If I have understood it correctly: the ETSRi has mirror lockup while the earlier ETR and the ETRS lacks that functionality.
As Harry Stevens (#6) wrote, the Rolleicord or a Rolleiflex T with a 16 exposure insert kit (most Rolleicords can also be converted to take 24 shots on a roll and even 35mm film) is a pretty good 645 - think of it as an SLR with an extra lens (viewing) on top.
With careful/clever cranking, you can easily get 17 shots to a roll of 120. With the cost of roll film these days, that's a pretty good good small plus.
I still have a fairly large hoard of expired 120 film in my home freezer,so every now and then I thaw out 20 or 40 rolls and take myself off to Southeast Asia to slow shoot my way around temples and old colonial buildings with my Rollei T and a Gossen meter. It's great fun, and the pleasure is enhanced by my not having to carry a heavy MF SLR kit with more lenses than I would ever need and half a tonne of accessories.
(...)
If I had the bucks I would treat myself to a Contax 645, they seem to be the BMW of MF cameras. Beautiful machines. I could even live with the fairly limited choice of lenses, as long as I had a wide-angle to shoot architecture with.
Otherwise, after reading all the other posts,I had no idea there are so many 645 SLRs available on the market. I rarely see anyone shooting MF film in Australia now, and never in Asia, where just about everyone has given up on roll film and sold their souls to the pixel false gods.
I'm somewhat off-topic again, I know, but the last film camera I saw anyone using there was in 2006 - a Japanese tourist had a pair of 35mm Bessas at a temple complex in Bali. I couldn't resist flashing my two Contax G1s with a 20 and a 35 but he ignored me. Served me right. I've not seen anyone using a MF camera out of Australia since 1999 or 2000.
Threads like these may help to revive the format, which has so much going for it. Now if only 120 roll film prices would drop a bit...
Thanks for the suggestions guys. The pentax 645 looks really cool.
An advantage with using the Rollei TLRs with 16 kits is when you shoot horizontals (landscapes etc), you don't have to tilt the camera vertically. AFAIK, every other camera has to be held at a 90 degree angle for 'long' images.
Not to bad-mouth the Pentax 645, but something to consider... if you plan on getting a long FL lens for the camera, the grip on the Pentax 645 is mounted (permanently) at the rear of the camera body. That means that the entire weight of the body and lens both torque downward in the hand and none of the body weight serves as a counterweight to offset the lens weight. Something to consider.
An advantage with using the Rollei TLRs with 16 kits is when you shoot horizontals (landscapes etc), you don't have to tilt the camera vertically. AFAIK, every other camera has to be held at a 90 degree angle for 'long' images. This annoyed me greatly when I was using Fuji 645is (again, not SLRs, rather a sort of autofocus P&S with superb lenses) and was one of the main reasons I sold the cameras.
... M645 is natively horizontal.
-NT
Yes, those are in portrait orientation (like the FUJI GA - series too).^This sounds more like reference to the Bronica RF 645 (rangefinder model camera ). Peter
A$8 is around 5.5€? That's about the price of most films. Color I can get through the UK for about 6-7€ (Portra, Ektar). I don't buy local because it means Australian prices as well, though there's a Lomo Embassy store and I'd plan to try their CN film in 120. Good news is that E6 might be coming back in town. OT, and I might have to post it in your "retirement thread", but as a young professional I'm not having neither the income or stability so tend to be quite careful with the money. -- I'd too wish for 2009-10 film prices!120 film at $4 a roll? I wish!. Here in Down Under, many photo seller wants a minimum of 200% profit on every item sold and pass on all the costs plus a markup, so we pay A$8 or more for B&W, color? priced out of the market,or at least my price range.
All this reminded me that, with the OzBuck at 80.something cents US today, it's time to send a bulk film order from one of my US suppliers.
Sorry for the rant, but latest Rolleiflex needs a CLA and I've just been quoted A$600 for it in Melbourne - more than I paid for the camera. Off it will go to Singapore next month, to be done there at half the price or less.
Enough. Let me say, in many says Australia is a good place to live, if sometimes isolated from the real world out there.
(...)
If I had the spare dosh (alas, no) and found a good one, I would buy the Contax 645 and two lenses and go 645 minimal in my old age, if one can be more minimalist than with a Rolleiflex. Just dreamin'...
I haven't handled them but 645 SLRs aren't that compact. I got a Fuji 6x9 and on a glimpse, a Mamiya 645AF or Contax 645 competes in size. Of course, the feature set and philosophy is markedly different -- the fixed lens semi wide RF is also minimalist in a way (but not small, hah) .^^^^^^ You must've missed me roaming around with my Etrsi in Thailand and VietNam last Oct !
Climbing mountains in that heat and humidity for some potentially great shots with that camera and extra lens
was cause to rethink that MF kit . But some of the slides I later developed put that thought behind me . Peter
I haven't handled them but 645 SLRs aren't that compact. I got a Fuji 6x9 and on a glimpse, a Mamiya 645AF or Contax 645 competes in size. Of course, the feature set and philosophy is markedly different -- the fixed lens semi wide RF is also minimalist in a way (but not small, hah) .
Best medium format camera for travelling light might be a folder in 6x4.5. 6x6 or even 6x9. One can easily take two and the baggage will be more lightweight than travelling with a medium format SLR.
I love folders, but it's hard to find one that will give you image quality competitive with a (comparatively) modern MF SLR. And there are precious few with built-in metering, which the OP asked for too.
I've come to think a good TLR is the sweet spot for travelling light with MF---good focussing mechanism, good lenses, manageable weight and bulk---but you generally have to accept a fixed lens, and again it's hard to get built-in metering (and if you do it's usually selenium).
-NT
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