buying used medium format camera

[jacek_magnuszewski]

In Poland, where I live, they call people like me "serious amateurs".

I use now Nikon F90X.

Next month I want to buy an used medium format camera.My budget is

about 2000 dollars. I want to move up to medium format (6x6)and my

options are: Hasselblad and Mamiya.

The camera will be used for landscapes, as well as studio usage.

This April I will spend a couple of days in NYC looking for the

camera.

What exactly should I buy to start my medium format system( body,

80mm lens,film back, Polaroid back)- anything else ?

What are the pros and cons of Hasselblad versus Mamiya ?

Could you recommend me some places, give me some hints , share an

experience in buying used cameras ?

I will appreciate any advice on the above subject.

 

Jacek Magnuszewski

 

jacek@bigstar.com.pl

[jack_congson3]

Jacek,

The safest place to buy used or new in NYC is B&H.

Without question, Hasselblad is an excellent camera system that is very flexible in terms of field and studio use. Unfortunately I doubt if $2000 is going to be enough for a wide angle Hasselblad system.

Pentax 6x7 is the defacto medium format slr landscape camera. Its lenses are excellent and I suggest you look at the threads under Pentax. It is quite heavy with loud mirror slap but performs excellent on a tripod and mirror up mode which I imagine will be your mode for lanscape and studio. It is a very affordable system and should make your budget.

[djphoto]

Pentax 6x7 is indeed a premier outdoor camera, but in the studio it is an inconvenient nuisance. Professional studio photography depends heavily upon Polaroid tests, and Pentax is so inconvenient to use with Polaroid that you will soon want to throw the whole system in the trash. You also need a separate body for Polaroid, and that, plus the expense of the Polaroid back, will blow your budget in a hurry. A good Mamiya RB system with two lenses and a Polaroid back might be put together for $2000, but it will take some very careful shopping. I am a past user of both Pentax and Mamiya RB, and a present user of Hasselblad. The Mamiya 645 is good value for the money, but really needs a prism finder to be practical, which, of course, is an additional expense. If I were building a system with the amount of money you have to spend, Jacek, I would get a Haselblad 500CM body, 80mm lens, two 12 backs (cheaper than the A12s, but work fine) and an NPC Polaroid back. You should be able to get all those items in excellent used condition for your $2000. The Hasselblad equipment will also hold its value better, if you maintain it properly.

[dave_kemp]

Jacek, The Hasselblad gear no doubt is great but in my opinion is overpriced. Given your finances and your stated needs, I'd recommend shopping for a good used Mamiya RB67 or RZ67. These are reliable, well-built professional cameras, have all the flexibility you need for studio use, including interchangeable backs and Polaroid backs, and their optics are of superb quality while costing considerably less than the Zeiss optics for the Hasselblad. (They won't be a lot of fun to carry in the field, but as you know you don't get to have everything in one camera.)

[stephen_poe1]

I would reccomend that you make sure that whatever you buy you can get it serviced in your area if you have a problem.<p>

I have used Hasselblad and am satisfied. For $2000.00 you can buy a good used camera body, 80mm lens (The C lenses are cheaper than the CF lenses and I have not been able to see a difference in results) a film back and a Polaroid back. <p>

The NPC Polaroid backs work fine and are a lot cheaper than the Hasselblad backs.<p>

For use with film there are the newer "A-12" film backs and the older "12" film backs The a-12s are easier and faster to load, but the 12s are cheaper and work great --- I prefer the 12 backs; they seem to be less likely to break down too (my guess---I am no engineer). Maybe if you buy 12 backs instead of a-12 backs you can afford two!<p>

The only other thing I reccomend is a lens shade.<p>

good luck<p>

Stefan

[_mr.__sherrill__edward_wat]

Dear Jacek: Wait!- Before you spend a fortune on medium format equipment, I suggest to consider the remanufactured Kiev 60; 645, or the Kiev 88 cameras but ONLY FROM Kiev USA. Shutterbug Magazine recently ran a article on the Kiev 645 from Kiev USA and gave it an excellent evaluation. These cameras are less than 1/2 the cost of the two brands you mentioned and, in my humble opinion, are the best buy's going in medium format. WARNING; ONLY buy from Kiev USA as they stand behind their cameras 100%. Anything else will be a real gamble. Check out their web site at "http://members.aol.com/KievUSA" They are located in Greenwitch, Connecticut. Greenwitch CT is not far from New York City. The money you save will pay for your airplane ticket across the big pond. Good luck! -(Mr.) Sherrill E. Watkins, Richmond, Virginia.

[craig_brown1]

Hi Jacek,

 

I too am an "serious amateur" and went through the exact same thing in spring 1988. I got similar advise and bought a Kiev 88 from Kiev USA. What a nightmare! I couldn�t get the prism to fit on the camera. When I called Kiev USA they told me to force it on. One of the backs had a serious light leak. I will say that Kiev USA was great about it. I returned the camera and got my money back minus a "restocking fee" (maybe they weren�t so nice!).

 

I ended up getting a Mamiya 645 Pro TL. It was way, way out of my budget but I went into a camera store and the next thing I knew I owned one (I told my wife that I must have blacked out :)I think you could do well with an older Mamiya 645 (if the negative is big enough for you). There is a large supply of used lenses and accessories and they are much cheaper then Hasselblad. Good Luck!

 

 

BTW: Don�t let people tell you that they are "exactly" like carrying a 35mm SLR. I still take my Nikon F3 into the field. It�s built like a tank and handles much easier then the 645 (which I do love).

 

Craig

[steve_vancosin]

Dave, you said," Professional studio photography depends heavily upon Polaroid tests,

and Pentax is so inconvenient to use with Polaroid that you will soon

want to throw the whole system in the trash. You also need a separate

body for Polaroid, and that, plus the expense of the Polaroid back, will

blow your budget in a hurry."

 

Even in the face of this, the 67 is the hot ticket for the big names today. As far as the expense issue, a 67body is less expensive than a Hassy back for god's sake! The body you dedicate for the roid back also becomes your spare body, saving even more!!

[dave_kemp]

"The [Pentax] 67 is the hot ticket for the big names today."

 

No, I don't think so. I don't wish to take anything away from this fine camera system (in fact I own and use one, and I agree that for dollar value in an interchangeable-lens MF outfit the Pentax 67 and its lenses are the benchmark), but this statement needs to be questioned, especially in the context in which it is made (i.e., studio cameras). I believe that far more top professionals use Hasselblads and Mamiyas as studio cameras than use Pentax 67's. And it's easy to see why.

[steve_vancosin]

Well Dave, actually when I said 'hot ticket' I meant it was more of a popular fad right now. Also I wasn't talking about shooters in studios(like seniors and more pedestrian stuff) what I was talking about was the big name model photogs like Sante DeOrazo (sp) and that crowd that shoots Victorias Secret catalogs and such.

[djphoto]

I owned a Pentax 6x7 for about a dozen years and loved it as a field camera. And while it's true that Pentax bodies are not expensive and the body dedicated to Polaroid can also be the back-up body, the problem that I was addressing, the one that will make you pull your hair out, is the problem of using the P-67 in a studio. I am a commercial photographer, not a portrait & seniors type. To do a Polaroid on the Pentax, you first mount the camera on the tripod, attach the proper lens, frame and make your test shot (usually shots, plural), talk them over with the art director, and get an okay. Then you take the camera with Polaroid back off the tripod, put the non-Polaroid body on the tripod, take the lens off the first camera, attach it to the regular body, and then the art director says, "You know, I think I need to see another Polaroid." So we repeat the whole dance. After a few days of this, you will wish you had never heard of Pentax and you will be plotting ways to unload the system for enough money to buy into a modular system in which only film backs need to be changed in order to do Polaroid tests.

 

Another point which was raised is the cost of used Pentax bodies being about the same as Hasselblad or RB backs. That may be true if we are talking about new backs, but used Hasselblad 12 backs in fine condition, which is what I recommended for Jacek, can be bought for as little as $175. Remember, the guy only has $2000 to spend, and he needs to get a reasonably complete and usable starter system for that money.

 

As for Pentax currently being "hot," maybe so, but I think that a lot more of the hot 6x7 shooters are using Mamiya RZ.

[stev_larsen]

Czesc Jacek,

I lived for 6 years in Gdansk,Poland and only reurned to the US last month. While I was there I began my journey into medium format photography with the Kiev 60 setup and Carl Zeiss Jena lenses which I have been very happy with!!

 

They say in Poland that one in ten Kievs is a keeper, but if you go to Stolowka (the big photography market is every Sunday morning) in Warsaw you can meet a man there who brings Kievs in from the Ukraine and guarantees you'll get the one in ten, if not bring it back to him the next week and he'll keep bringing you new ones until you're satisfied. Strange as it may sound-this man can be trusted! When I bought my setup I paid 400zl($120). He also sells a lot of accessories for the Kievs (bellows, adapters so you can use your Kiev and Zeiss lenses on your Nikon,to name a few). It's a good way to see if you like the bigger format without spending 2000k.

 

B&H is a great place to buy new and used, but Poland is FULL of great equipment. New and Used Mamiya RZs and RBs are available in Anonse papers as well as the homegrown photo magazines. I got a price list from a Mamiya dealer in Warsaw and the prices (converted from yen)were comparable to what you'd pay in the US.

 

REMEMBER- If you buy something in the US and need to ship it back for repairs or ANYTHING-getting it back into Poland will cost you duties. (UPS-Poland kept my telescope and wouldn't let me buy it from them!)

 

In short, I say good luck in NYC but if you don't see something you like for what you want to spend, you have plenty of options back in your homeland where photography has a strong history and many knowledgable enthusiasts.

[randy_bowley]

Jacek,

 

I just saw a 2-year old message board on buying a medium format system and was wondering which way you went, Hasselblad or Mamiya..

I used to own a Mamiya 6x6 with a waste level view finder and found it difficult to use and focus. Now I am considering a Mamiya7 because it is said to handle like a 35mm with excellent optics and a format closer to the 35mm I am familiar with. (I do mostly street scenes.) The drawback is that it takes fewer lenses, and the cost: said to be 100% markup in the states. Have you run across this system in Poland? And how much does it cost there? I go to Prague often and looked for it last time I was there, but couldn't find it. Think I could find it in Krakow? I'll be in Prague all summer and plan to travel to Poland.

 

Randy

[bhogal]

hi there !