The beautiful Mamiya 7 medium format camera

Advantages: High quality images suitable for dramatic enlargements, well made camera and a pleasure to use.
Disadvantages: Could be difficult to use for a complete novice. Expensive though worth every penny.

...This a beautiful camera and I love the quality of images it can take. It is a medium format range finder camera that is as light as many 35mm cameras so you can literally carry it all day without fatigue. Medium format cameras are usually bulky and feel as heavy as a brick ( or a couple of bricks!). As it is light you can handhold it to take pictures. Again most other medium format cameras would make your arms ache or shake too much and you would have to use a tripod. So this camera offers you a choice. You can hand hold this camera all day without having to use a tripod and yet still get high quality medium format pictures or if you want to explore your photography and the cameras capabilities further with a tripod you can. I also own one of the heavier medium format cameras the Mamiya RZ and I've only taken it out for the day...

petermock 19.01.2008 (27.03.2008) · Read review
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Review of Mamiya 7 II

Mamiya RB67

Advantages: Quality, solidity
Disadvantages: Weight, evil ergonomics

...Mamiya RB67 When I decided to buy a medium format camera, 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...

Dudler 31.12.2000 · Read review
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Review of Mamiya RB 67 Pro SD

Mamiya Rb-67 a true photographic workhorse

Advantages: large negative size,quality enlargemts, rotating film back
Disadvantages: only 10 shots on a roll of 120, heavy camera to use initialy

...The Mamiya RB-67 is an excellent piece of photographic hardware. When I was window shopping for a medium format system to upgrade to I was concentrating on the Bronica systems , Namely the SQ and GS1. Until that is I had a play with an RB-67. Its not a light camera, infact its quite heavy at first, but one soon gerts used to the weight, It is the same basic layout at as other medium format cameras , Interchangeable lens,body,waist level finder & interchangeable film backs. But what makes the RB outshine others is that the film back can be rotated 90' so you can switch from landscape to portrait format without moving the camera, which is very useful at times. It is a sturdy camera, built to last & take a beating,I ve used mine in a studio to on top some of south wales highest peaks without a failure to work ever. The camera...

Gareth_Bailey 24.08.2000 · Read review
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Review of Mamiya RB 67 Pro SD

Wow, wow, & wow!

Advantages: Fantastic image quality, good range of lenses
Disadvantages: Slow flash sync speed

......

sillyconguru 27.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of Mamiya 645 Pro

HASSELBLAD 501 CM

Advantages: Robust,Reliable,Adaptable
Disadvantages: Pricey

...The reputation of Hasselblad has prompted many a photographer-professional and amateur alike-to invest in what is arguably the ultimate medium format system. During my 15 year carrer in professional photography, I have used/owned three market-leading medium format camera models; Bronica (S2A:-yes S2A!) Mamiya(RB67) and an old Hasselblad 500. Of the three, I found the Hasselblad the most comfortable to use.It scores over the Bronica in terms of build quality and compared to the Mamiya it is a great deal easier to handle. In the field of freelance work, I needed a robust camera that would deliver high quality results with the minimum of maintainence, so the Hasselblad 501 was the obvious choice....

NickWhite 20.11.2000 · Read review
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Review of Hasselblad 500 Series

Leica S1

Advantages: from Studio direkt to CMYK, superior image quality
Disadvantages: thetered camera, needs continuous light

...LEICA S 1 cameras are supplied with an exchangeable LEICA S-Adapter-R. With the innovative adapter system nearly any lens can be mounted to a LEICA S 1 with perfect stability. The range is from Leica R- and M-lenses, other 35 mm lenses (with Novoflex and MAdapter), Mamiya 645 Pro lenses, Novoflex-bellow, to all Hasselblad-lenses (with full Tilt & Shift feature). The system is supported by fotomoto.de since 2001....

fotomoto 27.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Leica S1 Pro

Fantastic fun!

Advantages: its limits are as far as your imagination goes
Disadvantages: very basic

...As a photography student I have tried a lot of camera's in my time, and the holga oddly enough is one of my favourites (along with the mamiya 7 or fugi 6 x 9 standard, if anyone is interested). It is basically a plastic toy camera with a built in flash (powered by two AA batts, and with colour gels). It takes 120 film (with a 6 x 6 mask), and has a plastic lens which you can focus from about a metre away to infinity (the holga can actually focus closer, but only the middle will if you go closer than a metre). It has two shutter speeds, B and 125 with f/8, with a cloudy and sunny setting. It is a very basic camera, a point and shoot sort of thing. I've had some fantastic shots, but also some awful ones too. Its a super little camera just to play with. You can do a lot with it, from multi exposures to running 35mm through it. I...

Barneygirl 13.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Lomo Holga 120 SF

Happy Snapper's delight!

Advantages: Cheap, with good results
Disadvantages: No control if you're an expert!

...These disposable cameras are brilliant - then again it doesn't really matter what make you use, they all are. Whilst there can be a lot of snobbery about what camera you use I have a Pentax, Nikon and Mamiya and I defy the average happy snapper to tell the difference in picture quality. Obviously when they have a fixed lens and therefore limited aperture/shutter speed combinations there will be limitations over how much control you have but I think the average person with a Christmas tree at both ends of the film will be more than happy with this camera. These cameras are a must for the beach (it's very painful getting sand in your Nikon), a must for children on field trips (not as painful as losing your Nikon)and a must for anyone that hates complicated cameras but wants reasonable results. My only advice is that it will not warn you...

hillbilly1 10.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of Agfa Easy Flash

Samsung NV7 review

Advantages: Superb design, Intuitive menus.
Disadvantages: Image quality, ISO response, innacurate manual setting

...I bought this camera as something to chuck in my bag on trips, as I was using a canon 20d or a nikon f5 on outings and they seemed a bit overkill for casual snaps. I wanted a quality digital compact camera and after checking a few reviews the NV7 seemed the job. I should say that I am used to high quality results from my mamiya RZ672 and horseman 4x5 cameras, as well as the 2 I mentioned above, and of course I will not compare these cameras to a comparatively cheap digital compact camera, but I can't guarantee this review won't be affected by the standards I've become used to. ANYWAY, on with it. If you appreciate nice aesthetics, you will love the design of this camera. A very solid design, all aluminium front and rear plates, A decent quality Schneider lens, Minimal marking and the all important glowing ring around the power button...

yeahwhat 24.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Samsung NV7

Olympus - the peak of cameras

Advantages: Superb Quality
Disadvantages: Expensive and big compared to the compacts

...marched ahead in terms of the resolution of its images. 10 mega pixels is more or less the top of the class for entry-level DSLRs, though that is now, in May 2007, - it will be a different story by October, no doubt. You can get higher - even 21MP in a Mamiya - but then you are talking professional cameras costing £8000.! Olympus has also achieved the lightest camera in its class - and that is worth thinking about if you are likely to be holding it for long periods, getting those perfect shots lined up. It is also a very small package, fitting nicely in the hand. When it was launched last year it was the smallest and lightest DSLR - Nikon have now launched a smaller one, but it only has 5MP. Olympus has pioneered its Super Sonic Wave Filter as a way of ensuring that dust and dirt do not get in the way of good pictures. A little blue...

trevorbrock 31.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Olympus E-400