What is you favorite type of medium format camera?

[graywolf]

One of the interesting things about medium format film cameras is the wide variety of types that were made: folding cameras, twin lens reflex, single lens reflex, rangefinder, blind focus, panoramic, rotating lens panoramic, press cameras. The list goes on and on. So I am wondering which type you prefer?

Myself, I love TLR's for shooting, and folding RF's for carrying.

 

[segedi]

Really like both SLRs and rangefinders.
Have a Bronica RF645 that is small and great for travel, an RZ that's not, but love the bellows focusing and a Hasselblad that is Goldilocks! Would like to try out one of the new folders though.

 

[Klainmeister]

I've always preferred RFs....usually more compact, and it adds to the mystery of the development not knowing exactly what you captured.

 

[bblhed]

I love folders, it is so nice to be able to take a photo then just drop the camera back into your pocket. In fact now that Spring is here, the camera I have with me for shooting today is my Brownie Autographic #2 folding camera. This camera doesn't see much action in Winter, but from the warm part of Spring until the cold part of Fall it is my pocket snapshot camera.

While I love the simplicity of my Brownie, I really want the Fujifilm GF670 mainly because I love broke, and with the Brownie just about everything is in focus. The Fujifilm also has the added bonus of having a built in light meter, and well not that it makes it any better, but it is about 90 years newer.

I love the looks I get when I take out my folding camera some place and people stop and stare.

 

[Klainmeister]

Ah man, how is the GF670?! I've been aching to use one.

 

[yulia_s_rey]

Folding, theres a certain romance to them. The Adox Golf being a prime example of simplicity & beauty.

 

[hpulley]

When I want total control only an SLR will do which is my RB67.

When I want to just put it in my pocket just in case you can't beat a nice folder and I use my old Tourist with Anaston 105mm f/4.5 for that.

For a light walkaround for candids I like a TLR like my Yashicaflex.

 

[Rick A]

I've always favored the TLR, even though I love folders. I just like the way they feel in my hands and the look of the body.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

I'm a TLR guy, probably because they tend to be less expensive than MF SLR and can still sport great lenses.

I first fell in love with a Yashica D which got sold when I got a Rollei T, which got sent back to KEH because it was defective, and replaced by a Mamiya C330 kit, and now complemented by a nicely working Rolleiflex MX-EVS type2.

I have an Isolette as well, but the lens is nowhere near the quality of the other cameras.

 

[photoncatcher]

I love my rb67 kit, but it can be a bit of a beast to carry in the field. That's when my Koni-Omega rapid comes out to play. As others have said, the old folders also have an important place, so my beautiful old Zeiss-Ikon fits that bill to perfection.

 

[elekm]

I prefer a folding camera.

 

[benjiboy]

I use TLRs, I bought a Mamiya C330F system second hand twenty three years ago and it has been utterly reliable since I've owned it, I love it's mechanical simplicity, straight film path, and fixed mirror it's leaf shutters make it particularly suitable for fill in flash for portrait, social and wedding photography, the Mamiya C system is the only TLR that has a range of interchangeable lenses and I'm happy with mine and can see no reason to change it. I had it CLA'd last year and expect it will last another twenty three years.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I love my RB67, it is kinda heavy. For light weight I use my Rolleiflex.

Jeff

 

[36cm2]

Really surprised at all the love for folders. I totally agree, my Perkeo just holds a special place for me. I guess I just expected slr's to dominate for their precision and, depending on the camera, better optics.

 

[pbromaghin]

The 1948 Zeiss Ikonta 521 folder with tmax 400 has become my walking around camera. I got it last year as the cheapest entry I could find into MF. It feels wonderful in the hands, much like my old (but much newer) Pentax ME Super. The precision of the unfolding and the whole concept of a pocket MF camera bring so much pleasure to shooting. The sunny 16 exposure and zone focusing have taught me much in the last year. Oh, and yes it does get looks and questions.

Not for walking around, but amazing in the quality of the image it captures, is the Mamiya C33 tlr that I've had for only 3 weeks. Still getting to know each other, we can be painfully slow to set up a shot. I love the solidity, the weight, and the flexibility of interchangeable lenses. When using it, I know the quality of my work will never be limited by my equipment.

Both of these cameras have an excellence of engineering and elegant mechanical simplicity that you can't find in digiplastic. Heck, the C33 manual took 20 minutes to read. It's almost embarrassing, the amount of respectability that the reflected glory of these cameras gives to a beginner hack like me.

 

[moki]

I love SLRs and TLRs... SLRs for their versatility and TLRs for their quietness and robustness. Sometimes, it's more useful to have different, easily changeble lenses and film magazins and sometimes it's just nicer when the shutter goes off with an almost silent "click" instead of a rattling mirror slap.

Could never get used to rangefinders and and folding cameras, though. Always had problems with focussing them exactly in 35mm and I don't think, it becomes any easier in medium format. Compactness is no real reason for me. If I want a compact camera, I simply use a smaller film format. I still have my Weltax 6x6 folding camera, but I only bought that one, because I didn't want to spend too much on my start in medium format. Sure, some of them look beautiful, but I still prefer usability over beauty.

 

[photobum]

My all round favorite camera is my Rollei TLR. But the vast majority of my M/F shooting is with a 6X7 Plaubel Makita. For the way I print the bigger negative wins out. And oh yeah, I would really like one of those new Fuji's. If it was only a $1,000. cheaper.

 

[drkhalsa]

I've grown very fond of my Pentax 6x7. I like heavy cameras and would someday like to get an RZ.

 

[R gould]

I love both Folders, both rangefinder and non rangefinder, and TLR's and have several Folder's and 3 TLR's 2 rollei's and a weltaflex, Richard

 

[Man from moon]

mamiya 645 AFD It's my dream Girl

but i still love my 35MM Nikon F5

 

[Vaughn]

TLR -- it is what I learned with, and 35 years later still enjoy using one. I have a folder I should use just to see how I like it (A Zeiss Ikon 2 1/4 x 3 1/4).

Vaughn

 

[removed-user-1]

If I was forced to pick one type of medium format camera, it would be the SLR for that nice big focus screen, specifically the RB67 for the revolving back, leaf-shutter lenses, and the bellows focusing. MF rangefinders like the Fuji GS645s would be a close second.

 

[DWThomas]

For my most "serious work" I prefer my SLR, a Bronica SQ-A, for casual use, I like my Perkeo II folder. When I can't decide, there's a Yashica MAT 124G TLR.

 

[2F/2F]

My favorite for functionality and practicality is an SLR. My favorite medium format SLR is the Mamiya RB or RZ, followed by Mamiya 645 and Hassy (though I do not own a Hassy). The most enjoyable to shoot when I can work at my own pace is a TLR. I use the Mamiya C system primarily, and recently added a Rolleiflex 3.5F for times when I don't want to bring the Mamiya system with me. It is more of a "grab and go" camera. The least fun to use for me is a rangefinder. But I love the aspect ratio and the quality of the negatives my Mamiya Press 6x9 cameras provide. When I can deal with the size and slowness, I shoot a Universal or a Super 23. I have and use all three, depending. I never enjoyed using folders all that much ("pocketable" is rarely important to me), but I love my Brownie No. 2 120 box camera.

 

[SafetyBob]

36 years ago I started with a borrowed yashica 124G. 34 years later, I found a nicely kept one from a ma and pa photo studio in southern Oklahoma. For being used in a studio situation it was in beautiful condition. I just did a side by side comparison with this old camera and my newer Mamiya 645 Pro and couldn't really tell that much difffernce between the two cameras in my very limited testing for a specific photo shoot.

That said, the 645 Pro is just way to easy to use and get spectacular results from. Unforunately, my subjects are usually moving so it is a far greater challange to get things in focus, but when everything is right.......I don't need to tell this crowd.....it can be art. Oh I need to get an RB or RZ........

Bob