About me:Keen asmateur photographer for 35 years - just starting to grow up.
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Member since:25.11.2000
Reviews:12
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Review rated by 8 Ciao members on average: very helpful
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Mamiya RB67
When I decided to buy a medium formatcamera, I looked at an RB67, and easily dismissed it. You need hands the size of a gorilla, and it really ought to be sold with a Benbo tripod welded to the bottom.
A kind friend lent me her “new” RB over Christmas - £250, and a lot of black paint missing. I still won’t be buying one: it is a camera I respect, but I certainly don’t love it!
But if you want (or need) the versatility of bellows focussing, you may buy one. If you need a camera engineered like a battleship (and every bit as user-friendly), you may buy one. If you want excellent results, and don’t mind ergonomics that are just right for an octopus, you may buy one. If you take landscapes or portraits professionally, there’s a good chance you already own one.
An RB67 offers enormous scope for doing things wrong. You need to wind the film and cock the shutter with separate levers, for instance - but rewards you with wonderful negatives and slides. (If you load the film right - to my shame, I put one roll through with the backing paper facing the lens. I don’t usually get things so wrong these days!)
In terms of sheer spec, there’s not a lot: leaf shutters to 1/400 second in each lens, giving flash synch at all speeds. Rotating back, so that you can take landscape and portrait formats without turning the camera on its side (which is REALLY inconvenient with a waist level finder). Lenses of limited maximum aperture, though excellent quality, and which stop down a long way for enormous depth of field. Everything you need, and absolutely nothing else.
To sum up: this is a camera for a photographer who wouldn’t think twice about the choice between a 1961 Land Rover and a modern 4x4 with leather, air, and auto gearbox. But if you want to hand-hold - EVER - shoot sport, or have nay mod cons, look elsewhere!
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27.05.2005 22:36
Good review although a little more detail would be useful such as quality, etc. Jane
03.01.2001 01:50
Your opinions are brilliant please write some more and email me if there are any categories or products missing- Gideon- catgeory manager.
31.12.2000 09:29
Your reviews are well written and extremely informative. Thank you :)