Finally, I’ve bought a real analog medium format camera — the Mamiya 67 RB. It’s quite a beast to carry around, but you forget all about that once you set it up (yes, a tripod is highly recommended) and start shooting. The sound when you release the shutter is magical — like an old V8 engine, but in the camera world. And the negatives it produces are gigantic compared to 35mm film. That means you don’t need to enlarge the image as much, giving you far more detail and less grain. It’s like comparing a 10-megapixel camera to a 45-megapixel one — simply fantastic.
I ordered the camera from Japan since there was a much larger selection there and the prices were a bit lower, even when factoring in shipping and customs. It also helps that the Swedish krona is strong right now! The ordering process went extremely smoothly — it took just six days from the time I placed the order until I could pick it up. The camera was exactly as the seller described and works perfectly! I bought it via eBay from ichi_camera_japan — highly recommended!
It does take a little time to get into the flow and establish a smooth workflow with the camera. A few times, I’ve pressed the shutter and nothing happened. Most often, that’s because I forgot to remove the film back’s dark slide. Luckily, the shutter button is blocked if the dark slide is still in place — otherwise, I would have ended up with a few blank frames. And since each shot costs over 10 SEK, you tend to be very careful with every single exposure.
Enjoyable again
For the past 15 years or so, I’ve been shooting digitally, and it’s been fun and practical, both for work and in my free time. But after a while, you get tired of it — constantly chasing pixels, double-checking that the focus is razor-sharp every single time, and feeling frustrated when it isn’t.
Now, with an analog camera, I might take five shots during a photo walk, compared to the 200 I probably would’ve taken with a digital camera — and I actually feel more satisfied. With digital, it often felt like I was constantly chasing “just one more shot.” Waiting a few days for the film to be developed is probably good for me too; it makes it even more exciting when you finally see the results! I think many people would benefit from slowing down a bit — everything today has to happen instantly and deliver immediate results.
And like with everything else, it takes time to truly learn the camera. It doesn’t matter which camera you use — even if it’s the same brand — there’s always a learning curve. But soon enough, it’ll all fall into place!
Here’s one of the photos from the camera. I really like the 6×7 format — it’s just about perfect for many types of images. Hasselblad and several other cameras produce square frames, but I prefer having the flexibility to choose the format depending on what I’m shooting. The Mamiya is also perfect in that sense, since you can simply rotate the film back instead of having to turn the entire camera. It makes switching between portrait and landscape orientation effortless, especially when the camera is mounted on a tripod.
”Another great advantage of the Mamiya is its bellows focusing system, which allows for an exceptionally short minimum focusing distance, no matter which lens you’re using — fantastic!”
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