buying a camera

[nadejda krasteva]

<p>hi everyone!<br>

I am looking to buy a medium format camera and have found a good offer for a </p>

<h1 >MAMIYA 645 PRO</h1>

<p>I would very much appretiate any advice on wether this would be a suitable camera for me. I am a second year photography student and this will be my first medium format camera. The offer is for 350.00 GBP. and a 80mm F2.8 lense is included. <br>

Thank you in advance!</p>

[h._p.]

<p>Wouldn't your tutor be the best person to ask? S/he will know your intentions and what the rest of your course will require.<br>

On the face of it, the price seems rather high. You should be able to do much better if you look around. Ffordes have a 645 Super with the auto prism and 80mm lens for £269 to give you an idea. (http://www.ffordes.co.uk and navigate via the "used equipment" button at the top of the first page)</p>

[jack_welsh]

<p>Don't know about the 350.00 GBP. But, to give you an example of what I bought. (In american dollars) From Keh.com, I bought a Mamiya Pro with an 80 2.8N lens, one 120 back, and a non-metered prism, all in Ex condition for$265.00.And, that includes shipping. You could convert the $265.00 to the GPB to compare the price.</p>

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>I prefer the Bronica ETRSi becuase the leaf shutter lenses flash sync at all speeds. Improtant for me, may not be for you.</p>

[g_k7]

<p>The M645 line also has leaf-shutter lenses. They are usually designated by and "L" later in the lens description.</p>

[nadejda krasteva]

<p>thanks a lot to those of you who helped,Ii will ask my tutor deffinitely.<br>

The price does seem too high, I shall look again :)</p>

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>"The M645 line also has leaf-shutter lenses."</p>

<p>There are only a limited number of leaf M645 leaf shutter lenses, and it feels like a kludge. You have to make sure that you set the foacal plane shutter to a slow speed and you also have to separately cocks the leaf shutter - or buy a rapid winder that cocks the leaf shutter for you.</p>

[greg_peterson3]

<p>I used Mamiya 645s professionally for many years and I love 'em. Stay away from the "Super" model because it's not as well built as the Pro or Pro TL series.</p>

<p>I switched to a Mamiya ADF system two years ago, but I still have a 645 Pro that I use for situations where the camera might be damaged. (I do some industrial work that can be risky.)</p>

<p>I do think that 350 GBP is rather high. I'd suggest that you look at eBay, where you can often find real bargains on 645 systems.</p>