Mamiya 645 AF Polaroid Back

[RadRaven]

Hi,

I have recently acquired a Mamiya 645 AF and a Polaroid Back and I'm having trouble to get it to work properly...
I bought a roll of Fuji FP-100C Professional Instant Color Film ISO 100 and I believe I'm loading it correctly, but I'm only getting a little frame exposed on the pictures that come out...?!
The frame is the exact size and position of the opening that the darkslide covers... Shouldn't I be getting the whole picture exposed? The outcome looks awesome, but having only like a third of the picture exposed just doesn't make much sense to me...?! :bang:
What could I be doing wrong? Am I missing a part?

Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanx! 😉


T ; )~

 

[sevo]

I'm only getting a little frame exposed on the pictures that come out...?!

Assuming "little" to be a 56x42mm window, that is perfectly right and the expected behaviour, true to the name M645 - it does not have a bigger image window or shutter, so you get the same on Polaroid as on film.

If you are really missing part of the image and can exclude that the camera irself has failed (and is capping or has lost flash sync), you may have the film loaded some way that the gate gets obstructed.

Using Polaroid with 6x4.5 or 24x36 cameras (there were Pola backs for many pro Nikons) was really only done as a exposure/lighting control on very expensive jobs, and is indeed obsolete now, as any DSLR and even quality compacts can be carried along for that purpose, at a fraction of the cost. I hope you did not spend too much on the back.

Sevo

 

[RadRaven]

Thank you for your reply.

No, I it it on ebay for $50, but would I have know, I probably wouldn't have bought... Thought I was going to get a whole picture... and therefore have a really useable Polaroid camera with lens options... oh well... 🙁
Would you happen to know what would be a good camera to put a polaroid back and get a full picture, with interchangeable lenses?

Thanx!

T ; )~

 

[rjbuzzclick]

I use a Polaroid 405 back on my Speed Graphic. In this case, the film is a bit smaller than the 4x5 image area of the camera, and also slightly off center too, but it hasn't been and issue for me.

 

[RadRaven]

Is this also true for Hasselblads? Or would I get a full Pollaroid pictures with a Hassie and a Polaroid back?

Thanx!

T ; )~

 

[sevo]

Is this also true for Hasselblads? Or would I get a full Pollaroid pictures with a Hassie and a Polaroid back?

No. 56x56mm is a tiny bit bigger, but no (common) medium format SLR will deliver full frame Polaroids (for the common quarter plate size, at any rate). The RB67 and Fuji GX680 come closest, with frame sizes a bit above 6x8 on some after-market modified Pola backs, but for full frame, there are no SLRs (well, short of LF reflexes modified to take a pola back), and it is pretty much a choice between the Mamiya Universal/Polaroid 600SE and travel/press large format cameras.