What Medium Format Cameras Are Members Here Using?

[Don_ih]

I have experience long ago with a new body used with a used film back (it dd not happen with any other backs, purchased new), and it would intermittently fail to fire the shutter (no matter which lens was mounted). It turned out the problem was caused by the film-advanced interlock pin of the film back...it would (sometimes) protrude into the body too far, so the reflex mirror would not rise all the way up (sometimes), so the swinging arm at the front (lens mount) would not release the corresponding arm of the shutter-fire pin (green dot). I sent body and back to GMI Photographic (the distributor before Tamron purchased Bronica) and they adjusted the film back so the problem no longer occurred.

Failure to fire and/or delayed firing of the shutter seems to point to a problem with your setup which could be very similar to mine...the delayed firing is similar to the no-firing, except that after a brief pause the mechanism has moved sufficiently for the front shutter-activation lever in the lens mount to be delayed in its travel thru full range of motion and causes delayed shutter firing. Yes, it could also be gummy lubricants in the mechanical activation linkage of some of the lenses....have to tried releasing the swing arm on the lens (you need to press the interlock pin on the side to do that) and felt the action to detect gumminess?

I haven't investigated much, really. However, with three bodies, 5 backs, and two lenses that misfire no matter what combination of those, I'm pretty sure it's the lenses. I'd have to dig them out at this point (don't even remember where they are).

 

[Don_ih]

Rather than bad mouthing a camera

No one is really "bad-mouthing a camera" here. But it is reasonable, at this point in time, to let people know what to expect when getting something. Chances are, these lenses being so old and of unknown service history, there will sooner or later (probably sooner) be a problem with a lens with a shutter in it. The way people have, up until recently, dealt with that problem was buy another lens that works because they have been reasonably cheap for the last 15 years. Even the service manual for these lenses says, when the shutter is malfunctioning "Take it out and put a new one in".

The guy who sold me the Bronica lenses didn't know they were misfiring. Last he'd used them, they all worked fine. He wasn't trying to deceive me when he sold the stuff.

 

[GregY]

kl122... I've had a number of Fujis. I'm attached to the results from them, but not to the individual cameras. The original GL690 is a dinosaur....but reliable, i got mine from a pro friend...after it had taken a 60' fall and still worked. A little dent on the back door and some tape in places and no light leak. But the other lenses are like finding hen's teeth...& pricey just because of their scarcity. The GW/GSW ii are metal.... but the lll versions feel nicer in the hand & much of the camera is plastic over metal. They do take a licking. None of them feel like they have the build quality of a Leica M or a Nikon F....& well they don't The lenses are magic. Way nicer than using a Mamiya 23 or a Graflex XL. The versions with the 65mm are exceptional. Load it with some Tri-X, set it at F8 @ 250 ....set the hyperfocal distance and you have a giant point & shoot. I've had 6x7,6x8,6x9 versions and my preference for all around is the 680. It rides a beautiful line of proportion. For me, the only downside (using them in the mountains)......is they're big & bulky. These days I choose a Rolleiflex or Plaubel Makina 670 instead....... but nothing against the Fuji 67-69 rangefinders. I have 100s of fine negatives from them.

 

[fdonadio]

Hasselblad 500C/M

 

[images39]

Mamiya 645 Pro. The thing has never let me down in 12 years of hard use, and the lenses are superb.

Dale

 

[nosmok]

All of them, Katie. Well, maybe not, but in order of last use:

Daiichi Zenobia 6x4.5
Kodak Junior 620
Pentacon 6 with 45mm shift lens, 50mm normal, 30mm fisheye
FrankenGraphic with 38mm Biogon clone, 6x6 6x4.5 6x7 backs
Agfa Ventura with Solinar 105mm grafted on
Brownie Special 620
Plaubel Makina II 6x9
Plaubel Makina III 6x9 RF
etc.

Clearly I have a problem, but I am also having fun. MF is the thing I'll always shoot-- I'm cutting way back on 35mm and I can see being too old to lug an 8x10 rig around, but MF is a real sweet spot for image quality and portability.

 

[braxus]

Well I'll add back the Pentax 67 (late version 1) into my collection. I still watch Mamiya 645 AF/ AFD cameras on Ebay for a potential future purchase. An AFDIII body sold for a little over $1000 Canadian via bidding, which goes to show how over inflated the Japanese sellers are with the older versions selling them between 2000-3000 bucks. That AFDIII should have been listed and sold for well over 3000+ grand if it was sold by a Japanese seller.

 

[flavio81]

All of them, Katie. Well, maybe not, but in order of last use:

Daiichi Zenobia 6x4.5
Kodak Junior 620
Pentacon 6 with 45mm shift lens, 50mm normal, 30mm fisheye
FrankenGraphic with 38mm Biogon clone, 6x6 6x4.5 6x7 backs
Agfa Ventura with Solinar 105mm grafted on
Brownie Special 620
Plaubel Makina II 6x9
Plaubel Makina III 6x9 RF
etc.

It seems more and more people are appreciating this obscure camera. We need to be careful so prices don't rise. Which camera? The one with the Neo-Hesper lens. I prefer not to disclose the camera name.

 

[GregY]

Do cameras on loan count? I need a little longer lens than the Plaubel 670 for some photos around Chamonix...so a mtn guide/photog friend is sending me a Pentax 645 w a couple of lenses. I do prefer a bigger negative, but I've never had good results with the Pentax 67 and longer lenses.....let alone humping the beast around the mountains. I'll see what the 645 results look like in prints.

 

[Highlyanimated]

Yashicamat 124 G
Rolleiflex 2.8C
Bronica RF645

 

[nosmok]

It seems more and more people are appreciating this obscure camera. We need to be careful so prices don't rise. Which camera? The one with the Neo-Hesper lens. I prefer not to disclose the camera name.

I have 2, one Hesper, one Neo-Hesper. Can't go wrong with either, or both-- get 36 shots in the field and the carry is the same size as a 35mm SLR but the negative is 3x larger.

 

[Donald Qualls]

get 36 shots in the field and the carry is the same size as a 35mm SLR but the negative is 3x larger.

How's that? My Zenobia only gives 16 frames...

 

[flavio81]

How's that? My Zenobia only gives 16 frames...

Hush hush please don't mention it... let it stay under radarrrrrrrr

 

[trondsi]

Usually my Rolleiflex, but after I built a tripod-thingy to hold my Voigtlander Bessa folding camera, I've been using that a lot.

 

[Paul Manuell]

2 Pentax 645NIIs

 

[Donald Qualls]

Hush hush please don't mention it... let it stay under radarrrrrrrr

Well, whatever -- the one I'd really like to get is Konica Pearl. Coupled RF, frame counter, barely bigger than a Zenobia and the lens is also very good. And a 6x9 folder with single-window coupled RF and a frame counter (that I could afford) might replace my Moskva-5 in my folder bag, if I could find one.

 

[nosmok]

How's that? My Zenobia only gives 16 frames...

Oops! Either a simple math error, or simple grammar error (left out a 'nearly'), but an error nonetheless. Looking at the neg strips I've shot, 17 exposures MAY JUST be possible, but I've always been fat-fingered when it come to red-window winding.

 

[Donald Qualls]

17 exposures MAY JUST be possible

There's enough film for that in most brands of 120, but no "17" on the framing track. Easy to overlap or run that last frame off the tail. I can reliably get 13 with my 6x6 Kodak Reflex II by resetting the counter manually (it's a length counter, so doesn't depend on spool windup). I stopped doing it because there's no good way to store that 13th (or 17th) frame; standard negative pages hold four strips of 2, 3, or 4. Bad enough storing 10 frames of 6x7...

 

[lxdude]

I have three Bronica bodies. They all operate one lens perfectly every time. The other lenses are intermittent - delayed and/or not firing half the time. In this case, it's the lenses.

Typically, this is from old grease in the lens trigger mechanism. The body does not apply a lot of force; it doesn't take much increase in resistance to prevent reliable firing. If the lens does not go, jiggle the lens on the mount (clockwise and counterclockwise). That may be enough to trigger it. That is a good indicator of stiff grease. Also, if you cock the lens off the body and the cocking pins don't move quite easily, that tells you the same thing.
It's not difficult to disassemble the lens from the back to get to the offending part of the mechanism, no need to disturb the optics.

 

[Don_ih]

It's not difficult to disassemble the lens from the back to get to the offending part of the mechanism

Really? I haven't investigated the Bronica lenses much, but I'd particularly like to get the 50mm working. Thanks for reminding me of this thread - I had planned to find where I've hidden those lenses, now I should be able to remember to do it.

 

[guangong]

SLR: Hasselblad 2000FCM
TLR: Rollei 2.8F
Folder: Super Ikonta B, Fuji GF67, Makina 67.
RF: Medalist

 

[flavio81]

I have three Bronica bodies. They all operate one lens perfectly every time. The other lenses are intermittent - delayed and/or not firing half the time. In this case, it's the lenses.

These electronic shutters (the ones on the ETR and SQ series) are very simple to service due to having few mechanical parts. I had a 75/2.8 MC with firing problems (i.e. shutter opened but never closed). I opened up the lens, got into the shutter from the front, cleaned the switches and lubricated the levers, and ta da, everything worked perfectly. Of course, previously, i tested that all the electrical connections from the lens mount electrical pins to the shutter itself were OK.

There's also a problem with most lens series (non PE, or non PS) where the arms that couple the cocking pins to the rest of the shutter body get bent and thus they don't fully cock some times.

 

[baachitraka]

I want to use Holga 120 all the time...

 

[BHuij]

I have a few several, it turns out, now that I'm taking inventory.

• Yashica Mat 124 which I use somewhat regularly
• Agfa Isolette II which I very rarely use because I don't love rangefinders or guess-and-check focus, and frequently like to shoot with shallow DoF where focusing accuracy is paramount
• RB67 which I virtually never shoot because I don't love the 6x7 format, and the thing weighs more than my entire large format setup. But it was my dad's camera and I'll never sell it.
• A few pinholes, most recently a terraPin Kaiju 6x18. Still troubleshooting some light leaks and whatnot, but enjoying the panoramic format and curved film plane
• A 6x9 120 back for my 4x5 (kinda doesn't count)
• A Moskva 5 that I also basically never shoot for much the same reasons as I don't shoot the Isolette. It also has some light leak issues. I'm probably going to sell this one.
• A Goodman Zone that I want so badly to love, but I still haven't solved the light leaking backs problem yet. I'm close though, just need another one or two iterations of the prototype I'm designing and I think I'll be able to use it as I want, which is basically a poor man's Hasselblad.
• One of these days I'll pull the trigger on a Bronica SQ of some sort. I don't really need one, but it's kind of a grail camera for me.

 

[Ales']

Hasselblad swc, don't worry about quality of my mf gear anymore