becoming increasingly interested in RF645

[sf]

What would be a reasonable price for a used Bronica RF645 in good shape?

I want to buy one, but don't want to spend more than I could get out of it if I sold it. I pretty much just want to use it for my trip overseas (for 11days), so I'd resell it when I get back.

 

[Nick R.]

I was going to suggest you rent one but the rental fees over 11 days will be a significant cost of the camera.

 

[sf]

yeah

yeah

that would be expensive. Samys here in LA has anything to rent. ANd everything. If I were to rent something, I'd rent a 612 camera. But, I think I'll just end up buying the Bronica on credit and paying it off in 12 months. Piece of cake. Right, that is what they all say before they are paying 30% interest on 1200 bucks.

KEH has great prices on the set. But no credit offers. WOuld have to use my card. Not happening. That card . . . . yikes.

 

[Doug]

Buying it and then keeping it would make sense... as long as it fits your future needs as well as the short-term. And seeing a need for it on vacation would imply you'd have uses for it beyond that, but that's for you to consider. I'd never consider buying a camera for vacation and then selling it after 11 days, but then I'm me and not you. 🙂

 

[sf]

well,

well,

yeah, I say I will sell it. I SAY that. I mean it now, but we all know how that goes. Chances are, I will fall in love with it and never let it go. The only reason I say I will sell it is because I don't have the money to afford it. I will have to use the credit line paypal gave me to pay for it, and then either spend the next year paying that off (VERY slowly), or just sell it and pay the debt off.

I'm a full time student, I don't work because. . . . well, I don't know, actually. Maybe I should get a job. I just hate to ever put anything before school on my list of priorities, and work doesn't make it easy. I've been working odd jobs and retail for over a decade, and am finished with that. Unless Glazer's in Seattle wants me.

But yes. I intend to sell it when i return. The chances are, knowing me, that I will indeed NOT sell it, and instead sell my digital to make up the cost. I have sold my digital once before. Selling it again would be hilarious. But worth it, perhaps. That Bronica excites me.

 

[aizan]

when the times comes to sell it, we'll be there for you.

stay strong, brutha. stay strong.

 

[lubitel]

I had a major bronica rf gas attack about 2 weeks ago. I got over it. Right now I am having a major Bessa R gas attack. Hopefully it wont last too long.
anyway.

why dont you get an Iskra? it will cost you no more than 200 bucks, and makes 6x6 negs. I read many good things about it about a month ago, when I had a major Iskra gas attack.

good luck

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

I think you should buy the Bronica for your vacation and then sell it for a small loss to me 🙂.

You can consider the loss as a rental fee and a good will jesture to a fellow RFF member.

Wayne

 

[Talisker]

Why do you want to buy a new camera to take on vacation? Surely you would be better off taking a camera that you know backwards rather than using a vacation to learn a new one, and end up missing or ruining shots that would normally be second nature. (And yes, I've been there, done that, and can still see the pictures I missed! ) 🙂

That said, I just succumbed to an RF645 myself, at 'UK sell off' prices, and its gorgeous! Hope I still think so when I get my first couple of rolls back later this week... Good shooting, whatever you decide.

 

[f/stopblues]

I've thought of doing something like you're suggesting for a trip, but I didn't end up doing it for one of the reasons mentioned above.. I'd rather take a familiar piece of equipment to a foreign place than try to learn the camera while in a photo-rich environment. On one hand, a camera is a camera, especially an RF. However, it can be as simple as your fingers moving swiftly to tweak your exposure or catching the right focus while you're wide open, etc to make the difference between a great shot and a near miss.

I'd say put as little between you and the "decisive moment" as possible. You can always buy it, learn it, and take it on your next trip. *Then* sell it to one of these guys 🙂

BTW, I nearly was GASsed by this camera as well. The single thing that kept me off of it is the vertical orientation of the frames. It's an inherent trait of any 645, but it seems like a great camera otherwise! It's a personal preference.

 

[Doug]

BTW, I nearly was GASsed by this camera as well. The single thing that kept me off of it is the vertical orientation of the frames. It's an inherent trait of any 645, but it seems like a great camera otherwise! It's a personal preference.

True, a personal preference, but with my 645 format RFs I've been doing a lot of environmental portraiture, often vertical in orientation, though it's not at all hard to use the camera for horizontals. Certainly no harder than using a 35mm camera for verticals...

in a recent thread I posted 5 photos shot with a Contax G in response to a question, and as it turned out all 5 were vertical orientation... Maybe I should object to the Contax on the basis of its horizontal preference? 😀

Actually, it's mainly the 645 rangefinder cameras that have the vertical orientation. I think all the 645 SLRs are horizontal, possibly excepting some basically 6x6 rigs that have a 645 option, like the Kiev 60 and Hasselblad.

 

[f/stopblues]

Actually, it's mainly the 645 rangefinder cameras that have the vertical orientation. I think all the 645 SLRs are horizontal, possibly excepting some basically 6x6 rigs that have a 645 option, like the Kiev 60 and Hasselblad.

Okay maybe I'm just scared of change 😎

I guess I assumed wrong on these cameras. Do the film spools sit top and bottom then, instead of side to side? I guess this would be like the difference between my C330 and GS-1. Learn something new every day 🙂

 

[Doug]

I guess I assumed wrong on these cameras. Do the film spools sit top and bottom then, instead of side to side? I guess this would be like the difference between my C330 and GS-1. Learn something new every day 🙂

Hi Chris -- 645 is a "half frame" format like 35mm half frame, only it's half the frame of 6x9... With your typical 35mm camera the film runs through left to right and the film frame is long in the same direction as the film, right? Same with 6x9... Now with half frame 35, you're still using the full 24mm of the frame but only 17-18mm in the long direction instead of 36mm, half the frame. Now when you still hold the camera horizontally (and the film running left-to-right) you get a vertical frame, 24mm high and 17+mm wide. And 72 shots on a roll of 36.

Same with 6x4.5cm RF cameras; you still get the 6cm but the 9cm direction is cut to 4.5cm. So you get twice as many shots on the roll (16 instead of 8 on 120 film), and for cameras with the film running horizontally, you get a vertical picture orientation.

But TLRs like your Mamiya C330 run the film vertically, bottom to top... and so does the typical 6x6 like the Hasselblad and 645 SLRs like the Mamiya and Pentax 645s. So these 645 guys get a horizontal frame orientation, still crossways to the film. I think there were a couple of 35mm half-frames that ran the film vertically too, like a movie camera.

Some folks like the square 6x6 format because you don't ever have to turn the camera on its side! There have been square 35's too, like the Robot and Tenax. I don't know about the GS-1 (6x7cm?), but the Mamiya RB and RZ can rotate their back to either vertical or horizontal framing. My big Pentax 67 runs its film left to right, so normally has horizontal picture orientation, like a giant 35 SLR, and gets 10 shots on a 120 roll.

Hope this makes sense... One of my first cameras back in the early 60's was a Petri half-frame, later I had an Olympus Pen D2, and I have some Pen F SLRs, so I'm used to the vertical framing, and it's easy for me to see that the 645 format is in a very similar situation too.