frank_bunnik

<p>Have you tried ffordes? I ordered a couple of times from them and liked their service. They are located in Scotland if I am not mistaken.</p>

<p>Many suggestions have already been given. I live in Europe and the price of the Mamiya C330 is only a fraction here of what they cost from KEH. A camera with 80mm lens for instance can be bought here (Netherlands or UK) for about 150 euro in excellent condition. Same goes for the Rolleiflex tlr's. I recently bought an excellent 3,5F with a planar lens for 275 euro. If you live in Europe you might have a look at <a href="http://www.ffordes.co.uk">www.ffordes.co.uk</a> or <a href="http://www.mxv.co.uk">www.mxv.co.uk</a>. The Mamiya 220 is rather basic so I would not advice that camera. <br>

You might also have a look at a Mamiya RB67pro SD with a modern K/L lens. These can often be found for low prices. The Bronica SQ series is also a great choice and 6x6. Hasselblad is great but for 500 US$ you will get a very used old model with a very old lens. The Bronica will very likely be the better camera in that case. The Mamiya 6 or 7 is also a good camera but much more expensive than your budget permits.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>From the Netherlands</p><div></div>

<p>try <a href="http://www.ffordes.co.uk">www.ffordes.co.uk</a> or <a href="http://www.mxv.co.uk">www.mxv.co.uk</a><br>

all the best, Frank</p>

<p>I am not very fond of the stiff nylon bags. I used a Billingham Hadley (classic) made from canvas to pack a Hasselblad 500 series camera, 3 to 4 lenses (1 mounted on the camera), 2 backs (again 1 mounted to the camera), a polaroidback, a Sekonic lightmeter, several rolls of film and some lenshoods/1 compensium lenshood. The bag is small on the outside, does not weigh much and is comfortable to carry. </p>

<p>Check out first if the cash back deal is also valid if you live outside the UK.</p>

<p>Did the shutter freeze?... or was it just the normal procedure of the leaf shutter closing, the mirror staying in the upward position, just in need of a turn of the filmtransport handle to advance the magazine, return the mirror to the viewing position and cocking the shutter?</p>

You can't go wrong with Hasselblad. However, I would recommend a Fuji GX680III. A 6x8 camera but the newer backs can use format masks so you can photograph 6x6, 6x7 and 6x8. You can change perspective by shifting/tilting the lens, the lenses are great and dirt cheap, especially compared to Hasselblad/Rollei. A superb camera, expecially for studio use.

I travelled many many times to the Himalayas. I have used an M5 with 35, 50 en 90mm lenses on one trip. Great slides, no doubt about it. I used a Hasselblad on most later trips. Those slides are great and beat the crap out of the images taken with the Leica M5. Sure the Hasselblad was heavier and took up more space but it is the result that counts!

Can;t answer your question about the quality of the 250mm Sa lens. However, I used a 250mm from the 1960's while trekking in the Everest region of Nepal, using Velvia 100f. At one point I made a photo of a big snowy mountain behind a lower mountain. At the bottom of the image is a small village, a few millimetres square on the original slide. When I scanned the slide on an Epson 4490 scanner, I can clearly see the doors and windows in some of the houses. The village was at least 10km away.

 

Good luck with your choice,

Frank

www.flickr.com/photos/asialover

the photo is in my "for the love of mountains" set

The choice in film available in 220 format is also rather limited compared to the 120 format.

I have not found any books which deal with this camera. There is not that much to write about I gues. The camera does not have a fabled history like the Leica M, the rolleiflex or the Hasselblad, nor are there any collector models like Leica issued on any occasion you could imagine.

 

I have one book in which all photos are made with Fuji GW/GSW 690's however: Himalayan Odyssey by David Samuel Robbins. Wonderful photos.

Edward is right. Hasselblad is concentrating only on the H system. Sad for some of us but true. Given the very high quality of the H system, bodies, optics and digital backs, it's recent lower pricing and the fact that the Leica S2 still has to materialize and that Leica and electronics have rarely, if ever, matched well, I would not expect the S2 to be a big contender in the digital camera market. Knowing Leica, it will be too expensive for what it offers. I also seriously doubt that Leica has the financial means to keep up in the digital competition. Seeing how fast the digital H backs are being "upgraded", I think it is a joke to announce a digital camera almost a year in advance.

Fuji said the shutter should be overhauled at 5000 shots. I would expect the shuttercounter to be back at 0 after it is overhauled so when your counter is at 625, I don't think it was serviced 125 shots ago. It might have been serviced at 500 once but since then, another 6250 shots have been made.

Rumor has it thought that the shutter should last at least 10,000 shots before it needs to be overhauled.

On the Luminous landscape site I recently read an article in which a landscape photographer compared images from his Hasselblad H2 with P45 digital back and his Canon G10. The conclusion is that up to A3 prints, the difference can hardly be seen. Only when you do partial enlargements or big blow ups, the differences are obbious.

This is the link:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/kidding.shtml

I still remember an article in a Dutch photomagazine from about 15 years ago written by 2 authors. One was a Nikon user, the other was Erwin Puts and most of us know which brand he uses and adores. The article compared the 24, 35, 85 and 180mm (ed Nikon and 3,4 apo Leica) lenses of Nikon and Lieca mounted on an F3 / R7. Exactly the same scene was photographed from a tripod on the same slidefilm.

 

The conclusion of the article was that while comparing the not marked slides, most of the times neither author could tell which brand was used. Sometimes they were even naming the qualities of a certain brand after which it turned out that the photo was made with the other brand. There were subtle differences indeed, but subtle and most of the times not showing to either author, even to Erwin Puts.

Such a ridiculous topic this is. "I see a certain glow in the photos I made with my Leica lenses. I know it is there but I can not put my finger on it. Are there other people out there who see it? But I only want to hear from people who agree with me since I do not like to be told I made a mistake".

 

I have used Leica M and R cameras with several lenses including the Apo macro 100mm and the M 90mm apo asph. lenses. Never have I seen any glow. They did render a somewhat cooler colour that I liked but glow? No. The only time I saw a certain kind of "glow" was in the images I made with the Zeiss 100 Zf lens. That lens beat the crap out of the apo macro 100mm R lens by the way and I do not care that it is not "made in Germany". Whatever that designation means, other than that it is made in Germany.

 

Leica's are good for reportage style photography, especially the M series. For anything else they usually suck, simply because of the small image area. I like the portraits and landscapes I made with my Hasselblads much much better. They may not have a "glow" but at least they show lots and lots of detail. Shot a scene in the Himalayas a few years ago with a single coated 250mm sonnar from the 1960's from miles away. There is a small village in the image. On the slide it is just a few milimeters square. With a small magnifier and on the scan I made from the slide (Velvia 100F), the windows and doors in several houses can sill be seen (distance was at least 10 kilometres away, probably further).

 

It "may be my loss", at least I have not lost my mind!

Just set the shutterdial to B and hold down the exposurebutton for as long as you want the image exposed. Best to do this with a remoterelease to prevent camerashake.

Thank you all for your kind advice. I have contacted a good repairman and will send the camera out for a CLAD soon. It is 48 years old and has never had service so it is about time.

Mine has a planar lens. I might have it CLA'd in time.

This one also has multiple exposure possibility. I forgot that it also came with the metal lenscap, the rollei tripod coupling plate and a kind of large focussing hood made from leather with a pair of goggles inside.

10 Years ago I almost bought a 2.8 F. However, the transport was not working right (thinking back, the salesman might have

loaded the film the wrong way) so I did not buy it. I always longed for one and today my dream came through.

 

Through the internet I bought a lovely 3.5F model 1 with the ever-ready case, the original strap, several filters, including a

Rolleipol polariser, all in their leather pouches, 2 Rolleinar close-up sets (models 1 and 3), a mint Rolleikin set in it's pouch,

a Rollei microscopic adapter, a lenshood in a leather box with room for 2 filters. It came with the original manual (one in

Dutch and one in German) and a Rollei pricelist in Dutch guilders from 1962. All in all a lovely set. The camera has minor

signs of use. And seems to work well.

 

Several offers were made and my offer of 275 euros (about 373 US$) was the highest and accepted by the salesman who

was also the first owner. Can't wait to put this piece of art to good use.

A T-34 would be nice. You are never bothered by traffic jams, just roll over it.

 

What is best? I use a Fuji GX680II and IIIs. The body is a big beast and the lenses are not too small either. However, they deliver excellent quality while they cost very little on the second-hand market. Thus making them the best medium format lenses for me.

I have a 680 body and with the wide-angle bellows I can focus the 210mm feom infinitiy until the end of the focussing rails.

I have a Hadley classic and it fits a Hasselblad 500 series with back and lens mounted, 2 other lenses and their lenshood, another back, a polaroid back, a Sekonic lightmeter and films and filters so I guess a Rolleiflex should fit without problems.