Well I had one and didn't use it for my new interest for indoor portraiture as flash syn was 1/30 sec
...... just my opinion is it's over engineered and the RB 67 was crude in comparison, but the RB worked and my Rollei developed shutter speed problem and had to have it repaired. My two lenses were excellent but only had 80mm and 250mm.
@sirch has/had one.
well I've got small hands:-Thanks folks, most interesting. It's always tricky when youve never held a particular camera to know whether it will feel "right" in your own hands.
A little more research is required I think.
Absolutely. My first medium format camera (apart from box cameras) was a Mamiya RB67. We went into a dealers expecting to come out with a Hasselblad (500CM I think was the then current model) but we both disliked the handling of a Hasselblad and preferred the Mamiya. It's not really a size thing, because the smaller Bronica ETRS also feel "right" to me.Thanks folks, most interesting. It's always tricky when youve never held a particular camera to know whether it will feel "right" in your own hands.
A little more research is required I think.
Yep, run away.
It was the tilt that attracted me but judging focus on the corners of a small waist level finder is, for me at least, quite hard. I think that's the thing, it has tilt, it has reversible lenses for macro, it has complex interlocks to prevent mistaken exposures, its perhaps trying to do too many things
). You also need to make sure you get one with the Carl Zeiss f2.8 Rollei 80mm lens. Its honestly one of the best lenses I've ever used, regardless of camera - digital or analogue.
Today you would have to find a SL66 used by a careful owner from new, but then my one developed shutter speed problems, after using it for a while, and it was only about 10 years old when I bought it from a shop....it was in mint condition (with a case) and didn't look like it was hammered by a pro, was I just unlucky.................................
Hi Wayne......no it was a mechanical camera like 35mm SLRs, but there was IIRC a 150mm lens that could be used with a leaf type shutter (very expensive ).....when I became interested in indoor (and outdoor) portraiture with flash, I bought a RB67 and Bronica ETRS and as the SL66 had a flash syn of 1/30 sec didn't use it anymore so sent the camera to Jessops about 20-25 years ago to sell for me and no one wanted it and took about 3 months to find a buyer......IIRC the SL66 with case and 80mm and 250mm lenses (with commision) sold for about £375
With any professional type film camera, one trick I lucked onto was to look for a well used unit that was previously owned by an organisation such as a newspaper, advertising agency or even a hire company.
That could be used for a lens.....a worn one could be because it was an excellent copy that gave excellent results compared to a mint one that wasn't used much because it gave inferior results. On forums how many times have you read "I would never sell my lens" so that would suggest some lenses on the bay are inferior lenses (copies)........all luck with copy variation in the manufacturing of lenses.
I read a review a while back that the best SL66s to buy are the ones that have been used a lot by the previous owners. Its when they sit on a shelf never getting used, the mechanism can seize up apparently. I always keep mine "running" so to speak, even when im not shooting with it for a while. So sometimes the more well used ones might actually be better. It sounds like you did just get unlucky with your one though.
erm well I was using it and it was not left in a cupboard and one day I had the shutter speed problem.....in the old days (might be 35 years ago) no problem getting it fixed.
See my comment in post #12 , that would have been in the mid to late 1980's when the 6000 (s) were in production.
Thanks for all your input, all really helpful. I think I'll leave for now until one falls into my lap for peanuts or I win the lottery
), cars, washing machines etc etc etc
