[Wombat]

I recently bought a 645 Super with an 80mm 1.9 lens and metered prism finder. It's been decades since I've shot MF but I'm in love all over again. It's a very easy camera to use and has a reassuring heft to it (can't stand lightweight cameras). The only thing I'm uncertain about is the motor drive. It works just fine but I've read it can tear up the weak gears on this model and my one didn't come with a manual crank. (Anyone got a spare you want to sell?).
For printing I've got a flatbed scanner and it does an OK job but I've just had a look at a corner of a neg under my (alas 35mm only) enlarger and that's definitely the way to go to get maximum detail. Sigh...where am I going to put another enlarger? (Answer - where the computer used to be...).
BTW, I'm rediscovering how much fun it can be with just one lens. Sure makes you work harder, slower, more thoughtfully. Love it!

[SquintyEyes]

I have a Mamiya C330f with WLF, prism, porrofinder. Lenses: 55mm, 80mm, 105mm DS, 135mm, 180mm super. I also modified a RB variable-angle bracket for it. It's a great systems camera, the ability to change lenses on a TLR is a real plus. I personally think the MF TLR is just so much more fun than a MF SLR (especially the case for 645 format). It's a real conversation starting too!

The only drawback is that the system weights A LOT, tough on the shoulders...:ugh:

[Steve Beswick]

Since the last time I posted in this thread I have acquired quite a bit. I now have:

2 1000s bodies
2 645j bodies
1 m645 body

1 80mm f1.9
1 80mm f2.8
1 150mm f3.5

3 standard prisms (one of them is shot, I'm either going to figure out a way to re-silver, or Im going to make a dirty hack WLF)
4 film inserts
2 slit image/microprism focus screens
1 microprism focus screen

And I love it all!

Of course, this is a ridiculous amount of stuff, and I will probably sell some of it soon.

[pingflood]

5 bodies and 3 lenses?

Clearly, you need more lenses.

[Steve Beswick]

5 bodies and 3 lenses?

Clearly, you need more lenses.

Actually, I'm working on fewer bodies.

[alsterling]

Actually, I'm working on fewer bodies.

This forum is amazing....... first I get help reviving my SMC-M series lenses by buying a forum member's ist-D, and now, I discover Mamiya users on the forum! I was about to Ebay my gear...honestly! Just last week, I'd almost given up interest in my old 645, until I visited Samy's Camera, Santa Ana, CA, and after chatting with the gal in the film and processing department, found out she dumped her digital stuff and bought a 645. She gave me a complimentary roll of B&W, to coax me into shooting what I've been storing for so long.

Steve, I'll see your "bevy of bodies..." and up the anty with my 500mm f8, catadioptric astrological lens! (smile) Nice meeting you Steve..... I lived in Claremont, CA for over 30 years, and was a family friend of Sam Del Cioppo, from the late great Claremont Camera. We should chat.......?

[Blue]

This forum is amazing....... first I get help reviving my SMC-M series lenses by buying a forum member's ist-D, and now, I discover Mamiya users on the forum! I was about to Ebay my gear...honestly! Just last week, I'd almost given up interest in my old 645, until I visited Samy's Camera, Santa Ana, CA, and after chatting with the gal in the film and processing department, found out she dumped her digital stuff and bought a 645. She gave me a complimentary roll of B&W, to coax me into shooting what I've been storing for so long.

Steve, I'll see your "bevy of bodies..." and up the anty with my 500mm f8, catadioptric astrological lens! (smile) Nice meeting you Steve..... I lived in Claremont, CA for over 30 years, and was a family friend of Sam Del Cioppo, from the late great Claremont Camera. We should chat.......?

I am down to one place in the state capital of Florida that can develop 35mm and 120 film and only c41. Target packed it in a few weeks ago. I'm glad to here there is a stabilizing if not a reversal of the film decline.

[alsterling]

So far as the pure image is concerned, little squares (pixels) of image color still can't compete with continuous contrast imaging on film. And as the gal at Samy's reminded me indirectly..... you can see and "feel" the difference with your eyes! Maybe someday pixels will disappear, and digital imaging will become a robotic human eye? But for now, I'm thinking of maybe investing in a small Patterson processing tank, developer and fixer...... and doing my own black and white film. That's how I started years ago. Only problem is printing! I'm almost afraid to see prices from labs for black and white enlargements!? And I don't have the inclination to start up a darkroom, and even worse, re-buy my Durst enlarger for 10 times what I paid in 1972! Maybe I'll just upgrade my Pentax body? :-o

[Steve Beswick]

So far as the pure image is concerned, little squares (pixels) of image color still can't compete with continuous contrast imaging on film. And as the gal at Samy's reminded me indirectly..... you can see and "feel" the difference with your eyes! Maybe someday pixels will disappear, and digital imaging will become a robotic human eye? But for now, I'm thinking of maybe investing in a small Patterson processing tank, developer and fixer...... and doing my own black and white film. That's how I started years ago. Only problem is printing! I'm almost afraid to see prices from labs for black and white enlargements!? And I don't have the inclination to start up a darkroom, and even worse, re-buy my Durst enlarger for 10 times what I paid in 1972! Maybe I'll just upgrade my Pentax body? :-o

Actually, thanks to the decline of film, that Durst will cost you one tenth of what it did in 1972.

[Steinback]

With the decline of home processing there's a steady supply of enlargers (and other developing equipment) available. I haven't had the chance to put together a darkroom yet but I was handed an enlarger by a photographer who had gone digital when he saw that I was still shooting film.

[alsterling]

Well guys.... I'll test your observations this AM. When I was at Samy's, they only had one small gondola area for chemicals, and only a few bottles of fixer, developer, etc., spread out on what most would consider a near empty shelf. I remember buying fixer and developer in bulk gallons, and for under $5..... which makes it really tough when I see a gallon of fixer, or maybe concentrate (?), for $32?! (I've gotta' look again...) I'm quite sure there are better buys online. As for the enlargers, and me being in the graphics industry for the last many years, I've seen darkrooms disappear in all companies. I'll never forget, back in the mid 1990's, going to a General Dynamics asset auction, and seeing a huge "locomotive sized" horizontal litho camera being auctioned off for $100. Today, you'd have to pay to get it taken out of your work space. I never thought to look for enlargers, although I saw a decent variety of print papers on Samy's shelf. But if it's home film and print processing, the best supplier in SoCal has always been Freestyle Photo in Hollywood, just off the 101 freeway. They used to sell bulk films, papers and chemicals. Maybe a trip over there would be in order?

[Blue]

The catch 22 with film that I'm dealing with is that film developing is imploding. There is a core niche market to be sure but there were some many 1 hr photo places that catered to the weekend snapshooters that it made it tough for a lot of b & m places to make a go of it in this area. Then when digital started taking over the market share of weekend shooters, those 1 hr places started dropping their in house services.

[pingflood]

Actually, thanks to the decline of film, that Durst will cost you one tenth of what it did in 1972.

No kidding, I have an Omega D2 I can't even GIVE away.

[pingflood]

The catch 22 with film that I'm dealing with is that film developing is imploding. There is a core niche market to be sure but there were some many 1 hr photo places that catered to the weekend snapshooters that it made it tough for a lot of b & m places to make a go of it in this area. Then when digital started taking over the market share of weekend shooters, those 1 hr places started dropping their in house services.

These days I really have a hard time seeing the value in dealing with color film, period. I suspect that before long color film will be practically dead, while B&W will retain a following and it honestly wouldn't surprise me if that market ends up growing a bit -- people always like to explore different things and now we have an entire generation that's grown up with digital and might be curious as to what this whole analog thing is about.

My point being, shoot B&W and develop your own. Then you don't need to worry about finding labs or mailing film off.

[Blue]

Pingflood, I guess you were in the board room when Kodak decided to can Kodachrome. No matter how you cut it, the world is not black and white and digital isn't a replacement for archival materials. What is the live span of a cd/dvd/ etc.? What format will be in use in 2075?