You know the discovery of this list is a curse right? You all at least
will acknowledge that right? ;-)
So I went to the "camera" district in taiwan yesterday, had a roll of
Ilford to develop, and I had some time on my hands and so there you go;
ideal hands is the way to blow money...
So I'm there, looking for Acros.. I come up to a shop; the guy working
there is very cool, shows me slides that are incredible. He shows me a
slide, with a picture of traffic; and he takes out a microscope, and
says try this; and I'm reading the licence plate from the cars.. But
wait, there's more! He shows me a picture of a motorcycle, and we are
reading the inscription on the engine block. Amazing I said! So what
was it taken with??
A Pentax 645, with an adapter and a Schneider made Jenna lens...??? I
held it, it was a monster, a 180mm f2.8, yes folks, that's an f2.8. you
know... 12lbs... lens only. Taiwan, famous for the "chop and imitate,
frankenstein" mentality, the guy says that's what most of them use for
professional work. They all like Japanese bodies, but german lenses. I
don't know what boat they snuck those lenses over from, but it was amazing.
I'm still looking for Acros, and they suggest I take the "secret street"
and see if anybody sells it there. Well... the secret street was
definitely that. The main street for cameras, sold mostly digital
stuff, and N* and C*. But the secret street... Ahhh... All Leica and
Hasselblads only. All the shop owners comment "buy a camera, not a
toy". So I'm walking down, and what do I see??? A used Hasselblad
903SWC. So of course I go in and play with it. My comments...
First, the 903SWC is small; it's very small. It's not like the
traditional 5 or 2 series. The viewfinder is iffy, but you know what?
With 91degrees of coverage, it makes little difference. Second, no
light meter, but then again, it's not any worse then the Fuji690III.
Third, DOF is very very deep, and so it's perfect for travel. The
price was $2370US which isn't bad, considering it comes with the
viewfinder and a 120back (no 220's in taiwan).
While some say 35mm is sufficient for 4x6, I agree. But if you go
slide, nothing like a big slide. I saw one of the 6x45 slides blown up
to 20x24, and the thing is so sharp, I could see the pores on the face.
Amazing.
One of the cameras that might now become a consideration is the Fuji 645
Autofocus. That has a built in meter, and is fairly compact (again,
nothing's compact by OM standards, but by N* standards) but nobody sells
medium format Fuji's here. Pentax, Rollei, Mamiya, Hasselblad. That's
about it. Bronica is near impossible to find here, and so is Fuji.
Don't know why. The only Bronica that I can find is the 645 system.
So... Having seen some 645 slides, I am again reminded that I want a
120 based camera. But now, I'm more confused...
Good thing I have my OM, I loved it when I was considering buying it, I
loved it when I bought it, and I still love it now...
But I have to say, to hold a Hasselblad 903SWC is to want one...
Albert
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