Quest for a portable MF camera.

Fuji GS645W, small, light, scale focus and without the crashbar at the front to get in the way. Has a good meter in the VF too.
 
mamiya 6
mamiya 7
plaubel makina 67, 670, 670w
zeiss ikon super ikonta III, IV
fuji gs645, gs645s, gs645w
bronica rf 645
hasselblad swc

pentax 6x7, 67 with prism finder
hasselblad 500 c/m with prism finder
rolleiflex with prism finder
mamiya 645 with prism finder
...
 
thegman said:
I'm in the UK, so I need to stick on 20% plus more for import duties etc. I'm also not sure about the serviceability of the Makina, although it is quite tiny.

If one was at the right price it could find it's way onto my list.

Thanks

Garry
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Makina service is very good, just send it back to the makers in Germany. Nice people to deal with although not cheap.
I had one from new, sent it off after many years of use for an overhaul and clean etc, it was quite rough, it spent many years banging around in whatever it would fit in. It came back feeling like a new camera, but I dropped it before getting the first roll through and wrote it off.
It was a great camera, I sold lots of images from it and shot an entire magazine article with it once. Still I prefer using a Rollei for fun these days.
Not a rangefinder but there is always the Pentax 67, lots of bits for them on ebay, you could build a good kit for smallish money.
I had a mamiya 645 once (not for long), every picture felt like it was the last one it could manage, after Hasselblad, Linhof and Rollei it felt like a cheap toy.
Kevin.
 
Thanks for the input, in the end I got a Fotoman 69, which I like to pretend is an Alpa. Joking aside, it's a great camera.
 
+1 on the Perkeo. It's seriously only a little bigger than the Olympus XA. Much more compact than any Lecia M camera, because it's collapsible.
 
digitalintrigue said:
Well said...I followed the same path and ended up with a GA645zi. I think it's fantastic and as you say considerably less than a Mamiya 6 or 7 (I've owned a 6 previously.)

It just fit all the criteria I had. Yeah, the lens could be faster but I'm using it for landscapes so I don't really need it to be faster. It's very well built, and light, so I have no excuse not to carry it...ergonomically it fits the hand perfectly.

And the price didn't break the bank. I got an essentially perfect one here from an RFFer. Portrait orientation in my case is solved my turning the camera 90 degrees. :)
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kuzano said:
Re: 645 and portrait vs landscape. You can have your cake and eat it!

First, the criteria that forces portrait vs. landscape on 645 is whether the camera is rangefinder (horizontal transport) or SLR (usually vertical transport)

645 has to be transported vertically to be a landscape mode format. If 120/220 film is transported horizontally, then frame opening can only be portrait.

...

That was my 645 choice until I started using the 645 rangefinders. However frustrated by the portrait format, I finally came to a conclusion. My final 645 choice for all it's finer functions was the Fuji GA645Zi. A superb camera, with:

1) Great autofocus
2) sharp lens
3) zoom from 55mm to 90mm
4) excellent metering
5) quiet on both film transport and shutter sound -SO quiet
6) Reliable, I had about 5 of them, and one was still going strong at 34,000 plus actuations
7) manual override.

....
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+ 1 to all of this.

I'll just add: for my purposes I found that to take a landscape shot, I simply need to turn the camera 90 degrees. It's not a Hasselblad, after all :).

The Fuji GA645zi is a total winner, in my book.

Oh, and here is my review/overview of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_pybwbc0tQ
 
How do you like the Fotoman?

I felt strongly about the 6x7 size (as a minimum) when I was making this choice and ended up deciding on a Mamiya 7II with the standard 80mm lens (a combination that I still really enjoy). This may sound odd, but I shoot it with flash quite a lot, so it has worked for me.

The Fotoman system is certainly very appealing though. There are lots of times that I wish I could use ground glass with the Mamiya! Are you using your Fotoman with the rangefinder accessory too?
 
Koni-Omega (Rapid, Rapid M, 100, 200). Big and heavy 6x7 rangefinder, imited range of lenses (58mm/60mm, 90mm, 135mm-rare, 180mm), but can be found quite cheaply. I love mine.
 
thegman said:
Thanks for the input, in the end I got a Fotoman 69, which I like to pretend is an Alpa. Joking aside, it's a great camera.
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Interesting camera for sure! Never heard of this one, even more intriguing that it is made by a small Chinese manufacturer and appears to be of very high quality. Best of luck with it.
 
How about one of these?
sdfsd.jpg


I bought it for £20 and the picture quality is just fantastic.
Here are some samples:

2659877154_994f03b656_z.jpg


2550720341_1461de61d8_z.jpg


3668632122_46c422440a_z.jpg
 
Seconded. My Nettar produces remarkable results, and if judged purely on portability and value it's the best medium format camera I've ever had.

Regards,
D.
 
If that's the so-called Signal Nettar (red flag appears in the finder when you've taken a picture), then I agree -- the picture I've gotten with mine and its humble Novar are most impressive.
 
I have a Ikoflex Ib with a Tessar 75 f/3.5. The only difference i can see is that the tessar, wide open, doesn't have this swirling effect (compared to Novar).
 
thegman said:
Thanks for the input, in the end I got a Fotoman 69, which I like to pretend is an Alpa. Joking aside, it's a great camera.
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I'd love to see some photos of it. What lens (or lenses) do you use it with? And what format (6x7 or 6x9)?
 
ChrisN said:
I'd love to see some photos of it. What lens (or lenses) do you use it with? And what format (6x7 or 6x9)?
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I've got a 47mm on 6x9, I've not taken anything particularly exciting with it yet, but the test rolls I've shot show it to be very sharp.

I'll post something when I've got something worth posting!
 
I used to have the use of a Hasselblad with the 45-degree finder and grip. It was a pretty nice combo for eye-level shooting, I thought. A little silly-looking, but it worked well, and wasn't too heavy.
 
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