Tag Archives: Medium Format

{Getting to Know You} Mamiya M645

This was an “oops, I did it again moment.”

Last year, I bought a Mamiya M645.

I once extolled the virtues of another 6×4.5 medium format SLR I owned- the Bronica Etrsi. I’d found The One! Then I let it slip through my fingers. I sold the Bronica to a friend on Twitter who had been eyeing one. I have to say that I regretted letting it go…

Maybe I should have righted the wrong and bought another Bronica, but I decided to go in a slightly different direction by getting a Mamiya M645.

Some differences and similarities between the Bronica and Mamiya:

  • Film backs: The Bronica allows you to change film backs (and, therefore, film types/speeds) mid-roll. A Mamiya M645 does not, though you can get extra film inserts to pre-roll with film so you can change film quickly once you finish a roll. I liked the idea of changing film backs, but, in reality, I didn’t really do it with the Bronica often. And carrying multiple film backs was just one more thing to keep up with.
  • Construction: The Bronica is largely constructed of plastic. Not so for the Mamiya M645, which means the latter is more hefty than the former (weight of camera gear is a significant factor for a lot of people.)
  • “Grip” options: I had a speed grip for my Etrsi, which allowed it to function almost like an overgrown 35mm SLR (you can see photos of that set up in the blog post I linked earlier in this one.) It allowed the shutter to be triggered with a button on the grip rather than the one on the camera, and film was advanced with an advance lever instead of a crank. All this is done on the right side of the camera. I do not have a grip for my Mamiya (yet?) I have been reluctant to try one for that camera, because its grips are left hand grips. I have felt dubious about that because I’ve felt that it might feel awkward to have the shutter button/film advance on the left side. I don’t know…it doesn’t appeal to me. I might try one eventually, because handling the camera without one is sort of like holding a cube!
  • The shutter types are also different between these two cameras (Bronica: leaf shutter in the lens, Mamiya: focal plane shutter.) I won’t go too much into the differences here, except to say that for my style of shooting, the differences really don’t matter all that much to me!
  • On the subject of shutter speeds, the ETRSi and M645 have the same shutter speed range: 1/500s – 8s, plus Bulb
  • Multiple exposures possible on both. I used this often on the Mamiya, not so much on the Bronica. (I wasn’t that into multiple exposures when I had the ETRSi)
  • Mirror lock-up on both (to reduce vibration during certain types of exposures.) Not that it was a feature I utilized often, but mirror lock-up on the ETRsi is more tricky than the M645 because, on the Bronica, putting the mirror back down fires the shutter. To avoid wasting a frame of film, you need to take the film back off, return the mirror to the down position (which fires the shutter,) flip the multiple exposure lever to activate that “mode,” then put the film back on again, take your next photo, flip the multiple exposure lever to exit, and finally advance the film. That’s A LOT. With the M645, you just flip the mirror lock-up lever to return the mirror to its down down position and move on with your life!

One reason I took the plunge and purchased the Mamiya M645 is that I got it for a song…seriously, it was a price that made the choice feel like it wasn’t much of a risk. I bought the body and lens (80mm f/2.8, the standard lens) then purchased the prism separately to complete the kit.

The format of this blog post is unlike most of my camera “reviews,” but it’s because I went about trying “new” cameras differently last year, so the posts I write about the cameras are different too! Side note: I only have limited photos from the first two rolls I took with the Mamiya, because most of those photos are allocated for different projects (which I keep alluding to on here…I’m promise all will be revealed as soon as possible!)

Roll #1: Fuji Provia 400F, expired in 2005, cross-processed (June 2017)

First frame! This is of a Russian wooden box I’d gotten at a thrift shop. 

Elderflowers

Roll #2: Ilford FP4+ (June/July 2017)

So I’d had those two rolls developed (though I have shot another that hasn’t been developed as of yet.) I decided I needed to go ahead and replace the badly deteriorated light seals. The following photos were from my post-light seal replacement test roll (looks like they worked!) I can share all of the results from this roll because, well, they were just for this blog!!!

Film: Lomography Color Negative 400 (April 2018)

I will say that I don’t feel as if I bonded with the M645 as quickly as I did my Bronica ETRSi, but I also have had my {camera} attentions divided this last year, so I haven’t invested as much time getting to know the Mamiya as I should have. When I do pick it up to use, I really enjoy the experience though! I mentioned that handling the camera without a grip attached is like holding a cube, but it’s not been as awkward in practice as it sounds.  I hope that, with time, I will also get to add another lens or two to my M645 kit – there’s a drool-worthy 80mm f/1.9 available for it that I’d LOVE to try! Not to mention a wide angle lens would be nice too.

{One More Time}

Back in the fall, the time came for me to return Susan’s Bronica S to her. I felt very bad that I hadn’t used it more frequently during the time that I had it! So, being a cheeky individual, I decided to shoot one more roll of film through the camera before taking it back up to Memphis to its rightful home. These were taken over the course of a little over twenty-four hours. I love the lens on this Bronica, and I especially love that it focuses very close, so I tend to take full advantage of that!

(if anyone knows what these little wildflowers are, let me know!)

My quest for red leaves in the autumn

Double exposure 

Camellias

Oh hi!

 

 

Celestial sculptural archway in Peabody Park

Solar System Sculpture in Peabody Park

Midtown mural and various graffiti

Shot of mom’s blackberry rose tattoo, in Peabody Park

Thanks again, Susan, for giving me the opportunity to use such a beautiful piece of photo gear!

Bronica S • Nikkor-P 75mm f/2.8 • Kodak Ektar 100

Scenes from the Day Spike Came Home

A photo shoot with my niece the day her family’s dog, Spike, returned after he’d been missing a few days last summer.

One day last summer when my sister and her family were away from their house for a few hours, one of their dogs, Spike, escaped. It was a harrowing few days until Spike showed up on their doorstep early that Sunday morning. My niece and I decided to do a photo shoot to commemorate Spike’s return. Of course, I managed to get a few of my niece on her own too 😉

 

Lomography Diana F+ • Kodak Tri-X 400

July 2016

{Testing the batch} Expired Kodak Pro 400MC 2.0

Maybe you’ve noticed by now that I sometimes buy batches of expired film. I had some film called Kodak Pro 400MC a couple of years ago, which expired in 1996. I LOVED it. It was some of my favorite expired film which I’ve ever used. I wished I had lots more rolls of it once I ran out! Here are some examples of that Pro 400MC batch:

(those last two were taken in London <3)

I finally decided to buy more Pro 400MC from ebay, knowing that it wouldn’t necessarily give me the same look as the other set of Pro 400MC I had, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I got three rolls that expired in 1999 (well, I bid on five, but then the seller realized that there were only three in the box and the other two were something else. More on that another time though…) ANYWAY, I used the test roll on one of my niece’s “$5 photo shoots” on July 4, in her “photo shoot worthy” Nintendo shirt. I know some purists won’t like the way the expired film looks in these, but I kind of LOVE them. A lot.

Fuji GA645i • Kodak Pro 400MC, expired 1999

I shot the film at 200 ASA to help compensate for the age of the film, but I will probably want to do exposure compensation in tricky lighting situations, because film this old doesn’t have as much “latitude” as fresh film. I noticed that when I used the other batch of Pro 400MC I had in my GA645i, it wasn’t as well-exposed as when I used it in a camera where I set the exposure instead of the camera doing it (which is the case with the GA645i.)

 

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