I just got me second medium format camera!! (Eeek!)

Andrew McCall wrote:
Wise Ass Poaster wrote:
In article . net,
"Art" wrote:

Next time do your research first. You paid a bit too much for a nice camera
that is missing several features that you might need. Check posts from
earlier in the week for details.

Me thinks "Art" is too damn lazy to offer any real help.

Its OK, I should have done more research myself. I have done now, and I
think thats it is a good deal, but choosing which one to keep is only
harder! The camera normally goes from £100 - £200 on eBay in the UK,
but this comes with a few extras which make the deal fair.

As to comparing the Yashicamat to the Mamiya - their two different
cameras which makes it almost impossible to compare. I can imagine I
would like to use both at some point, but unfortunately one has to go

Why?

Because of this, I think I am going to keep the Mamiya. The
Yashicamat 124G seems to be an excellent camera and has everything I
need, but is limited in expansion. If I keep the 645J I can buy extras
for it as and when I need them and eventually upgrade the body to a 645
1000s and still keep my investment.

The features the 645J miss over the other 645's a

o Mirror lock-up function
o Second shutter release button
o Shutter speeds longer than one second
o FP flash contact
o 3/8 inch tripod socket

That's correct.

But I will be able to get by without them, when needed I will upgrade
the body to the 1000s and keep the 645J as a spare. I do have a few
questions though:

Does the lack of a 3/8 inch tripod socket mean I can't connect it to a
tripod at all, or just one with a 3/8 inch mount?

The later. The M645J has a 1/4 inch tripod socket.

Similar question for the FP flash contact - does this mean I can't
connect a flash at all?

The M645 has a X-sync flash contact which allows you to use all modern
electronic flash units. Sync-speed is 1/60s.

The FP-sync will release the flash about 10ms _before_ the shutter is
completly open. Not very usefull with todays flash units. So, no loss
at this point.

Hmmmm.... I still have a soft spot for the Yashicamat though.....

TLRs are a world of it's own. And 6x6 is a different story.
I realy enjoy my M645 but will never trade my Rolleiflex for it.


Chris.

In article ,
(Ralf R. Radermacher) wrote:

Wise Ass Poaster wrote:

I never use mirror lock up on the Bronica.
Even at 8 seconds

8 seconds isn't the problem. 1/8 sec is.

Ralf

Hand held or on a tripod?

One thing the 124G has going for it is a meter- if it works. The 645J
doesn't have a meter and you will have to buy one if you don't have one
already. You could get either a handheld meter of some sort or get one
of the TTL finders available of the 645J.

Jeff

Actually that's a great advice... personally, even if it had a built-in meter,
if i was shooting MF, i'd buy an external meter; I would really want to get
those big negatives/slides well exposed.

Wise Ass Poaster wrote:

Hand held or on a tripod?

No matter how.

Ralf

--
Ralf R. Radermacher - DL9KCG - Köln/Cologne, Germany
private homepage: http://www.fotoralf.de
manual cameras and photo galleries - updated April 29, 2004
Contarex - Kiev 60 - Horizon 202 - P6 mount lenses

Sabineellen wrote:
One thing the 124G has going for it is a meter- if it works. The 645J
doesn't have a meter and you will have to buy one if you don't have one
already. You could get either a handheld meter of some sort or get one
of the TTL finders available of the 645J.

Jeff

Actually that's a great advice... personally, even if it had a built-in meter,
if i was shooting MF, i'd buy an external meter; I would really want to get
those big negatives/slides well exposed.

I am going to look out for a Sekonic L-608 Super Zoom Master on eBay
next month. I was going to get a decent light meter at some point
anyway, I always wanted more accurate readings than the ones the TTL
meter on my Nikon FM2n could give me.

I quite like working in my "own little studio" I have set up in my room
- its basically a two meter square area with some really cheap desk
lights and an assortments of card and paper as reflectors and light
softeners! I get some nice photo's there too such as this one, which I
am quite pleased with -

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2466159

I have always been sure that an incident light meter reading would be
better in these situations (I am probably going to get a torrent of
replies saying how wrong I am!).

I actually didn't realise the 645J didn't have a light meter, so it
looks like its going to be one of the first items I get for the camera.
I have read about people taking readings with their 35mm TTL meter,
then using those settings on their other cameras - does that really
work?? I need to get something through the camera ASAP to make sure
that everything works OK.

Thanks,

Andrew McCall

Sabineellen wrote:

Andrew, what surprises me in your post is that you say you can't afford to keep
both cameras (none of them is that pricey) yet you're shooting in MF. Where do
you buy your film from and how do you have it developed? what are your running
costs and how often do you shoot? MF is not normally thought of as a format for
the financially contrained. I bought my first MF camera too (GA645) just lately
but i haven't used it yet as I haven't yet worked out the best budgetary
arrangements for it and how much each shot would cost me.

Sabineellen,

Its not that I can't literally afford to keep both camera's, its that I
don't want to keep both cameras, but I like them both.

I wanted a fairly inexpensive way to test the medium format world. If I
was going to spend £220 on medium format equipment, I wouldn't have
chosen to spend it on two half-decent cameras, I would have spent it on
one decent camera. Thus one of the cameras has to go.

In regards to running cost, I have all (well almost all, I need a few
more items like a film and print dryer) the equipment to process and
print my own 35mm films, all of this equipment can be used for medium
format so long as I get a new lens for my enlarger.

Thanks,

Andrew McCall

Christian Kolinski wrote:

Andrew McCall wrote:

Wise Ass Poaster wrote:

[SNIP]

As to comparing the Yashicamat to the Mamiya - their two different
cameras which makes it almost impossible to compare. I can imagine I
would like to use both at some point, but unfortunately one has to go

Why?

If I wanted to spend £220 on medium format equipment, I would have done
so on one decent camera, rather than two half decent cameras This
was supposed to be a cheap way of testing out the medium format world,
and I really wanted to spend less than £150, which I did in each case.

[SNIP]

Does the lack of a 3/8 inch tripod socket mean I can't connect it to a
tripod at all, or just one with a 3/8 inch mount?

The later. The M645J has a 1/4 inch tripod socket.

Why does the 3/8" socket exist? Is it for really heavy camera's? So
long as the camera is mounted securely, I can't image a bigger sockets
going to make much different to the camera's stability?

Similar question for the FP flash contact - does this mean I can't
connect a flash at all?

The M645 has a X-sync flash contact which allows you to use all modern
electronic flash units. Sync-speed is 1/60s.

The FP-sync will release the flash about 10ms _before_ the shutter is
completly open. Not very usefull with todays flash units. So, no loss
at this point.

No, no loss. I don't have any flash equipment of my own yet as I haven't
had the need to use it. When I do buy some, it will be newer equipment
that won't use the FP flash contact. I want some portable studio
lighting next for home portraits.

Hmmmm.... I still have a soft spot for the Yashicamat though.....

TLRs are a world of it's own. And 6x6 is a different story.
I realy enjoy my M645 but will never trade my Rolleiflex for it.

When I started reading over this thread I had almost convinced myself
that I could keep both, but I know I need to sell the Yashicamat to get
a light meter

If I really like the Mamiya, and get a need for 6x6 I might take a look
at the C330 in the future.

Thanks,

Andrew McCall

Andrew McCall wrote:
Christian Kolinski wrote:

Andrew McCall wrote:

Wise Ass Poaster wrote:

[SNIP]

As to comparing the Yashicamat to the Mamiya - their two different
cameras which makes it almost impossible to compare. I can imagine I
would like to use both at some point, but unfortunately one has to go

Why?

If I wanted to spend £220 on medium format equipment, I would have done
so on one decent camera, rather than two half decent cameras This
was supposed to be a cheap way of testing out the medium format world,
and I really wanted to spend less than £150, which I did in each case.

Point taken.


[SNIP]

Does the lack of a 3/8 inch tripod socket mean I can't connect it to a
tripod at all, or just one with a 3/8 inch mount?

The later. The M645J has a 1/4 inch tripod socket.

Why does the 3/8" socket exist? Is it for really heavy camera's? So
long as the camera is mounted securely, I can't image a bigger sockets
going to make much different to the camera's stability?

Hm. Some people call 3/8" the "german" socket, while 1/4" is the "US"
type. I don't know how true this is, but I can confirm that the
3/8 socket was used on all my old german cameras (pre war Rolleiflex,
pre war Voigtländer Bessa, Rolleicord VI, 50s Zeiss-Ikon Nettar) and
copies of german ones (FED2, Kiev 4). I consider the 3/8" more universal
because it can be convertet to 1/4" by simply screwing in a little item
(50ct).

Chris.

print my own 35mm films, all of this equipment can be used for medium
format so long as I get a new lens for my enlarger.

How much does it cost you and how long would it take you to process a film (no
prints)? Is it only black and white or color too? I'm thinking about getting an
epson 4870 scanner and processing my film then scanning it.

Sabineellen wrote:
print my own 35mm films, all of this equipment can be used for medium
format so long as I get a new lens for my enlarger.

How much does it cost you and how long would it take you to process a film (no
prints)? Is it only black and white or color too? I'm thinking about getting an
epson 4870 scanner and processing my film then scanning it.

I only do black and white, but I most of the equipment can be used for
both, in actual fact I wouldn't advise anyone to get dedicated black and
white equipment as you can always grow into colour, rather than growing
out of black and white equipment.

I started by going to night-school one night a week for 3 hours. They
have dedicated labs set up for black and white film processing and black
and white printing. They also have a colour processing and printing
lab, but the course I did was just an introductory course so I didn't
get to see or use that, although we could just leave our colour films
behind to collect the next week if we wanted to.

All of this was of course free while I was on the course, which cost
£37.00 for 16 weeks. It actually cost me less than £7 in reality as the
local cinema, which my girlfriend and I go to once a week, offer a
student discount of £1.90 each time you go and show your student card.

Once the course ended I started getting the equipment from eBay. Rough
guides on what to pay a

Dark bag £10
Thermometer £5
Developing Tank £7
Measuring Cylinders £5
Film Clips £5
Squeegee £3 (Buy one as all the books say to get one, but never use it
in case it scratches the best frame you ever take )
Force Film Washer £5

Total of £40.00

Then you just need the chemicals which are about £3.99 each for dev,
stop, fixer and wetting agent, costs more or less depending on the
quantities you buy. Water is pretty much free unless your going to get
really anal.

You also need a dust free place to dry the film once processed - make
your own out of wood, paint it and leave it next to a hot water tank if
need be, you can buy them but they are large and cost up to £100. I
intend to get one at some point though.

I won't go into the details of how its done here, but be comforted in
the fact that its *really* simple no matter how complicated a tutorial
makes it out to be. Making your own coffee from beans is more
complicated - honestly!

Here are some of the best links I found, but you can't really get a feel
for how easy it is until you actually do it!

http://photography.about.com/library.../aa051401a.htm
http://www.silverlight.co.uk/tutoria...f/filmdev.html

It takes about 30 minutes to actually process, but only 5 minutes of
that is actually doing something, and about 20 minutes to dry depending
on how warm it is - but the time it takes to process one film is the
same time to process 8, so you can buy an 8 spiral developing tank if
you want to save time.

In regards to cost per frame for development, I don't know. To me its
much cheaper no matter what because if you were going to pay a
professional to develop your films by hand, with the chemicals that give
you the exact results you want, guaranteed not to scratch or ruin a
frame whilst on call 24 hours a day (because if you develop your own
film, thats what you are!) - its going to cost you quite a bit more than
doing it yourself.

Thanks,

Andrew McCall