - Didn't they get coupled-exposure meters back in the 80's?
I had written them off my initial mental list, but I guess they would be worth a double check. They did have a pretty wide range of models up to even recent times after all.

Theo Sulphate said:
I'm certain the all-mechanical RB67 Pro SD could be bought new from Mamiya well into the 2000's - maybe even after 2010. I was thinking of buying a completely new one and I know it was well after 2000.

Karen Nakamura's page on the RB67 lists the Pro SD as "1990-now", where the date on the page is 2011.

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/MamiyaRB67.html

And that raises a fun point - Trying to sort out the difference between end of production dates, and when New-Old-Stock starts petering out.

Theo Sulphate · Jun 5, 2019

Here is a link to an awesome Pro SD brochure I found on the rb67.helluin.org site:

https://rb67.helluin.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/RB67-Pro-SD-Brochure1.pdf

the section of the page this brochure is on is also dated 2011:

https://rb67.helluin.org/blog/

Oren Grad · Jun 5, 2019

Luckless said:
That's a good question - Didn't they get coupled-exposure meters back in the 80's?
I had written them off my initial mental list, but I guess they would be worth a double check. They did have a pretty wide range of models up to even recent times after all.

Obviously you can set the criteria in whatever arbitrary way you want. I would include cameras that have built-in coupled meters, so long as only the meter itself is battery-dependent. By that criterion, the late Rolleiflexes should be included, as they otherwise work fine without batteries.

But there are battery-less, sturdily-built roll-film cameras that are still current. Off the top of my head: You can still get a new Linhof Technikardan 23S, M679cs, 612pcII or 617sIII; I believe the Techno can also share the 6x9cm film-back fittings of the M679 series. None of those is a large format camera with a reducing back. Similarly, there are various Chinese-made rigid-body panoramic 120 roll film cameras in 6x12, 6x17 and 6x24 sizes, as well as the Shen-Hao 6x17 and 6x24 view camera models. Also the Fotoman 69HPS, DMax and DMini cameras. In Japan, Kenko-PI still lists the Horseman SW612, SW612P and SW617 cameras. Maybe there are others.

EDIT: I forgot another that should have been obvious - various Alpa 12 models can be fitted with roll-film backs, not just digital backs.
EDIT 2: Silvestri still offers film back adapters for their current Bicam II modular camera.
EDIT 3: Cambo offers an adapter to Mamiya RB rollholders for their current Wide RS series cameras.
EDIT 4: I believe the Arca-Swiss R-series cameras can accept 6x9 film backs. Not clear whether the F-series and M-series 6x9 view cameras are still in production - they seem to be no longer listed by dealers in the US, but can be found in Europe.

Anyway, you get the idea. If you meant reflex camera or coupled-rangefinder camera, then the RB67 Pro SD was probably the last one standing if you insist on no meter, or the last Rolleiflex TLRs if you'll tolerate a meter in an otherwise mechanical camera.

Theo Sulphate · Jun 5, 2019

those meet requirements,
yet still unsatisfying,
not fun camera

Oren Grad · Jun 5, 2019

voceumana said:
The Fuji rangefinders are all mechanical.

The GA and GF series are not.

markbau · Jun 10, 2019

I'm not sure but I think the original Pentax 6x7 was all manual. I have a 67 which needs a battery to fire the shutter.

abruzzi · Jun 10, 2019

markbau said:
I'm not sure but I think the original Pentax 6x7 was all manual. I have a 67 which needs a battery to fire the shutter.

No, the 6x7 also requires a battery to time the shutter as well.

guangong · Jun 10, 2019

What about the last gasp Rolleiflex TLR cameras. As I remember they were a limited run...very expensive. I can’t recall what year they were made, but I saw them at Ken Hansen’s store in nyc.

abruzzi · Jun 10, 2019

guangong said:
What about the last gasp Rolleiflex TLR cameras. As I remember they were a limited run...very expensive. I can’t recall what year they were made, but I saw them at Ken Hansen’s store in nyc.

The 2.8 GX? I looked it up—made until 2000. Looks like it had a LED display in the viewfinder, but I don’t think the shutter used the battery.

Oren Grad · Jun 10, 2019

abruzzi said:
The 2.8 GX? I looked it up—made until 2000.

The 2.8 FX, 4.0 FW and 4.0 FT models were made in small quantities much later than that. IIRC it wasn't until the latest bankruptcy/reorganization of DHW Fototechnik that TLR production was finally officially ended and what's left of the company, now DW Photo, focused its resources on the Hy6 SLR.

mitrajoon · Jun 10, 2019

The Hasselblad 503CW is all mechanical and was produced until 2013/14.

devb · Jun 11, 2019

You can still buy new Linhof Technorama 612 and 617 cameras.

mshchem · Jun 11, 2019

Hasselblad and Fuji 6x9 rangefinders

removed account4 · Jun 12, 2019

It is not the last made or the first. It is more of a rebuild than a last made... I am thinking of the Ukranian Clones of either the Hasselblad or the Pentacon. The factory's cameras ( KEIV ) were purchased several years ago and the cream of crop of the cameras ( Keiv CM and Keiv 60 ) were stripped to the studs and rebuilt. Yes, yes I know Hasselbladski have a dismal reputation: seems lots were built on either a Monday or Friday ( and mechanical failure, problems with bad flocking, bad wind mechanisms, out of sync lens an body but all but the last have been made like they didn't exist. The out of sync thing, well the user just has to pay attention to what they are doing or buy one of those "wind the spring" tools Hasselblad users used when their 1600s did the same thing.. yes, I'm talking about the ARAX60 and ARAX CM.. all mechanical, built like an old soviet alarm clock made in Hyestan, and best of all, they aren't too expensive and the lenses are to die for.

Last all-mechanical professional medium format camera?

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency