New to medium format

[infest]

Is it AF? Can you get a complete setup for under $1,000?

Great glass, bankrupting pricetag

It is AF, forget $ 1000 - it's more than than but you will never change then, so...

 

[IloveTLRs]

Oh no here we go again

What? What did I say?

 

[weasel]

I have recently been shooting both a pentax 67, and a 645. Both have great lenses, and in this day and age are cheap.
I had never used 6x4.5 before, but am really enjoying it. The pentax 645 is not much bigger than lots of 35 slrs, or big dslrs, and I find it very easy to use. One big plus for my bifocal eyes is that it is one of the few cameras I own that I can see the entire viewfinder with. I have a 50 and 150 for it, and it makes a nice package to carry around and shoot much like one would a 35. The meter is accurate, has several modes. It is a really nice machine.
The 67 is a much bigger brute, but that goes with the territory of the bigger neg. The lenses are outstanding, and cheap. Really no big negatives to the camera that I can find, as long as you don't need interchangable backs, and can live with slower synch speeds (unless you buy a leaf shutter lens.)
MF has gotten so cheap these days, it is pretty much a matter of preference. My only advice would be to watch out for stuff that has been worked to death in a studio somewhere.

 

[dynachrome]

You can do very nice work with an inexensive TLR but the slow pace might be frustrating. For not too much money I would recommend a Bronica SQ-A with a waist level finder, an 80/2.8 lens and a 120 back. A nice strap should be available from Tamron, KOH's, KEH or someone on eBay. You will need a separate meter with this set-up.

 

[makan]

To get the taste of something special try the old Mamiya Universal with a 50mm lens and a 6x9 film format. Then you get really hooked on the MF.

 

[TimVance]

If you want quality and don't want to spend alot of money buy a yashica 124g. keh.com.

 

[Glenn M]

It was asked: "How do RB67 lenses rate, good one's bad one's?"

Any of their Sekor C lenses, and especially the K/L lenses, are superb... I don't believe any of them are bad. Another commented they didn't like the 50mm... but personally it's one of my favorite lenses. It is a little bit more unforgiving than the 65mm and takes some forethought to use it due to the ultra-wideness of its images, but it's tack-sharp as most of Mamiya's stable of lenses. By the way, my favorite of all their lenses is their 75mm f4.5 K/L Tilt/Shift lens. It's big, it's heavy, it operates differently than their others (lens has a separate mechanism for cocking the shutter unlike all their others), but the length is moderately wide, it's arguably the sharpest lens they make, and the tilt/shift function enables one to correct perspective similar to large format cameras.

On Mamiya lenses, I'd be sure to buy only lenses rated VERY high (Excellent++ or Mint), as there are lots of older ones that have been abused and/or used very hard. I also would only buy Sekor C or K/L variants, and not the older uncoated Sekors.

 

[Soeren]

What? What did I say?

Well nothing really but A: recommend P6X7 B: mention mirror induced vibration C:says No problem and D: go on with shutter induced B:says...? C: denies.... etc.
Not your fault.
Kind regards

 

[davetravis]

Hi SM76,
Welcome to apug.
You need to explain why mf would suit you in the analog world.
Why not sf, or lf?
What do you want to do?