Long-time Mamiya guy. Mainly M645, dabbled in the RB67 but never wanted to invest in the platform as it was really expensive at the time.
The M645 was like a 35mm SLR on steroids. It handled in a similar manner, yielded a large frame (6mm x 4.5mm) which was great for the landscape photography I liked to do, and the system was expansive and affordable. I had several Yashica 120 TLRs, all of which did a good job for a manual medium format camera. The real beauty of the M645 platform and the main reason why I preferred it was the availability of removable backs. I could load backs with B&W, color negative and Ektachrome or Kodachrome and be able to swap them out on the fly based on what I wanted to shoot and the image I wanted to attain. You can see a number of photos I shot with this setup on my website at http://penoff.com/Photos.html K&H Photo used to be a great place to snag medium format gear at a very good price, and their rating system is super conservative. I happened to look the place over a week or two ago when I was cleaning up my bookmarks and there seems to be little in the way of used medium format gear around. Not sure if they’re just not actively buying/selling much any more, or if there’s simply no demand and as a result no market. I’m surprised 120/220 film is readily available any more. -D > On Aug 18, 2021, at 12:27 PM, Jim Cathey via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > wrote: > >> So tonight I ordered up 5 rolls of 120 film > > Medium format excels at enlargements. I took a photo class with a friend > once, > I had a Mamiya C330 and he had a Minolta 35mm. We were photographing the > same subject matter. I wanted to blow up one corner of a frame, he said it'd > be grainy. It was not, he was amazed at how well it enlarged. (This was a > darkroom class we were taking.) > > Sort of a variant of the old automotive "No replacement for displacement." > > The Mamiya TLR's lenses are decent, but not spectacular. I have another old > folding Zeiss Ikon 120 camera that is really cool, but the lens on it is > truly mediocre. > You'd get better results from any average 35mm SLR camera. I have a plastic > Diana 120 fixed-focus camera that would be even worse than the folder. I've > never 'wasted' a roll of film in it, though. > > I shot a couple of family weddings with the Mamiya, B&W and with a Sunpak 622 > potato-masher combust-a-cat flash when necessary. Quantum turbo battery. A > real beast of a flash setup. Once I shot a roll of 120 color slide film, > just for fun. > BIG slides. This was all some time ago. Somewhere I scared up a roll of 120 > Kodachrome, but it can no longer be processed. I lost track of the roll of > film. > > The Mamiya TLR is outstanding for IR photography. All metal, with a separate > viewfinder lens so you can put a black #87 IR filter on the taking lens and > still frame > and focus normally. Just have to watch the standard TLR parallax issues, and > remember the standard IR focus compensation. > > I took old-timey portraits of my (now-deceased) parents with the Mamiya, I > printed > them on 16x20 paper and they got mounted in old oval glass frames my mom had > found somewhere. That session there were some straight poses, and some gag, > like the 'American Gothic' pose. Good times... > > -- Jim > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
