Mamiya 645af and afd

I have a RB67 pro s which I love but it is pretty much limited to

tripod only use. So far I?ve been using manual focus Nikon 35mm

stuff for all my handheld work or when I need to shoot quickly, this

works well but the quality from iso 400 35mm film when shot handheld

isn?t great. I?m looking into getting a mamiya 645af or afd to use

for this for better quality and also autofocus will be useful since

I have no cameras with this. I shoot 75% of my shots in portrait and

have issues getting through 36 exposures on 35mm, so 16 frames on a

film should be ok. I shoot almost exclusively b&w.

This will be a significant commitment to film. Around ?900 (used) is

a lot of money too, plus I'll need to buy a portrait lens. My old

Nikon FM + lenses and RB67 have all been relatively cheap and I

could sell them for what I bought them for. This is probably not the

case for the 645af certainly since the prices on these seem to have

stayed fairly static. I have reservations about them

remaining ?digital ready? in the future, is this justified?

I guess it may better to wait until the release of the mamiya ZD

since I guess many pros will dump their 645af and afd cameras for

the ZD influencing prices?

Is the large (used) price difference between the af and afd worth

it? I plan to rent one for a couple of days to see if it fits the

bill. Any thoughts on this appreciated.

For whatever it is worth from an amateur:

I have a 645AFd and would not trade it in for the new ZD. I can use film or digital, and have a choice of which digital back to use. I originally purchased the Leaf Veleo 6 back when the choice was only 6 or 11 meg. Now it is up in the 20meg+ range and who knows where it will be years from now. As a side note, a ZD back will also be available.

I would take the AFd over the AF because you will have the option in the future of purchasing a digital back.

I had the original 645 AF which I traded in for the AFd. A big problem the original AF had which was an oversite in the design, was that whenever you changed lenses, the camera reset the aperature to the maximum of whatever lens you were putting on when in manual, which is what you always use in studio or with flash like at a wedding reception. Can't tell you how many blown out images I had with that camera due to this manufacturing oversite. They corrected that issue with the "d" as well as several other improvements.

I'm just reaching the point that I'm comfortable enough with my digital equipment that I'm considering selling my Mamiya AFd system: 45mm f2.8, 75mm f2.8 and 150mm f3.5 plus two backs and 4 inserts. Let me know if you decide to purchase a system, I'll make you a good deal on mine, its all in excellent cosmetic & working order.

Paul Bormann

paul@bormannphoto.com

1-800-337-1468 (Calif.)

You should also note that Mamiya offered a upgrade of the 645 AF to the AFD (via updated electronics) for a resonable price. Not sure if still available now that 645AFDII is out...

I would factor that into price of AF so that you can take advantage of modern digital backs.