Mamiya AFD System

[Kjarahz]

Just the body, someone posted one up for $2100 BIN with a digital back.

Well long story short you get an email eventually that states it was from "ebay-buyer-help.com"
Fraud, anyone looking PLEASE DO not send them any money. I assume they've hijacked someones account.

I've worked out a deal and have the money to get one now. Looks like I can get a setup with 140mm lens for $2100ish.

Should I jump in?

*I jumped in...

 

[Kjarahz]

So, as an update for those interested I purchased the following:

Contax 645 Body - Prism - Film back -- Your basic setup.
140mm f/2.8
30mm Arsat and an adapter from the Ukraine.

I spent $2,175 even just about, I think I did well considering most sell
north of $2,800-$3,000. I have a great warranty on everything except for
the Arsat, which is almost to be expected. Considering a skateboard
could fly at the lens it's at about the right price point, also it's a 18mm
equivalent which I'm actually use to using a 12mm equivalent when filming
skateboarding. It's a subtle difference you'd think but you can actually be a good
step further for the same framing thus ensuring...ahem, granting better safety.

Quite excited to test everything and proceed forward, perhaps by Friday
of next week.

 

[Kjarahz]

Well, I received everything Friday and got a chance to shoot with the kit yesterday.

Here is what I shot and developed last night:

Overall I'm very satisfied, I really had no issues with it except for the auto shutoff feature that
happens every 16 seconds, if you half press the shutter it comes on in under a second however.
Shooting sports, such as skateboarding I had to be mindful of this function. I can see where
it's a good function but I would like to increase the time if it was possible. One of those quarks
you just have to keep in mind when shooting it seems.

Everything was metered in camera, but I think I would like to stick with my hand meter in most
cases. More practice with it and testing will be a good thing, but even over exposing by two
stops I'm still not exposing for shadows it seems correctly, I was on center weight average but perhaps
I was not doing it right. Also it could just be my scanning skills, they are still a work in progress.
I think I should have gotten a bit more out of some of the shots in terms of brightness but
had to manually pump it a bit in LR5, not much most of my time was cloning out the dust particles.

The Contax 645 is an overgrown SLR and that's ultimately what I was going for. The ease of
shooting is there because of my comfort factor with a SLR. I loved my Hasselblad but it was
not convenient in it's construction for the type of photography I enjoy.

As a bonus the auto focus system is pretty fantastic. It got solid shots from the most part,
I kept it on manual but pressed the button to focus for me when needed and made adjustments
if warranted. Only a handful of shots were out of focus out of 3 rolls yesterday, and by handful I perhaps 3-4?
They weren't good shots and I wasn't bummed, which I suppose is luck of the draw anyway.
I would say that the AF gets you in the area of perfect focus, I would highly recommend verifying
by going in and out of focus to confirm. At f/2.8 you have a little bit of room and can sharpen after
to fudge the rest, which I did on some not many but still best to get right in the first place. Now
that I know I will make these adjustments each shot to verify.

All in all the system is great, it's possible to get in for a good price but not easily done, piece by piece. It's
a large upgrade over my Hasselblad for my shooting style and I get the option of portrait
or landscape again. This may sound silly but for me it means so much.

With all of that said, how are the shots?

If there is any questions about it since I have one in hand, let me know