[OT] Best MF from Lens Perspective

john van v:

GOOGLE knows all. GOOGLE tells all. Cut and paste any phrase from the above replies in to the GOOGLE search engine and you'll have about a weeks worth of reading.

The Large Format Photography Forum is a good place to learn about everything 4x5 and larger. As many pointed out above, you can shoot 120 film on a 4x5 camera and then move quickly to sheet film. APUG is another good resource for all things film related from cameras of all formats to film & printing.

Another way to delve into medium format with one of the best lenses ever made and no worries about which lens to use, etc. would be a Rolleiflex 2.8F with the Zeiss 80/2.8 Planar lens.

Here's a nice collection of medium format lens tests:

http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/MF_testing.html

And another:

http://graflex.org/

ps: Focus on folding press/field cameras in the larger formats. Monorails are a pain in the field.

http://www.badgergraphic.com/index.html

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/matos-begin.html

Good luck!
 
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From a lens perspective, the Mamiya Rangefinder is best. There are a few web pages that have done a lens comparison and the 7ii lenses always come out on top. One test opines that the lenses are so much better because of the rangefinder lens to plane ratio (I agree with that).

I have the 7ii with both the 80 and 150 lenses. The lenses are truly extraordinary. The drawbacks to the camera is the build quality and the meter is not TTL. You also have to get used to the differences in scale from 35mm distances.
 
I posted a photo of my "Baby" Technika V 23b setup here--

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=819248#post819248

As for the choice between a 2x3" Technika and a Mamiya 7II, I think it depends on what you want. If you want a camera that basically operates like a 35mm rangefinder camera in a package about the size of a pro SLR, the Mamiya 7II is an excellent choice with first rate lenses. If you want view camera movements and the versatility of interchangeable backs with the best film flatness of anything medium format and access to a huge range of lenses, then a 2x3" Technika is a better choice.

A Mamiya 7 has a single-window rangefinder/viewfinder, so it's quicker to operate.

My Technikas (I have a 4x5" as well) have separate viewfinders and rangefinders, and of course to use view camera movements, you need to focus on the groundglass, but you can get used to the separate viewfinder with practice. You just learn to think ahead a bit and prefocus for moving subjects.
 
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Just a follow-up 😉

I was sold on the Mamiya 330 TLR, and was lurking on ePrey for a good one cheap, when I saw someone selling their severely hacked Crown Graphic Graflex -- that gave me ideas.

And that was only yesterday. I am stuck between the Crown and Speed Graphics, but I still see Weegee in my mind's eye developing his press in the (huge) trunk of is old school car, and typing his copy.

Weegee was unique in that Celebs wanted their picture taken with him, and not by him (!!)

Word is that he first to have a police scanner in his car, and hence got his nick from the Ouiga board game as he seemed telepathic.

He certainly was empathic, and his subjects seem to love him and showed it on their faces. My favorites are from the Bowery bar where he celebrated New Years; remember the pig? My avatar was also taken on the Bowery by me a while back.

The big selling point for the Graflexs' is the possiblity of a 120 holder with a lever cock, as well as ground glass focusing. This will be key for me as I want to continue photographing dried plants in the snow this winter. I had success last year, especially with a Jupiter-8 on bw400cn, but the picture that should have been best, a spiked seed, was slightly out of focus, and ruined. I found that the dried leaves and seeds were so expressive as to be alive, and yet classic in that they seemed ancient.

The Crown Graphic would be lighter, but the Speed Graphic would allow for any lens (with mods) including the Jupiter-8. The Crown would allow lenses to come closer to the film, which I hear is important for wide angle lenses, and would probably be more reliable, and would force me into the world of "compur."

And both are technically rangefinders with the Kalart attachment and yet also SLRs. What does Reflex mean anyway?

Just as an aside, my mom found 3 Gary Winogrand 8X10s in a closet that had been used as mounting cardboard, but not abused. GW lived upstairs from me when I was a kid on the Upper West Side of NYC.
 
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