My Mamiya

I arranged to go to the bi-annual photographic market in Bern this weekend with Beat, to see what accessories we can find for our medium-format cameras. Being tired last night, at the end of a tiring day and long week, I forgot completely that the market is on Sunday, not Saturday. Unfortunately, I only realised this when I was already on the train to the city, so I carried on, grabbed a coffee from Starbucks and wandered through the city to the camera shops to see what the second-hand windows contained. I first came across a Hasselblad 500C, marked up at Fr. 1,000, which was out of my price range. On the same shelf, however, a shiny Mamiya 645 1000S caught my eye and the price tag of Fr. 298 meant that I jumped at the chance to get a new medium format film camera.

The complete kit, which was far in excess of what I was expecting, will succeed the Bronica ETRSi which I bought about fifteen years ago. The Mamiya is equally as sturdy and has a superbly bright viewfinder, as well as a range of accessories which include a wideangle 45mm/f2.8 lens, two spare film cartridges, a spare focusing screen and a great guide from 1980: more of a fan book than a user manual. I also took advantage of a good deal on a 210mm/f4 telephoto lens for Fr. 98, which I am looking forward to using as a portrait lens at the Swiss strobist day in May. I’ve been out in the spring sunshine with Jo this afternoon and have shot a couple of rolls of photos, which I’m really looking forward to collecting from the lab on Tuesday.