Pictures with old cameras (4): Mamiya M645

[heqm]

<p>This may be a long post; with luck I won't get lost among the things to click and photos to attach.<br />After my Agfa Super Stillette (http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00dI5n) bit the dust, I was ready for a real camera, a grown-up SLR. And I got one: an Olympus OM-1, a wonderful camera in every respect. But I put it down unsupervised where I shouldn't have, and it wasn't there when I returned. One more lesson learned.<br>

I was in Japan at the time, and decided to move up to Medium Format (bigger is <em>always</em> better, right?). The Mamiya M645 had another novelty for me, a ground-glass viewing screen. At first I had only the camera, but over time acquired the family you see below: the 50mm f/4 shift lens; the M645 itself, with a 70mm f/2.8; the PD Prism viewfinder-and-light-meter; and a 210mm f/4 telephoto.</p>

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[heqm]

<p>I found myself taking a different kind of picture when looking at the ground glass instead of looking through a rangefinder or SLR viewfinder: more compositions with large areas of color or texture, something like that. I won't try to analyze it more deeply, but it is certain that a different camera will often change the flavor of the pictures I take.<br>

The shift lens, below, can be decentered to correct for perspective, and set horizontally, vertically or at any 45-degree angle. I was in the Navy at the time, traveling to places where they have real Architecture on narrow streets, so it seemed like a good idea. I wound up using the shift very rarely. To do it right requires a tripod and time, and I didn't always like the distortion it introduced.</p><div></div>

[heqm]

<p>The format, of course, is rectangular. As you look down on the ground-glass viewfinder your pictures are in landscape format. To take pictures in portrait format you have to raise the camera to eye level and look sideways, like this. It takes a little while to get used to this, as well as the fact that everything is mirror-reversed.</p><div></div>

[heqm]

<p>There's no light meter in the camera, so I bought an integrated prism viewfinder-light meter. It's a match-needle thing that hooks into the camera's system (turn the camera's shutter-speed dial to the dot, then use the viewfinder's shutter-speed dial). I found I didn't use this attachment much, either: it means raising a fairly heavy camera to eye level. And I like the ground glass. So I use a separate light meter.</p><div></div>

[heqm]

<p>I understand that later models of the M645 had interchangeable backs, and found much favor with professionals. Mine has just a little slot for the top of the film box (why is it stuck in from the bottom, though? it just falls out). You press there and slide the arrow over to open the back. It's unfortunately a sequence that happens by chance now and then in my camera bag, and I've lost a few pictures that way. I'm more careful now.</p><div></div>

[heqm]

<p>The Mamiya was my workhorse camera for many years. I can't say how many rolls of film I've run through it; all the operations are familiar and second-nature to me now. I've had the light seals replaced twice, the locking shutter release fixed once. Below is a shot from a trip to San Diego last year.</p><div></div>

[heqm]

<p>(I tweaked the sky in Photoshop Elements a bit too much, I think, and wasn't careful enough about dust in the scan.) Below is another, more typical shot of San Diego, showing off the biggest problem I've had with the camera.</p><div></div>

[heqm]

<p>It's an intermittant problem, happens at any shutter speed unpredictably (the shot just before this one is identical, but without the flare-like bit at the top of the frame). It needs to go to a repair shop to get that diagnosed and fixed.<br>

Of course, being a medium-format SLR, it's bigger and heavier than its 35mm cousins: about the size and shape of a brick. And the shutter's "thwack-whop!" is <em>not</em> quiet. But it's a decent, workmanlike camera and I'll have it back in operation as soon as possible.</p>

[heqm]

<p>One minor thing: in order to use the shift-lens right, I bought a ground-glass insert with a grid of lines ruled on it (so I could tell when things were accurately parallel). I hardly use the shift lens, as I said, but the grid has come in handy a couple of times. Once I set up the camera on a tripod with the 210mm lens and used the multiple-exposure feature to take pictures of a lunar eclipse every 15 minutes, placing the Moon on the intersections of the grids. The resut reads in rows going from right to left (I forgot about the mirror-reversal!), top to bottom. I didn't intend for the picture across the valley to be included, but it adds something to the composition.</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Thanks, <strong>Alan</strong>, that's a nice assessment and description of a fine camera. I used big brother RB67 for several years, but when it came to the 6x4.5 format I somehow ended up in the Bronica camp. Those Sekor lenses are among the best. Just how you manage without the eye-level viewer and the hand-grip permanently attached I can't imagine; turning the camera sideways with the waist level finder for the vertical shot must take some practice! To me, it always seemed a shame Mamiya didn't just create a smaller version of the RB67 with interchangeable revolving backs. Great moon shot, very creative. Thanks for an interesting post.</p>