[Swift1]

I hate it a little bit when you say things like that about cameras I've never owned. It isn't good for my savings (lack thereof) account.

Before I got sick, I was a timberframer. My company specialized in very high end timber homes built using traditional hand cut mortise and tenon joinery. We used power tools to rough cut the joinery, then we cleaned up and fine tuned everything using traditional edge tools. Chisels, planes, slicks, etc.
For years, I lusted after a Lie-Nielsen 10 1/4 rabbeting jack plane (photo below). I was in my early 20s, and I just couldn't rationalize spending $350 on a handtool, so I just drooled over photos of it in catalogs. After timberframing nearly 5 years, the stars aligned and I was able to get one. I ordered it, then spent a very anxious 2 weeks waiting for it to arrive, and finally at long last I had it.
I still clearly remember using it for the first time and thinking to myself, "I'm such an idiot, I should have bought this 4 years ago". My next thought was, "I would gladly pay double for this now that I've used one".
To get back to this particular thread, to me, a Rolleiflex moreso than any other camera, is like that Lie-Nielsen 10 1/4. I had absolutely no interest in a Rolleiflex for years though, and I really couldn't fathom why they were so much more expensive than other cameras that were seemingly basically the same camera.
Then I used a Rolleiflex... and my mind went through the exact same thoughts as it did after first using the Lie-Nielsen.

[PenPusher]

Before I got sick, I was a timberframer. My company specialized in very high end timber homes built using traditional hand cut mortise and tenon joinery. We used power tools to rough cut the joinery, then we cleaned up and fine tuned everything using traditional edge tools. Chisels, planes, slicks, etc.

Back then you might have found this handy, made it last year with hand tools out of leftovers, apart from glue the only thing I bought was the screw for the leg vice.

I know its a bit off topic but I thought you might be interested

[tuco]

... made it last year with hand tools out of leftovers...

Nice work.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

If LBA is such a problem, you can always glue one lense to the camera. That shoukd cure you

[PenPusher]

If LBA is such a problem, you can always glue one lense to the camera. That shoukd cure you

I'd probably end up buying more cameras to fit the lenses etc, etc, etc.....

[TwoUptons]

I'd probably end up buying more cameras to fit the lenses etc, etc, etc.....

Usually, you end up buying the cameras to get the lenses.
Then, you don't want to get rid of the camera.
But since you took the lens off it to go with your other camera, it needs a lens.
So you buy another lens, attached to a camera...
The cycle never ends...

-Eric

[Swift1]

Back then you might have found this handy, made it last year with hand tools out of leftovers, apart from glue the only thing I bought was the screw for the leg vice.

I know its a bit off topic but I thought you might be interested

Gorgeous workbench!
Nice work.

[ChrisPlatt]

There are many fine TLRs out there.
I have friends who have done fine work with them.

While they have advantages they also have limitations.
They also handle very differently from SLR cameras.

I tried TLR cameras several times but never warmed up to one.
They're not for everyone. Suggest you try before buy.

Chris

[bobbotron]

Get thee to a used camera shop!

[PenPusher]

Usually, you end up buying the cameras to get the lenses.
Then, you don't want to get rid of the camera.
But since you took the lens off it to go with your other camera, it needs a lens.
So you buy another lens, attached to a camera...
The cycle never ends...

-Eric

Unfortunately the "she who must be obeyed" has noticed this sequence and I have received dire warnings but as I have been recently promoted to undercook and bottle washer following an operation on her arm I might get away with it.

---------- Post added 06-22-2018 at 08:52 AM ----------

There are many fine TLRs out there.
I tried TLR cameras several times but never warmed up to one.
They're not for everyone. Suggest you try before buy.

Chris

Would love to. There are camera shops in Dublin, thats 4 hour hour drive from me, but they only sell shiny new cameras, to find a second hand shop and one where they actually knew what they were selling, I would probably have to go to London which is on the other side of the Irish Sea so I'll settle for e-bay's shop

[womble]

This side of the Atlantic check out MPP Microcords. I had a friend who was into TLRs and he felt about the Microcords the same way Coulton does about his Rolleiflex.

[TwoUptons]

Unfortunately the "she who must be obeyed" has noticed this sequence and I have received dire warnings but as I have been recently promoted to undercook and bottle washer following an operation on her arm I might get away with it.

There's a camera shop near me that happily takes consignments, so I've been able to unload a bunch of the surplus there.
So even if they sit there a while, they aren't taking up space where they are in the way at home...
And they have a 'free bin' for the things that didn't arrive as functional as I'd hoped...

-Eric

[drmoss_ca]

I have been lucky enough to enjoy several MF cameras:
Pentax 645n and 645nII
Rolleiflex 2.8GX
Hasselblad 500
Hasselblad SWC
Fuji GW690III
Fuji GA645 Pro
Voigtlander Bessa III

I have kept the two Pentax 645s, the Rolleiflex and the Hasselblad 500. Make of that what you will. I enjoyed them all, but when it came down to refining and thinning them out I found I had to keep the Rolleiflex for it's wonderful lens, the Hasselblad 500 with a Sonnar 150mm/f4 for portraits. The Pentax 645n is ergonomically wonderful (I bought the 645nII simply as a backup, but I don't like its controls as much as the original 645n) and I managed to buy a range of lenses before the digital b*ggers sent their prices skywards.

While I'm at it, I realise I could narrow all my many camera choices to my pair of F6s for 35mm, the Rolleiflex and the two Pentax 645s for MF, and the Chamonix 4x5 and 10x8 for LF (perhaps the 4x5 could go too; it's there for portability and offers nothing over the 10x8 otherwise). It would feel a bit strange to own two 35mm cameras, three MF cameras and one LF camera, but I think I would be happy with them (especially allowing for the income from selling all the rest!)

For the OP, A Hasselblad 500 body isn't expensive, and I can send you a standard 80mm/f2.8 lens for the price of postage ± customs duty (I have three of them). Once you learn the quirks of the modular Hasselblad system (there will be at least one occasion where you have to manually reset a lens removed when the shutter was not cocked!) you will find it can do all that MF film can record. After that you will have to decide what you prefer about working technique and whether that camera is what you want to use in the long term. That isn't a simple or easy matter to decide: it takes many films to figure out what matters and what works for you. No one on any forum can give you the answer that works for you - that will be up to you.

[PenPusher]

For the OP, A Hasselblad 500 body isn't expensive, and I can send you a standard 80mm/f2.8 lens for the price of postage ± customs duty (I have three of them). Once you learn the quirks of the modular Hasselblad system (there will be at least one occasion where you have to manually reset a lens removed when the shutter was not cocked!) you will find it can do all that MF film can record. After that you will have to decide what you prefer about working technique and whether that camera is what you want to use in the long term. That isn't a simple or easy matter to decide: it takes many films to figure out what matters and what works for you. No one on any forum can give you the answer that works for you - that will be up to you.

That's an extremely generous offer but after reading Colton's review of his Bronica and all the bits he's managed to collect for it -so far - I decided to take Chickentender's advice "I wouldn't overthink it too much. If it comes down to it, pick the one you find the nicest to look at so that you can smile bigger while it sits on the shelf when not in use" and took the plunge and bought this Flexaret from a guy in France for €101 and if it doesn't work out it will look kind of nice on the shelf.

After all this generous advice from everybody I shall have to report back on how I get on with it, I have a couple of rolls of Formapan 100 with which to test it.

CD

[TwoUptons]

That’s a pretty little box.
Good luck with it 🙂

-Eric