Am I Mad?

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6x7

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John
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Hello,

I've taken the plunge and got myself a Mamiya RZ67 Pro IID! I've not shot film for years, and have never used medium format before.

I was originally looking at buying a new full frame dslr, but after wading through all the jargon and comparison sites I think I had some kind of mental breakdown?

I got a little side tracked and started looking at medium formats such as the Mamiya 645's & 67's. I had narrowed it down to the 645AFD, but then I found a good price on the Pro IID, so jumped at it. I'm really interested in taking portraits and fashion with it so it seems a bit of a no brainer really, besides I can always get the AFD later.

I've not taken delivery of it yet, and it is body only, so I'm looking for some advise from current users of the RZ's, recommended films, lenses, prisms (AE worth it or not?), processing, scanners, scanning etc etc

Cheers
 
Welcome to the mad house :lol:

Not an RZ user myself, Danny is and I am sure he will be along soon, as I use a Pentax 67. I believe the 180mm lens makes for a good portrait. As for scanners the more popular ones around here are the Epson V range, 500 or 700 series, not so sure about an AE as hand held meters will offer you more control.

Make sure you have a good tripod, they aren't light weight :)

Films? Well Kodak Potra or Ektar good colour neg films
As for black and white I like the Ilford Delta and the Kodak tri x range, really depends if you
are going to dev them your self. If not then both Kodak and Fuji do C41 based black and white films that can be developed from Asia to jessops.

Have fun with your new kit and stick some stuff up as well.
 
Agree with Nick...180mm for portraits and a 65mm is nice for wide angle. If you live in the right area you can get the negs developed for as little as £2 +VAT for pick-up ....... posting rolls of film has become more expensive because of the post office's fiddle of limiting the thickness of the letter/parcel and some labs insist on recorded delivery to send the negs back, so the more you send in one go the cheaper it is :)
 
Welcome John - the RZ is a legendary series of cameras and they have an excellent reputation, I'm sure you'll be very happy.

Most of the questions you ask essentially either have a subjective response, or a budget limited response. What lens? The 180mm as mentioned is popular, but depending on where you are shooting that could either be too long or too short for your requirements.

Recommended film? A very subjective question. I seem to have far more success with ISO400 film like T-Max 400 over things like Acros 100, but there are people who are the opposite. The best thing to do is try a range of film emulsions, see which one you like the end results of the most, and refine from there.

Prisms, again, depends how you plan to meter and whether you think it's too much trouble using an external light meter. Additionally, whether you like the WLF view of the world or you'd prefer the corrected image.

Processing - B&W home developing is still very popular for good reasons, it's often far cheaper, quicker, don't have to rely on Royal Mail/lab technician, complete control over the whole process. C-41/E-6 home developing is also done by some people, although not as many as B&W.

Scanners - budget constrains this. The Epson V500/600/700/750 are the most popular flatbed scanners, and cover a wide range of formats including 6x7. If you want to spend more, there are dedicated film scanners, although medium format ones are achingly expensive and are often no longer serviced, or no spare parts are available anymore since they are often 10+ years old.
 
Hi there :)

Congrats on your purchase they're a wonderful bit of kit. I shoot with the RZ67 Pro and I love it, in fact I sold off my digital slr kit entirely and bought a Sekonic 758 meter.

I also shoot portraits and fashion, there are examples shot with the rz67 on both links below. I use the waist level finder and 180mm f4.5 w-n lens solely right now, I was advised to look out for the w-n lenses.

I use the V500 Epson scanner with vuescan software which is much better than epson scan.

Film wise, I mostly use it for b&w but I shot some provia last weekend,still to be devved. I develop my own b&w and so far I've used tmax400,trix400,hp5,delta100 and acros100. So far I prefer trix and acros, so that's 100 and 400 well covered.

It has 110% changed the way I shoot, for the better I think but who knows,difficult to judge your own work, it makes me do funny things like sell off my Eli and bron stuff to buy some old school tungsten fresnels. Lol
 
Nope, you're not mad.. a similar reasoning got me into owning a RB67. There's a lot of RB owners about, maybe no so many RZ owners.. but the similarities are enough that we should all be able to help each other along :D

For film I can highly recommend Kodak Ektar and Portra, and Fuji Pro400H. And Fuji FP-100C and -3000B, because you just know you'll be wanting a Polaroid back..

Welcome to the Mamiya club!
 
Thanks for all your words of wisdom guys, and sorry about the generalised questions - think I'm just a bit overexcited & can't wait to play with it.

From everything I've read about them, the only drawback seems to be the weight - any others?

Excalibur, £2 odd a go sounds good these mystical places wouldn't be in the Portsmouth & Southampton areas by any chance?

I think I will be quite happy with the WLF and a meter, will probably get a prism if I find one cheap enough as the going rate seems to be around the £200 mark?

The 180mm is already on my list - £130 brand new from Japan via ebay sounds like a steal.

Danny you have some nice shots there mate, are you using a tripod much - if at all?
 
The RB67 was the chosen tool of almost all studio photographers back in the film days and they can't all have been wrong. ;)
 
6x7 said:
Excalibur, £2 odd a go sounds good these mystical places wouldn't be in the Portsmouth & Southampton areas by any chance?
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Genie Imaging in Wandsworth, London SW18: £1.99 + VAT is the one I know about. I just sent off a bunch of films (35mm C41 and 120 E6) to them yesterday.

There's an F&C sticky that I maintain with some other options to browse through.

I keep finding myself horribly tempted by an RZ. I hope you enjoy it :)
 
6x7 said:
Thanks for all your words of wisdom guys, and sorry about the generalised questions - think I'm just a bit overexcited & can't wait to play with it.

From everything I've read about them, the only drawback seems to be the weight - any others?

Excalibur, £2 odd a go sounds good these mystical places wouldn't be in the Portsmouth & Southampton areas by any chance?

I think I will be quite happy with the WLF and a meter, will probably get a prism if I find one cheap enough as the going rate seems to be around the £200 mark?

The 180mm is already on my list - £130 brand new from Japan via ebay sounds like a steal.

Danny you have some nice shots there mate, are you using a tripod much - if at all?
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Please link me to where you've found a brand new rz67 lens for £130!!!!!

Thanks alot for the compliment, nope I shot them all handheld,some as low as 1/30. The weight helps for me
 
Also, a prism finder doesn't have to cost £200, the ae or ae II will, but a PD will surfice if you don't need metering :)

I'm looking to pick up a Polaroid back, a PD finder, and an L-Grip, then build on my lens collection, with the 110mm being next on the list.
 
Without wanting to be accused of trading outside of Classified I have both prism and waist level metered finders I'm looking to sell - both in excellent condition. If there's any interest I'll pop them up in Classified.

Neither of them would be 200 quid. ;)
 
CT said:
Without wanting to be accused of trading outside of Classified I have both prism and waist level metered finders I'm looking to sell - both in excellent condition. If there's any interest I'll pop them up in Classified.

Neither of them would be 200 quid. ;)
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Or pm me....like now? Lol
 
***Excalibur, £2 odd a go sounds good these mystical places wouldn't be in the Portsmouth & Southampton areas by any chance?***

erm only dealt with these people in Bournemouth, but when you click on film development only "page not found":-

http://www.snapsphotoservices.com/page_2352517.html

Anyway I had 5 films done last year @ £12.50 +£2 recorded del back + sending the rolls of films equals about £16.
 
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I'm honestly not sure. I'd guess that it does.
 
Mahoneyd187 said:
That's the one dude,thanks for the link! Bloody bargain if ever I saw one!! I paid £180 for mine 2nd hand just last year,looks new mind,but still!

If you find any cheap 110mm lenses pls let me know :)
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No worries mate, im defo getting that one & will keep my eyes peeled for you ;-)
 
That same seller has 110mm and 50mm RZ lenses cheap some great prices, I wouldn't have minded the Fujifilm GW690III Rangefinder.
 
Thanks for that Ed, i will check them out when i get home - couldnt see them on my crappy phone.
 
How would customs work with those though? (just pointing out, I have no real interest in 6x7)
 
freecom2 said:
How would customs work with those though? (just pointing out, I have no real interest in 6x7)
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Technically anything bought from that seller would be liable for duty and VAT but the prices are so good that they would still be worth purchasing. If you are unscrupulous and do not care if you pay the duty, you might be lucky and not get caught.
 
EdBray said:
Technically anything bought from that seller would be liable for duty and VAT but the prices are so good that they would still be worth purchasing. If you are unscrupulous and do not care if you pay the duty, you might be lucky and not get caught.
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Yup, IIRC 7% import duty on the lens and then 20% VAT on that price and the carriage which I think would be around £167. Not sure how any warranty issues would work. Another option is Ffordes that currently have a 180mm WN described as Exc.++ condition for £149 and would come with 6 months warranty.
 
Don't forget the Parcel Farce clearance fee if the package is picked out by HMRC. It's £13.50 if sent by 24-hour delivery and £8 otherwise. You don't get a choice of whether to pay for this unsolicited service despite not being able to pay the import charges yourself, even if you speak to HMRC and confirm everything with them first.

Yes, I'm still cross about it. :)
 
Strappy said:
Don't forget the Parcel Farce clearance fee if the package is picked out by HMRC. It's £13.50 if sent by 24-hour delivery and £8 otherwise. You don't get a choice of whether to pay for this unsolicited service despite not being able to pay the import charges yourself, even if you speak to HMRC and confirm everything with them first.

Yes, I'm still cross about it. :)
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Yup, good point. I forgot that the carrier will also charge an administration fee for paying your customs bill for you. IIRC DHL charged ~£16 2-3 years ago.
 
My new baby has arrived :love:

13910951.jpg
 
Ahh.. that's a nice looking body.. welcome to the Mamiya club.

Hmm.. maybe we should have some of them owner-threads that are so popular over on the digical-trickery sections..
 
Alastair said:
Ahh.. that's a nice looking body.. welcome to the Mamiya club.

Hmm.. maybe we should have some of them owner-threads that are so popular over on the digical-trickery sections..
Click to expand...

Good shout!
 
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