If you read my previous blog post you know that I have been searching for something light weight, easy to bring along. Maybe a rangefinder? I often wish that I would shoot more 120 film, but my Hasselblad 500C/M is a beast to carry around. It is so heavy, and it takes up so much space in the bag that I just leave it at home.
And that has been, up until now, my only medium format camera (if you don’t count Holgas and Dianas, which I have plenty of). At first was looking for a Mamiya 7, but realized two things. First off, my enlarger in the darkroom only does up to 6x6, so I wouldn’t currently be able to print the negatives from that camera. Second, they have gotten insanely expensive. I also looked at maybe going 645? The Bronica RF645 looks really nice.. but it is also an expensive and rare camera.
Maybe a Fujica GS645? Collapsible.. now we are talking, maybe this is what I am looking for. But then I decided on going the Mamiya 6 route instead. They are pretty modern, people know how to repair them, they are quite sturdy and don’t have lots of weird electrical issues etc.
After a couple of months of searching I found one here in Sweden for a good price, so I jumped on the chance.
Let me tell you, I haven’t regretted it for a minute since. This camera is all, and more, I was hoping for. It ticks all the boxes you want in a professional camera, the lens is probably the sharpest lens I have ever used (and let me tell you, I have plenty of sharp lenses), the shutter is silent and accurate, the camera is easy to use. But what really makes this camera are these things:
The rangefinder is EXTREMELY clear and crisp. When you align the rangefinder-patch perfectly you get a pop in contrast and you just know at once that you have nailed the focus. Complete opposite of the Canonet, you’re not gonna miss focus with this one
AEL, that is, Automatic Exposure Lock. This is how I am used to shooting, I take a meter reading towards shadows, away from the sun, and that is what I want to shoot with. So I point the camera down, press the shutter half way, point the camera at the subject, and click. I love having a good reliable light meter in the camera.
Clever features to stop you from making a mistake. It has a bunch of interlocks preventing you from shooting if you don’t have film loaded, if you have the darkslide engaged, etc etc.
As you can see, I have the Mamiya 6 MF version. MF stands for multi-format, and it has 2 extra things compared to regular Mamiya 6.
A 645 adapter kit that is totally useless and a waste of money since it crops horizontally and does NOT give you extra frames to shoot with.
And a 35mm panoramic kit that lets you shoot panoramics on 35mm film, and rewind the film in the camera. This is something I am looking for, but they are quite rare and costly. But I really want to shoot some 35mm panoramas! Regular 120 to 35mm adapters don’t work since the camera has above mentioned clever features that will not let you shoot the 35mm film because it doesn’t detect the film being loaded.
I remember when I got my Pentax LX a few years ago.. I sent it in for a CLA and when I started to use it properly it was a special feeling. It felt like I had graduated from finicky cameras that kinda sorta worked, “hobby cameras”, for taking pictures that didn’t really matter. And instead I had this professional machine that I could actually rely on. A camera that was built for taking thousands of rolls over the span of decades. And every cog was doing its job properly, every spring was ready for action. I have the same feeling today with this Mamiya. It takes wonderful pictures, because it is a camera I want to bring along on walks and trips. It is light weight, fits nicely into my smaller camera bag, has a great bright viewfinder and a great built in light meter.
I give it 5 out of 5 cameras and it goes straight into top position that it shares with my Pentax LX.
Here are a couple of random shots I’ve taken with this one. That’s it for today, thank you for reading!
