Cheap Medium Format Cameras with Meters

[clarence]

Hello,

I was just wondering if there are any medium-format folders or TLRs out there with meters that are not prohibitively expensive or rare.

It's funny how there are so many old 35mm cameras with meters, but few medium format cameras have them. I have a few pet theories on why but they all lead to dead ends.

Clarence

 

[ChadHahn]

It's not a folder or a TLR, but the Mamiya 645e has a meter and is cheap.

The back doesn't come off and neiter does the finder but it takes good pictures.

 

[cmedin]

Yashica-Mat 124G can be had inexpensively and does have a decent meter. $150 or less.

 

[ferider]

Not a TLR but a 500EL with Kiev prism should do it. US 200-250 total.

Roland.

 

[kuzano]

The man who can answer your questions about MF folders and meters sells folders on eBay. He specialized in refurbishing and renewing folding cameras. Very reputable. I have done biz with him a few time. He did a bellows for me on a Mamiya Six folder, and resilvered a mirror on on the rangefinder of a Mamiya Auto Six folder. His user name on eBay is Certo6. His name is Jurgen Krenckel. I don't know anyone else who may know more about old folders.

What you're asking is a tough call. Folding cameras were in decline in favor of 35mm around the time that meters started appearing. Zeiss Ikon and a couple of others built meters into their MF folders. Others slipped accessory meters into the flash shoe. In almost all cases the meters gave you a reading and you set the f-stop and shutter speed manually. With that in mind, using a handheld meter is certainly an option.

The other consideration is that the meters of that era were selenium cell (No battery) and most of those meters by now are inaccurate at best. Selenium meters that have been closeted away for the last 60 years and not exposed to the light can be fairly accurate.

Jurgen has a web site, but I don't have that right now. You can navigate to his web site from his listings on eBay if you read his listings closely.

There were more TLR cameras with meters, but again, many of those were selenium. I had a Zeiss Ikoflex that had a meter that was actually accurate. TLR were marketed much longer than folding medium format cameras, so they did make it into the CD cell (with battery) era. I think someone earlier mentioned a YashicaMat TLR, which were very good cameras. The film format for most TLRs using 120 film was 6X6, while folders came in 6X4.5, 6X6 and 6X9 commonly.

Jurgen is the guy to talk to.

 

[dpetrzelka]

The Mamiya C22, C33 and C330s can be had at reasonable prices, and youo can add a metered prism finder .

 

[mervynyan]

Yashica Mat 124G, cheap, lens has some unique old lens characters, but the battery is getting rarer to find. there is an easier work-around.

 

[sooner]

I just bought a Minolta Autocord with meter off Evay for $117, which was a good price, albeit from a seller with mixed feedback...and I have yet to receive the camera.

 

[rxmd]

I got a Yashica 12 for 40 EUR or so. There were a number of more obscure TLRs with meters besides the ubiquitous and overpriced Yashicamat 124G; they're worth looking for.

 

[P C Headland]

There is one lower end Agfa Isolette and one of the Ikontas that come with a meter.

If you want one with a rangefinder and a meter, and don't want to spend what it'd take to get and Agfa 66, there is the Agilux Agifold. Uncoupled RF and extinction meter.

YashicaMat LMs have built in meters - mine is reasonably accurate too.

 

[Solinar]

I used to own a Super Ikonta IV that had a selenium meter which was usually spot on in daylight, but it relied on EV readings. Those readings then needed to be transfered as a shutter/aperture combinations. I generally found it to be less fiddly and quicker to use my hand-held meter.

 

[clarence]

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions.

kuzano, Solinar, rxmd, PC Headland>What puzzles me is that so many lower-end 35mm cameras were made around the same period with selenium meters, whereas the same trend does not occur among medium format cameras. Of course, today's second-hand prices are a poor reflection of the original prices, but I believe folders were targeted at what we now call the pro-sumer market (correct me if I am wrong).

Until now, I had never thought about getting a medium format camera with a meter since I almost always use a handheld meter. It was a colleague of mine who had planted the seed; he was looking for a metered medium format folder and asked me for recommendations.

Clarence

 

[shadowfox]

Until now, I had never thought about getting a medium format camera with a meter since I almost always use a handheld meter. It was a colleague of mine who had planted the seed; he was looking for a metered medium format folder and asked me for recommendations.

Clarence

Tell him that any working Medium Format folder would fit his requirement, because he has already got a built-in meter. His eyes and brain 🙂 and some light reading online about a black art called "sunny-16 rule".

and... it's cheap.