Still debating on my final medium format camera. Need advice.

Analogski said:

But does zone focusing work on a Rolleiflex? And are the results ok?

Interesting! Is that THE formula for flash photography with the Rolleiflex? I'm thinking about buying a flash and do some work indoors, but I have no experience at all how to synchronize it all.

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Caution: this comes from an autodidactic dilletante such as myself. But it sounds as if you are still in the process of mastering the basics of photography. Like several members said before - use your gear (a Rolleiflex TLR has been used by many pro photographers), maybe take some courses....a new camera/system will throw you back into managing its idiosyncratic features.

RezaLoghme said:

What is the name of Hasselblad's 645 Autofocus film camera?

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H1 for sure was developed first and foremost as a film camera. The H series evolved into a digital line, but other H series cameras may also be compatible with film backs - I'm not that familiar with the system.

Fuji and Hasselblad had a partnership for the H1, and the camera was released in Japan as the Fuji GX645AF.

osullic said:

H1 for sure was developed first and foremost as a film camera. The H series evolved into a digital line, but other H series cameras may also be compatible with film backs - I'm not that familiar with the system.

Fuji and Hasselblad had a partnership for the H1, and the camera was released in Japan as the Fuji GX645AF.

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Every day is school day! I love Hasselblad, but I had no idea about the H1 (and looking it up, I know why). The Rolls Royce Camargue of Hasselblads?

I don't really get the Camargue reference - I'm not really a car guy - but around the turn of the new millennium, Hasselblad knew that the future of photography was not in clinging hopelessly to their V system. Equally, I don't think they foresaw how quickly digital would take over. (Did anyone?) Hasselblad's compromise was the H series of autofocus 645 cameras that came out in 2002. I don't know how successful the line was overall, but it kept Hasselblad afloat I guess, and was aimed squarely at professional studio photographers.

It has a modular design, and while initially developed as a film camera, as I said, the H series morphed into a line of digital-focused cameras. Lenses were developed in cooperation with Fuji (rather than Zeiss) and I read somewhere years ago that they also worked with Minolta on the autofocus system. I believe the H system overall performed just as you'd expect from Hasselblad's reputation and high standards.

Now that everyone has moved on to mirrorless systems, Hasselblad promotes more their new X system, but you can still access info about the H6D on their website.

Yeah, still trying to figure it out. But it messes a little bit with my brain because the little glass window beneath the sports finder turns the damn world upside down...
But does zone focusing work on a Rolleiflex? And are the results ok?

In most cases, covering news shots would be at infinity, but as I recall, once you have your distance figured out zone focus works pretty well. Many news photographers in the 40s and 50s used 4X5 Speed Graphic and other press cameras without the rangefinder as they got really good at judging distance. In WWII most of the U.S Army's Speeds did not have rangefinders. I only shot a Rolliflex once or twice, don't recall how the sports finder works. With Yashica 124 and D, the front panel of the viewing hoods folds down and clicks in the down position, the back panel has a viewing slot the back window and the from window creates the spots finder. Viewing done at eye level, but no paralex correction, need to give the shot some room for imperfect viewing.

Here is a link the the yashica 124 manual, shows how the sports finder works.

Paul Howell said:

Yeah, still trying to figure it out. But it messes a little bit with my brain because the little glass window beneath the sports finder turns the damn world upside down...
But does zone focusing work on a Rolleiflex? And are the results ok?

In most cases, covering news shots would be at infinity, but as I recall, once you have your distance figured out zone focus works pretty well. Many news photographers in the 40s and 50s used 4X5 Speed Graphic and other press cameras without the rangefinder as they got really good at judging distance. In WWII most of the U.S Army's Speeds did not have rangefinders. I only shot a Rolliflex once or twice, don't recall how the sports finder works. With Yashica 124 and D, the front panel of the viewing hoods folds down and clicks in the down position, the back panel has a viewing slot the back window and the from window creates the spots finder. Viewing done at eye level, but no paralex correction, need to give the shot some room for imperfect viewing.

Here is a link the the yashica 124 manual, shows how the sports finder works.

https://cameramanuals.org/yashica_pdf/yashica_mat-124g-english.pdf

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*cough*
OP said "something intuitive and relatively fast to operate", now we are talking Speed Graphic stories.

Analogski said:

Yeah, still trying to figure it out. But it messes a little bit with my brain because the little glass window beneath the sports finder turns the damn world upside down...
But does zone focusing work on a Rolleiflex? And are the results ok?

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The little glass window beneath the sports finder is for focusing. Only. There is a mirror behind the magnifying glass and when you deploy the sports finder, the mirror swings down. You can now focus while using the sports finder, a major problem with other sports finders. So you can have the cmaera at eye level, follow kids or such easier, and be able to check focus in the process. Not as fast and smooth as, say, an integrated rangefinder camera, but better than needing to close the sports finder, use the waist level to focus, reset the sports finder, and hope your subject hasn't moved much.

Zone focusing is zone focusing. You have an F, yes? The moving black bars above the focus knob give an idea of depth of field/zone of focus.

Other cameras may do it more intuitively or more sophisticated, but the Rolleiflex did provide tools for most photographic situations. Heck, you can add a rangefinder to the sports finder if the upside down focus is not working.

RezaLoghme said:

*cough*
OP said "something intuitive and relatively fast to operate", now we are talking Speed Graphic stories.

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My point is that in the day, zone focusing for fast moving assignments was standard, not I would use zone focus if I could help it. I would think about a Pentax or Mamiya 645 system.