The Ultimate 645 Rangefinder Camera

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eleskin

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Why can't we have a fully mechanical 645 camera with a bright Leica like finder, spot, center, and multi matrix metering, and fast lenses? I have two lenses for my Pentax 645 N , both the 45mm and 75mm, and they are both F 2.8 lenses, and are not that large in size. This tells be F 2.8 can be produced at reasonable cost. Why are they not making a decent camera / lens combo for those of us who lile available light?
 
Fully mechanical will be expensive and the market will be very small.
2.8 is still slow for available light. I'd rather use 1.4 or faster.

Best regards,

Michiel Fokkema
 
I've never heard of (commercial available) 1:1,4 lenses for the 645 format-I know there's a 1:2 planar for the Contax 645, but that's an SLR
 
eleskin said:
Why can't we have a fully mechanical 645 camera with a bright Leica like finder, spot, center, and multi matrix metering, and fast lenses? I have two lenses for my Pentax 645 N , both the 45mm and 75mm, and they are both F 2.8 lenses, and are not that large in size. This tells be F 2.8 can be produced at reasonable cost. Why are they not making a decent camera / lens combo for those of us who lile available light?
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Focusing issues?
 
I've read that there is a limitation on lens speed with leaf shutters.
Besides, you want how little DOF?
 
I think that rangefinders have some built-in design issues, such as base length-to-lens size, that would limit the lense speed. By this I mean that, a medium format f2.8 lens would have to be inserted into a much larger body, which would reduce the utility of the camera. As for mechanical, that is probably feasible, but the market has collapsed for fully mechanical cameras (to make a profit, cameras must be mass marketed). Concerning TTL metering, I agree, I feel that Bronica, Fuji, and the Mamiya 6x7 rangefinders could have, and should have, invested in this.
 
eleskin said:
Why can't we have a fully mechanical 645 camera with a bright Leica like finder, spot, center, and multi matrix metering, and fast lenses? I have two lenses for my Pentax 645 N , both the 45mm and 75mm, and they are both F 2.8 lenses, and are not that large in size. This tells be F 2.8 can be produced at reasonable cost. Why are they not making a decent camera / lens combo for those of us who lile available light?
Click to expand...

Do what most of us MF users do;
• Plan A, take a tripod and cable release
• Plan B, use faster film or push your film
 
Harry Lime said:
The closest thing to what you want is either a Rolleiflex 2.8/80 or Plaubel Makina 67.
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I have a Roleiflex 2.8/80 Xenotar but using it is very different experience to using a rangefinder. Even with a prism (which makes composition easier by laterally flipping the image), things are much slower compared to a rangefinder.

However, I am quite happy with a Bronica RF645/65mm f4, as long as I use film of ISO 400 and faster. The ancient ZI Super Ikonta 533/16 with f2.8 80mm coated Tessar lens and coupled rangefinder is another one to consider.

All the best.
--
Monz
 
TLR is different from a rf but I wouldn't say it is much slower.
A TLR can be much more stealthy because you can shot from the hip while composing.
It is different but not necessarily slower,

cheers,
Michiel Fokkema
 
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