Its why Im here, trying to get help from people who USE the cameras. And you guys all seem to be pretty damned decent. Even with someone who only knows enough about the subject to be very dangerous.
Im not exactly concerned about weight at all. My nikon D7500 weighs 1.41 lb / 640 g (Body Only) and my sigma 150-600mm contemporary weighs 4.03 lb / 1830 g. Its a hefty load, prone to make your arms and pectorals ripple like the men shown on covers of a romance novel, but THAT has been my go to setup for the last year. Sure i havent been able to do photo work this winter very often but its what i have ready to go.
And I seem to be confusing the group so I will relist my thinking on the subject.
I need the ability to have an actual view finder, the waist level view finder is a negative for me as the EXPERIENCE i have with my Diacord G is less then good. With my eyes I have to put it on a flat solid stationary surface and get about 3 inches away from it with my eye in order to get things FOCUSED. Sure i can SEE through it fine, but to get a photo that doesnt look like big foot running through the woods its HARD.
Electronics are an unpleasant fact of life. The newest and best of the pentax and mamiya and bronica lines have no option but to embrace built in electronics like auto focus and light meters. MY CONCERN is that the amount of money for it, makes me want a camera that can work even if the light meter dies or the auto focus system goes kaput.
And I am concerned about basic reliability of the camera as i have READ on filmphotography forum threads were the person gets a medium format SLR, and while winding to frame 4 of their third roll of film in it, something in the film mechanism goes SNAP and they have a paperweight.
What id like to do, wildlife photography. And perhaps someday human photography. But the immediate out come id like is to sit on my back deck and get some good pictures of a baby deer and momma or a nice close up of a chickadee, and if its sharp enough, enlarge it out to a poster and put it on my wall.
I would not be able to reliably cite exactly when, SLRs of most formats before a certain year (let's say shortly before 1980) were mostly mechanically timed shutters and the battery only served to power the meter, if one was present in the body.Electronics is not a fact of life in the film world. There are many all mechanical cameras: Hasselblad, Rollei, Leica, Minolta. You will find many here that avoid electronic cameras on one format or another.
My suggestion is not a SLR, but it has some characteristics of SLR's. The Mamiya C series of TLR's have interchangeable lens, can use a prism finder and do not require electronics. They are also affordable.
No one pursuing the advantages of roll film, incredible detail and image integrity, will hand hold such a camera and accept soft images from random camera shake.
And we're back to RB67, at least for what I'm reading that you want.
I have 645, 6x6 (via Graflex 22 roll film back) and 6x7 backs for mine. The 6x6 doesn't provide dark slide interlock and because the other 120 backs are first-gen (Pro rather than ProS or ProSD) they don't have double exposure interlock, but aside from the meter in my chimney finder, these are battery free, 100% mechanical -- and with the shutter in the lens, if a shutter goes down a lens switch will get me back to a working shutter, so I don't have to poke at it and try to figure out if it's broken or just jammed when I should be composing and exposing.
Lenses range from 37mm fisheye, 50mm rectilinear, to 360 or 500 mm (I've got a 50, 90, and 250, plus a 2x teleconverter). The 50 and 65 are retrofocus (37mm too), 90 and 127 normal, 150 and longer are "tele" -- with the result that the balance and weight don't change much as you swap lenses, and all of them except the fisheye take 77mm filters. Put on a prism finder (under $100 when I got mine) and left hand grip (includes a trigger with simple lever to operate the body mounted shutter release), with a good strap (special strap lugs are easy to get on eBay) it's a fairly comfortable walking-around camera that really builds upper body strength -- and because of the rotating back, there's no turning the camera on its side to switch from vertical to horizontal.
Film backs are repairable items, and of course they come off quickly and easily in case of problems. If you get extra film backs, you can preload and swap backs in seconds, or carry one with fast, one with slow, or one color and one B&W. Film backs are reasonably priced, too (though the 645 is probably higher, because it's less common, and the Mamiya 6x6 back is pretty rare, any 2x3 Graflok mount film back will work, with loss of dark slide and double exposure interlock functions). There's even (intermittently) an Instax back for the system.
1. I have seen it stated that the bellows focusing system allows ANY lens to become a MACRO lens. Is this true?
2. How many options for view finder are there? I KNOW about the standard Waist Level Viewfiender, and the Eye Level prism. But I have seen at least one youtube video that appears to have a "chimney with light meter" mounted on one, but it might have been a later rZ67 model.
3. Do you think 1/400 shutter speed is an actual hindrance to getting photographs when you consider that it works fine with reciprocal aperture/shutter speed/iso systems like hazy 8?
Nice shots Howard. Sharp nice tones.Personally, I have had Bronica SQ-A and ETRSi cameras and the battery dependency has not worried me. Failures in these cameras usually do not appear to be the electronic shutters, but rather mechanical issues with the backs or winding mechanisms. I don't think the overall reliability of these cameras is particularly worse than comparable-budget mechanical alternatives like Pentacon, Kiev, Kowa or Bronica S series. Based on your interest in wildlife, meaning long lenses, I would go for 645 format if possible, but I think all native 645 format cameras with prism finders are battery-dependent.The Bronica ETRSi with the speed grip and prism was a particularly ergonomic package that could be used with wildlife, although frankly, there is a reason most film wildlife photography is shot with 35mm SLRs.
1. Here's details on macro shots with just the various lenses.From what I am seeing online, the RB 67 does seem to be the camera that fits my needs. I just have a few questions on it that have me a tad confused.
1. I have seen it stated that the bellows focusing system allows ANY lens to become a MACRO lens. Is this true?
2. How many options for view finder are there? I KNOW about the standard Waist Level Viewfiender, and the Eye Level prism. But I have seen at least one youtube video that appears to have a "chimney with light meter" mounted on one, but it might have been a later rZ67 model.
3. Do you think 1/400 shutter speed is an actual hindrance to getting photographs when you consider that it works fine with reciprocal aperture/shutter speed/iso systems like hazy 8?
You can buy a Mamiya 67 as a complete kit on Ebay, if buy from KEH and a few other sites you need to build a kit as KEH usually sells body, backs, finders and lens separately. In your case that can be an advantage as you can pick the finder you want along with a longer starting lens, like a 250 range to get you started with wildlife.
From what I am seeing online, the RB 67 does seem to be the camera that fits my needs. I just have a few questions on it that have me a tad confused.
1. I have seen it stated that the bellows focusing system allows ANY lens to become a MACRO lens. Is this true?
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