Everybody is going old school on cameras, and I dug this thing out of storage… It’s an original Mamiya 645 1000s from 1976. I bought it new in Japan in 1976 in Misawa.
And I actually found both lenses, and batteries! That was an excursion in itself… Local camera shop gave me the Labrador head cock, and didn’t even know what kind it took. They tried to tell me there wasn’t a 3V flat battery… sigh… Dug out the owner’s manual, and hit an Interstate Batteries store, and low and behold, they actually HAD not one, but TWO batteries in the correct size and voltage (bought both of them)! And the correct 6V main battery for the shutter. Interestingly, the original part numbers for the batteries has changed, who’d a thunk it… Sigh…
And when I say manual, I mean MANUAL everything… This is NOT a point and shoot by any means. An original 80mm 1.9 lens, and an original 150mm 3.5 lens. Now, the question is, where the hell is the light meter???
I know I had one, and I ‘thought’ it was in the camera bag, along with a waist level viewfinder. Guess I’ll be excavating some of the stuff in storage. Sigh…
The other fun part is do I still remember how to use this thing? It’s been… years… Maybe the old hindbrain still has those memories somewhere in the banks, if I can just dust them off and pull them forward?
If nothing else, I’ll be giving folks a good laugh next weekend.
That is a very nice setup for the day.
I remember when a match needle exposure camera was the very last word in modern photography.
When I talk to young people about “the old days” of photography, I am fairly sure they have a mental image of me standing next to Mathew Brady.
Annnddddddd…….
You just out hipster’ed Tam .
Might I suggest ….
https://www.amazon.com/Clip-Instant-Man-Bun-Brown/dp/B017TPQDVI
I have a Gossen Color Finder I’ll give you. Just email me where to send it to.
Now to get some film for it. Do they even make that anymore? I imagine it’s rather difficult to find, and then there’s processing.
I’ve got my old Minolta single lens reflex in the closet.
Don’t forget the “sunny 16” rule. It was on every box of 35mm film. The biggest downside of film is you don’t know if you messed something up till its too late.
Look at the size of that monster! I hope you can find the tripod.
I wonder if a person could still get flashbulbs for the old flash attachment.
Now I want to dust off my dad’s postwar Leica and go experiment with it. Higher speed emulsions will give me more leeway on exposure or F-stop. Still have the light meter in the bag.
JIP, it’s not Matthew Brady. They think we stood with the OOG Brothers, makers of fine cave drawing.
My dad has a Pentax camera that he bought while overseas in military, before my parents got married. He let me take it to college to use in photography classes (the teacher was highly impressed, I think I got a couple bonus points for being able to use it). It has a built in, battery powered, light meter, which was pretty nice tech for the time period. Unfortunately my dad claimed it back when I graduated. I keep trying to get him to let me have it, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to set up a darkroom for developing black and white film, but he keeps resisting. I’m not sure why, he doesn’t use it!
You used to have to put a light meter around your neck and check it before you set the camera. Snapshots were matters of chance.
I remember dark rooms, safe lights and chemicals that smelled really bad. I’m a dinosaur, Old NFO.
Fond memories of Misawa.
I turned 21 there…they tell me.
>film for it. Do they even make that anymore?
Sure, though the range of emulsions is sadly diminished. A quick search on “120 film”(I *am* supposed to be pretending to work…) at B+H gives 64 results. Not that there are 64 types of film, some are duplicated in that there’s a listing for a single roll, and a separate listing for same film in 5-pack. But you’ve got B+W, color negative, and slide films in 120 roll format. (I don’t know what kind of film-back insert you have: for 120 or for 220; if 220 you’re probably out of luck, unless you can find some cold-stored film in a private stach.)
When I was younger and we lived in a house with a basement, DadRed had a dark room in said basement. He did both color and black and white photography, did hos own enlargements, and he and mom exhibited photos at a few local amateur shows. I ended up with a nice mid-to-upper grade Nikon, until my eyes went strange. And the limits on carry-on and checked bag weight kicked in.
Neat. I’ve never used large format cameras, but through college, much later, I have a Minolta SLR with several lenses and did some neat stuff with that. I liked that it would do full manual or full auto (except focus – that was still manual).
John- Yeah, and it was ‘affordable’… LOL
FD- Oh hell no! 😀
Tommy- Check your email.
Jim- I found some. 🙂
PE- 🙂
WW- F-16 match ASA to shutter speed… LOL
MJ- It’s not that big… About like an old 35MM steel body.
PK- Go forth and do good… LOL And yes, we’re old… sigh
Ruth- Hopefully you’ll get it and get to play with it again!
LL- You and me both! Remember the photolabs on base letting us use the facilities for free if we were in the ‘camera club’ on base?
Skip- LOL, kinda remember it, right???
Mike- I did locate some. Trying to find some PAN or PLUS X B&W but no 220, only 120.
TXRed- Yeah, weight sucks, compared to what is available today.
Jon- This is actually a medium format. Speed Graphics, etc. are large format.
Guess I need to resurrect the Voigtlander in bought in Germany in 1964. Still have the manual. Need to find a battery. My first “real” camera.
WSF- Good luck! Find a specialty battery store, that’s about the only way.
Batteries and More on the corner of Drake and Shields should have them, WSF.
It’s been too long since I sold cameras, and shot film – but isn’t the finder on the Mamiya metered? It’s got an ASA dial – so I’m thinking it should have a meter? Of course I could be totally wrong…..
But since I started reading I pulled the old Canon F-1N and T-90 off the shelf behind me. No camera has ever felt as good in the hand as the T-90….
That’s straight up awesome
Nik- Yes, it has a meter, but I never used it that much. I like a real lightmeter.
Mike- Thanks!
I had an Olympus OM 1. I had 5 or 6 lenses for it. I gave it to my daughter a couple years ago. Just as a keepsake, more than as a useable camera. Oh, it still works, I put a new battery in the case for her. When I was young, like 20, I had a home darkroom in a Michigan cellar, and did mostly contact prints, but I picked up an enlarger, and worked a little with that. All black and white, though. I was dirt poor, raising a family. But I loved that camera. Now, I have a digital camera, and although it is not a SLR, eventually I will pick up one.
That is an elegant piece of work. I have several cameras, including my DSLR, but I do occasionally debate picking up a nice film camera… there’s something about them.
Great camera! I was required (forced) to take a photography class in college. We had to shoot manually, develop, and print our film. There was nothing more nerve wracking than winding film on a spool in total darkness. Many a shot was ruined!
Pigpen- Funny how many of us did that… If I can get back into it… 🙂
Cedar- Thanks!
Mrs.C- Thankfully my ‘grade’ never depended on it… And yes, winding in the dark IS a PITA… sigh