[OM] Re: Medium Format

[James King]

I would love a mamiya 7 kit but its EXPENSIVE even second hand and I 
simply can't afford it. Everyone I have talked to who have owned one 
says the lenses are fantastic - especially the wides.

I went for a Bronica etrsi 6x4.5 because its outdated and Bronica is 
dead hense the second hand prices are very very low and it was my first 
venture into medium format.

Its fairly easy to load fuji film because the start of the leader has a 
hole in it which lines up with a little "grip" on the take up reel. 
Kodak etc are not as easy. However if you have multiple film backs you 
can load them at your lesure and then change back rather than change 
film - the film backs are cheap but don't tell the body what iso film is 
loaded in them. The metered prisms contain the iso dial therefore you 
have to remember to adjust the dial when you change film.. you get used 
to it but occasionally I have forgotten to.
The Bronica etrsi has mirror lock up but if you use a meterred prism you 
have to remeber to lock the exposure before you lock up the mirror since 
it meters through the focusing screen. Simularly when you lock the 
mirror up you can't unlock it without taking a shoot. therefore if you 
want to back you you lose a shoot.
It should be possible to use the Bronica with one hand on a tripod

The Bronica does not have autofocus and the 28 and 24mm equiv wides (50 
f2.8 and 40mm f4) are not great. The 100-220 f4.8 constant zoom is very 
good but flares if there is a bright light source just outside what you 
can see through the view finder.

The 75mm f2.8 standard lens and 60mm f2.8 wide are also nice. There is a 
1:1 macro lens - the 105mm f4.5 pe is not easy to focus.

There is a 45-90mm f4-f5.6 zoom but I have not used it much - I also 
find it difficult to focus.



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