During lockdown, I was able to divert the money I used to spend on things like coffee, lunch, public transport and gym to other things - film cameras. I bought a total of three Mamiya M645, two of them were duds sadly. However, I was left with accessories in mint condition including three different prism finders, and two lenses - one of them a leaf shutter-type that I've yet to give a go. They say third time's the charm. My third attempt at buying a Mamiya M645 body from Japan was fully working. Finally, I had a complete medium-format camera. It’s not to say I haven't tried other medium-format cameras. I was just as in love with my TLRs but they had issues of skipping shots and just want economical with film use. I don’t have any intentions of selling my TLRs because they are great to use and work with as a whole.
I had my first test roll of 120 film developed and scanned. The the results are stunning. Not only does the CDS prism finder work accurately, the sharpness of the lens was oozing with creamy bokeh, something I have been trying to successful do in my film photography journey. This camera gives me the opportunity to do such a thing and I love it. I should also mention how pleasant it is to deal with sellers from Japan. I've purchased three cameras from eBay sellers located in Japan and have had not had any issues with anyone of them or the cameras. A working camera makes a happy photographer!
Now, what are some less than ideal things about this camera? Nothing much really. I have no qualms with the quality as this camera was built to last a long time. However, it is a weighty camera. It’s the heaviest camera in my collection and the heaviest when hand-held. When operating the camera hand-held, I feel as if I’m carefully weilding a cube-shaped contraption. Even with a shoulder strap, this would be pretty heavy on the neck. For now, I've ordered a hand strap to help with the operation and to prevent any drops. For now, I’ll have to deal with it being hand-held which I think shouldn't be too difficult to get used to. This camera wasn’t made for any rough journey anyway.
All but one shot where I accidentally pressed the shutter button while bringing out my camera from its bag were an absolute success. While I'll save them for later posts on Instagram, I'll include three of my favourite ones.
