Zuiks,
A couple of weeks ago someone mentioned their favorite
walk around was an Agfa Isolette(sic), a vintage
medium format folding camera. I didn't think anything
about it except how curious. To make a long story
short I was in a camera store that sells used Oly
equipment looking for fangs and saw this "thing" where
some funky OM10s were sitting. They had just taken in
the "thing" and it was a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta BX.
The old (1952) folder 6X6 takes amazing pics!!! And it
folds up into a fat wallet. I've rented those bricks
like Mamiya, and Fuji rangefinders and felt I was in a
Disney carton with this huge thing hanging off of my
neck.
I bet if we rolled back the time to about the 70s/80s
there would be newgroups (if internet was around then)
like this OLy list where folks would rave about the
compactness and sleekiness and performance of the
folders over the "boats" or "bricks".
WHY DOESN'T A CAMERA MANUFACTURER DO TO MEDIUM FORMAT
TODAY WHAT OLUMPUS DID TO SLRS IN THE 70S? That is
first make a truly compact, light weight jewel of a
medium format camera.(645s don't count personally as
medium format; they are more like 35mm on steroids.
And all of these that I've seen are brick-like.) Sure,
I read about the weakness of the folders being that of
keeping the film plane in the lens' depth of focus but
so what about the weakness of, say, Hasselblads with
the weakness in their camera back getting out of
kilter with the body. (Go Rollei!!!)
I want to thank the zuikohlic who mentioned that his
favorite walk around camera was a folder. That comment
helped tip the scale for me and "go for it" and not
look where I was going. I have to admit that I really
like walking around with this camera and am happy to
finally be in the world of medium format. As of Oly
equipment I still walk around with it too and plan to
as long as there is a way to keep it working.
Andre
--- Winsor Crosby <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >Still "looking" for something to compliment the OM
> system. Anyone
> >owns or has experience w/ one of these? How well
> does it work hand
> >held? Any cons? Thanks.
> >
> >// richard <http://www.imagecraft.com>
>
> Richard,
>
> I got a Mamiya 7 recently and have not used it that
> much yet. Still
> getting used to it. The chromes are stunning. I got
> the 80mm lens
> and it is very sharp. It is very easy to hand hold
> with good
> results. The shutter is so quiet it is disconcerting
> because I am
> used to "feedback" from my OM to let me know it has
> tripped. I
> mainly got it for black and white, but have been
> shooting the chromes
> because I wanted to get an idea of meter accuracy.
> It works very
> well although the read out is hard to see in the
> view finder. The
> rangefinder works well. In dim light the viewfinder
> is not very
> bright, but it is usable. It handles very well.
> You hardly notice
> the size because it is so light. I had a Lowe Pro
> "Off Road" camera
> bag kicking around that works very well for it. It
> holds the camera
> face down in the top with room for light meter and
> flash. The strip
> off side pockets will be useful if I add another
> lens or two.
>
> The Mamiya 6 may be the way to go. There is so much
> made in the way
> of film handling stuff for 6 x 6. 6 x 7 slide
> holders, viewers,
> slide projectors for instance are horrendous in
> price. If you decide
> to buy new, Robert Smith in England prices are about
> the same as used
> here.
>
> Winsor
> --
> Winsor Crosby
> Long Beach, California
>
>
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