Monday, December 03, 2012

Mamiya RB67 Pro S - Medium Format Film Camera






Years ago, I had several Hasselblad medium format cameras as well as a Bronica SQ-Ai medium format camera. These were square format 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" (6x6 cm) film cameras.

These square format cameras were great for portable use, but the king of s
tudio cameras for medium format could arguably be the Mamiya RB67 camera. This is a 6x7 cm format camera, so it's a rectangular format that had a printable output closest to an 8x10 print.

While I never owned one in the past, I do now. I purchased this camera from a shop in Japan and got the 180mm lens from Hong Kong.

I was surprised that it only took 3 days to ship the camera from Japan to the USA and only 4 days to ship the lens from Hong Kong! That's probably faster than our own USPS could do it from one coast to the other!

Mamiya is still manufacturing these cameras, but now it is known as the RZ67 Professional Pro II D with additional electronic features not found in the original RB67 system.  You can even buy a digital back for this camera and get medium format digital images!

I doubt I will ever shoot with this camera, but I purchased it so that the students could see what a medium format camera is all about. It will be kept in the classroom for all to see.

1 comment:

Daniel said...

Cool.