Mamiya 645 Super by Richard de Bulat
I went out with a Mamiya 645: I had one of these for a while back in the 90’s as an upgrade to my C330f, but sold it to get a Bronica SQA, prefering the square format. These days, I am not so sure; perhaps it is because I shoot a lot of 35mm and the 4 x 3 format fits quite nicely into that basic framework. Maybe, it is that shooting with this camera simply feels natural – although I added a left handed grip so that I could make full use of the prism finder for both landscape and portrait modes.
As usual, I took a handheld meter, but the camera meter and my Sekonic were both in agreement as to aperture and exposure, but lighting was consistent, in any case and I made few exposure adjustments. The main lighting problem was the sheer intensity of light and, at times, shadow detail had to be sacrificed to capture the highlights and mid-tones; I like shadow, but a bit of detail is always a good thing, ordinarily.
The camera came with the standard lens, 645 back and a metered prism finder and looked like new. In operation, it worked like new and loaded with a roll of FP4+ I took a turn around St. Budeaux and enjoyed the sunshine and the urban, or suburban, landscape. The split finder made focusing easy and my exposure range was f8/f11 at 250th/125th sec. However, although focusing on a range of distances, I made no close-up shots; maybe I just didn’t think of it, or no obvious subjects came to my attention – nevertheless, focus was not a problem and all of the images were as sharp as you would expect with a good Mamiya lens and with plenty of contrast. I over exposed a tad and underdeveloped a bit, not because I was concerned about contrast in this case, but this is what I generally do, believing that this gives the negatives a slight edge and suits my style, though many people would disagree.
If you like photography and enjoy using cameras, it is not easy for one camera or another to stand out, particularly, with the exception of some classics, or a camera you just happen to feel an affinity. Some cameras just have a lot of soul for reasons of engineering or styling and become a preferred choice. Sometimes, I have bought a camera that I tested, such as he Nikon F90, for this very reason and I could very well do so with the Mamiya except that I have a 645 system already. It wasn’t that it was especially a joy to use, but simply its ease of function, with everything in the right place and operating smoothly – it also looks great. Back in the 90’s, I thought that this camera was less than I needed; today, I think it might be all that is needed for good film photography.
