Not sure which MF camera to get.

[kelly_flanigan1]

<p>MF is a 100+ year old format. Before Kodapak/Instamatic of 1963 it was what Joe six pack shot with. A 1950's box camera for us kids was often either free or a dollar or two.</p>

<p> MF has cameras with pinholes; single element box cameras; triplets; tessar's; Gauss type Planars and Xenotars.</p>

<p>MF is like knives; there are zillions of free and 1 to 5 bucks ones; and 2000 buck ones too. </p>

<p> Unless you know what you are going to do it is hard to buy the perfect knife or MF camera.</p>

<p>MF started out as a childs camera; equalvent to a bubble back camera that one buys a child today.</p>

<p>In the 1930's a TLR was a young mans sports camera; used to shoot sports. Today it is more of an old farts camera; folks need a wazoo screen and a tripod to get great results. The 1930's photo magazines had a lot of contests with sports photos; and a TLR was the king then. (like an EOS or dlsr is today) .</p>

<p>Today the average TLR user has bad eyes; and is a grumpy old fart who cannot fathom that a TLR could be used for sports; ie closed rigid mindset. Here I shot sports in High School with a TLR; just like a teenager today might use a dlsr; ie the normal thing in the era.</p>

<p>Todays MF user seems to shoot more static objects. MF stuff is cheap today; wedding folks mostly ditched MF; and many photo courses have too. </p>

<p>MF cameras vary all over the place as far as weight and size. Some folks love others hate TLR's. Without seeing or actually holding one it is more difficult to select a camera. </p>

<p> </p>

[kelly_flanigan1]

<p>As cameras age often the user base does too. Thus in 20 to 30 years folks will say it is not possible to shoot sports with a dslr of 2010; ie the camera needs a tripod ; the camera is for fixed stuff. </p>

<p>Today a dslr makes it easier to shoot sports. With time all the tricks about old tools get lost with time and what they were used for fades away.</p>

<p>In the 1960's in shooting weddings here a 4x5 was used for Formals and a TLR 6x6cm for informal stuff. I used a TLR to shoot a mess of portraits for several decades.</p>

<p>A poster a few years back mentioned that it is not possible to shoot a portraits with a TLR. I mentioned that it is not possible to grow corn in Iowa too as a comeback and the hornets nest came alive; with many folks saying a TLR was poor for portraits and impossible for sports.</p>

<p>In past eras for portraits one wanted a face as big as a dime to do retouching; thus using a MF of 4x5 was common</p>

<p>It is not clear if you have an enlarger or not; or planning on scanning film.</p>

<p><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/ektar/RolleiSportsAdverts/tripods-517.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/ektar/RolleiSportsAdverts/tripods-516.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[vanessa_resler]

<p>I recently bought a used, excellent condition Bronica ETRSI from keh and I'm having a lot of fun with it. With the grip it is pretty easily handholdable. I say pretty easily because I would rather use a tripod for most shots if possible, because I want sharper images. But if you don't want to deal with a tripod for certain things then it is handholdable. It's just not that heavy, especially if you've used a dslr. I think it's handholdable even without the grip. I went with ETRSI rather than ERS because I wanted mirror lockup. I have been enjoying looking through the large viewfinder and manually focusing, and knowing that I got if focused - rather than dealing with the guesswork I was used to with my older digital camera. As far as I could tell this is one of the most affordable options for medium format slrs right now. The only drawback I could see is that there may or may not be an upgrade path to a digital back; something Mamiya has. But that would take more research. Not sure one way or the other on that one.<br>

Bottom line - recommend it. Btw if you're looking for a nice, compact, affordable tripod I recently bought the slik pro 340 bh with ball head to use with this bronica, and it's been working great. Good luck with your decision.</p>

[mark_tate]

<p>Also look at the Bronica SQ series cameras .</p>

<p>Far better optical quality than the ETR's though they are a lot heavier and you will pay a bit more<br>

but the SQ lenses are considered amongst the sharpest there is </p>

[saulzelan]

<p>I love my rolleiflex TLRs (2.8F and 2.8GX). Great for handheld work especially if you fit them with a prism finder (IMO - I don't like waist-level finders for walk-around in the world work). </p><div></div>