Size matters. Choosing a medium format camera

    I think many here are fond of photography. The degree of enthusiasm can be different, and the concept of a photographer is generally vague and undefined. Different goals, different budgets of photographers and many other distinguishing factors. Someone hangs bows on the iphone, and someone suffers with huge plates of large format. But all these people are united by an interest in photography, and some may even have love, and even have mutual love. Therefore, I decided to talk about the camera, which you can rarely see, at the same time share the experience of switching to a new format.

    Why did you decide to buy


    In the life of any photographer, a moment comes when the heart requires something warm and lamp-like. Grandfather Zenith is enough for many, and someone, driven by an unknown feeling of "need", is trying to move to a more specific level - to rush to the middle format. It was almost the same with me, only in the interval I managed to shoot 135 films with a wonderful Mir camera. At this moment, I realized that I do not like rangefinders, or do not know how to cook them.

    Although there was an idea of ​​buying a Canon film, I already wanted something non-standard. “GIVE MORE !!!” - this is exactly how the desire to purchase a medium format appeared. The purchase of the SF digits is not something that has disappeared, it was not even supposed, knowing the remarkable price level.



    But then the real internal struggle began. SF I bought more than a year. During all this time, I had two stages of desire:
    • I just want the SF
    • I know what kind of SF I want

    Medium format options


    Perhaps it seems to me, but when choosing the SF there is an apparatus that immediately comes to mind - Lover. Such is the whole sweet and dear Soviet two-objective SF. But I was not happy with the quality and age of the device.

    On this, my craving for dual-lens cameras did not go away, and I saw a review of the Yashica 124 Mat G. An excellent device with an average price of about 300-400 usd, with a lot of copies in good technical condition. In addition, I considered a huge number of other systems: Mamiya, Hasselblad, Rolleiflex, Pentax. But mostly it was strange throwing, just from the desire to have a medium format.
    This was the first stage of the desire to have a medium format.

    Limited choices and other reasons


    Then there was a logical understanding of what I needed. This is the hardest. Although I immediately put several conditions that narrowed the choice to a minimum.
    I won’t talk for a long time, but it so happened that I am not friends with manual optics because of my vision. That is why the first condition was the availability of autofocus on the device. Well, the second condition was the possibility of switching in the future to digital. I just didn’t want to buy a medium format for warm lamp technology, but supplementing the lamp format with good prospects for the development of the system is another matter.

    As a result, two options remained:
    • Mamiya AFd
    • Contax AF

    Contax 645 is a medium-format autofocus single-lens reflex camera. The frame size is 4.5 × 6 cm, a film of type 120 and 220 is used. Digital backs have been developed for the camera. The exposure range is from 32 to 1/4000 sec. This is a wonderful camera that satisfies my requirements, but there are main disadvantages: there are not enough of them on the market; The cost on ebay is from 2000 to 4000 usd, depending on the set.

    All this was the reason for choosing Mamiya AFd. Then there were long attempts to buy it on ebay, but here I was not lucky. As a result, happiness came by chance. I got a copy of the second generation in Moscow.

    A little about the company itself and the device:
    Mamiya was founded in May 1940 by camera designers Seiichi Mamiya and Tsunejiro Sugawara, who secured funding for the new company. In 1975, the company introduced the Mamiya 645 compact camera in 6 × 4.5 format. This is the progenitor of my version.

    The camera that I got - the Mamiya 645AFD II, was produced from 2005 to 2008.
    And now a small positive digression. In the spring of 2009, Phase One A / S became the leading shareholder of Mamiya Digital Imaging, taking on “strategic leadership”, marketing and distribution of work. Phase One is a digital back manufacturers, so switching to digital with this camera is just a matter of money.

    Machine Overview


    Mamiya AFD II is a medium format SLR camera with a removable back. The range of focal lengths of interchangeable optics is from 28 to 300 mm. Most often, his native complete lens is 80 mm / 2.8. Its lens is quite enough. If you like portraits, then you should also take a closer look at the 150 mm / 3.5 lens.

    The case causes a pleasant feeling of power and strength, made of magnesium alloy, quite heavy. In fact, it consists of three parts - a carcass, a backdrop and a lens. It lies well in the hand; ergonomics is excellent. Thanks to the special coating on the handle, the fingers do not slip. Although in general this is what I'm used to in the DSLR. There is a minus - a hipster self-made camera with an old-school camera will not work, the device has a fixed pentaprism. Replace it with a mine will not work. But, if you remove the lens and back, then the device immediately begins to resemble a stranger.

    Shooting modes are also familiar with DSLRs: standard semiautomatic, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual mode. Exposure metering is both point and center-weighted. Electronics does well both outdoors and indoors. Work in the studio is also an offset.





    Autofocus Here it must be understood that it is quite antediluvian and slow. But everything is relative, the camera is clearly not for shooting sports. Again, if you like portraits - the most for leisurely shooting and communication.



    Film. Problems with refueling the film arose only the first two times, and this was due to the fact that I tried it using the scientific poke method. Who decides to acquire SF, I advise you to buy the necessary film a little in advance, the product is not the most popular, especially if you are looking for a specific film.



    On the film back there is a display with film characteristics and a frame counter. The main thing here is not to forget to adjust the ISO when loading a new film, two buttons are responsible for this. If you press two, the ISO adjustment will turn on, and then on the arrow either the indicator is higher or lower.

    An additional trick of the film back is the presence of a gate (removable damper), which simultaneously protects the film from light when removing the back and serves as a fuse, preventing the camera from taking off.

    Another point is the number of frames. 120 film is one, but SF has a lot of frame formats. It turns out that different SF cameras have a different number of frames. The 6x4.5 format produces 16 frames.

    Immediately after shooting 16 frames, the backdrop comes to life and reaches the film to the reel. It remains only to get it and take it to the developer.



    I use KODAK and Ilford film. The Ilford Delta 3200 film turned out to be very pleasant. Since I am not a hardcore filmmaker, I give the film to the lab for development. So far, I have not noticed any special jambs behind the labs, although, sometimes, the film is slightly wrinkled.







    View and Digitize


    Viewing is very simple if you have a smartphone. Most cameras have a negative mode. Turn on the camera, point to the film - done, we see the frame as it should be. A good option is to select photos for scanning or printing.

    But scanning is much harder. There is an antediluvian option: to shoot on a digital apparatus, highlighting the film from the back. The main thing is that it was not a screen (monitor, TV, laptop), because the pixels of the monitor will be noticeable. The same is true for textured fabric, if you use it for light - the texture will be noticeable in the photograph, even if at first glance the fabric seems even. Probably the ideal option is frosted glass or paper. Next, you need to transfer it to a computer, make an inversion and season it with Photoshop to taste.

    The second option is to buy a budget scanner with the ability to scan slides and wide film. Such joy can cost up to 20,000 rubles. And it will give a decent result in quality. You can get into this topic deeply by analyzing the quality of the lenses, the uniformity of the backlight, cleaning from artifacts, and so on.

    Well, the laziest option is a good scanner for film, for example, Nikon COOLSCAN 8000 or 9000. The biggest drawback is that such a scanner costs a little less than 100,000 rubles. If you scan the film in maximum quality in the lab, then each frame will cost 500-700 rubles. It is better to have friends with a scanner :) Also, at specialized forums for photographers, there are many offers from the owners of such scanners, whose cost of medium-format scanning in high resolution is 60-100 rubles per frame.

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