Like I REALLY needed it....

R

remrf

AZRF
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Nov 6, 2005
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Tucson, Az.
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I'm so weak. My friend and fellow photographer Bill recently purchased a Kiev 645 and three Sonnar lenses for it. The first chromes were stunning in their clarity and sharpness. At about the same time I got my Rolleicord and this also put out an outstanding image.

Bill was grousing earlier today that the Minolta Autocords he had been watching were going for more money than he was willing to part with. He then sent me a couple of urls listing two Mamiya 645 bodies with a bin price under $100.00. He asked me to lead him from temptation. The dog.

Yes...,

Sigh...

We both bought one. Both w/no lens, no finder and 220 magazines. I also bought a Kiev to Maiya 645 lens adaptor.

And I am now stalking accessories.

And the beat goes on.
 
Hey wait a minnit...

that looks suspiciously like an SLR.

GET IM!
 
are you messing with me or did I really just show my ass on that one?
Isn't the 645 an SLR? That looks like an SLR.

now I'm confused.
 
No, you were right. I was messing with you. But in a way I was right too. If you think about it the 645 is a little view camera. It has interchangable lenses and has a ground glass for focus and framing. So does a normal view camera. The "reflex' portion is achieved when you bounce the image off at least one mirror instead of reading backwards and upsidedown on the ground glass.. Although I don't own one there are several reflex viewing backs available for LF 4x5" cameras. When installed you have one big assed slr. The 645 has one mirror infront of the film plane rather than behind .

But I thought this was the "other" forum and even lowly slr's could be discussed? 🙄
 
Oh baby. Those are great cameras. I am a great fan of the Mamiya SLRs. In my opinion, the 645 Mamiya lenses are the best of the best in that format SLR. The 80mm 2.8 and 1.9 (I think it's 1.9) are fantastic lenses, beautiful bokeh - incredible for portraits. The longer lenses too. Not to mention, there are so many lenses and accessories to choose from. Not a bad choice for the money. You could built a very durable and reliable 645 SLR for under $300 at that rate.

My Avatar photo was taken with a Mamiya 645E - close enough. Avatar - the pano-cropped photo of the girl on the road that is the Shutterflower icon.

Here is the larger size - most of the portraits on that site are taken with the Mamiya 645 80mm lens - the black and white ones.

http://www.shutterflower.com/facepage.htm
 
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I have a Mamiya 645j coming my way. 75 Euro shipped, including waist level finder, grip and 120 filmback. I was considering buying a Kiev 88 cm, but this seemed a much better solution. I also bought a Kiev/Pentacon to Mamiya adapter. I all should arrive this week.

Shutterflower: I love the portraits on your site.

Wim
 
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