OP
- Thread Starter
- #101
I never got into medium format, in my film days it was a big step up in price and I was happy with 35mm, but I do sometimes think about trying it now. I often see good examples of the Bronica ETR family, Pentax 645 and some of the Mamiya and Fuji cameras at very enticing prices, and lenses and accessories seem very affordable now. Every now and then I even see Hasselblad 500 series cameras at surprisingly attractive prices. In my younger days it wasn't the price of the bodies that was the problem as the bodies weren't actually that much more than the better 35mm cameras, it was the cost of lenses which was frightening to me. MF lenses seemed to hold their value well at that time so going SH wasn't quite the path to affordability it was for 35mm. I had friends who did pay the money to go into the Pentax 6x7 system who never regretted it, but it was quite an investment for them. I did toy with the idea of dipping a toes in the water with a Kiev or Exakta when they were the entry points into 'affordable' MF but I always ended up just buying another body or lens for my CONTAX kit or cycling gear instead.I’ve said this to you guys before, but my first SLR was a Mamiya/Sekor 1000DTL. It was stolen, along with my Yashica Lynx, and I replaced it with a lightly used Canon F-1 and then bought a Pentax KX to provide a home for my (adapted) M42 lenses.
A college buddy going into pro photography was less impecunious than I was and bought a Bronica ETR. Nice camera. At the time, I had the hots for a Bronica S2 but could only afford a used Mamiya C3 for doing that sort of thing. That C3 earned its keep! Hasselblad was pure fantasy for all of us in my circle, but much higher on our want list than Leica.
Rick “already deep into large format using the school’s Linhof” Denney