This blog is not meant to talk about gear but since I had opportunities to try some 645 SLR cameras I think I may can give you some advices if you are wanting to buy your first medium format camera. Other Youtubers or people on the Internet may give you a bunch of 645 cameras and talk about the pros and cons and leave the decision to you, I think it’s cool because no one asks you to choose like them, you have the freedom to decide for yourself. But since you’re already here, I give you the short answer, Bronica ETRS/Si. Of course, this is my opinion and you literally can use any 645 camera to take beautiful photos as long as you you know what to do with the camera, Bronica just happen to be the easiest one to use. Or, if you find any good deal on a 645 camera, just take it, price can overrule all of the reasons I’ll show you below.
First, let’s talk about Mamiya 645. I haven’t use the m645 or the 1000s yet, so I can’t speak for those, but I used the Mamiya 645 Super, and I believe the Pro/Pro TL are very similar. Honestly, the Mamiya 645 Super/Pro is the one I wanted when I looking for my first ever medium format camera, but I couldn’t afford it because the price tag. I like the design of this series a lot, and while using it later, I really like the form factor of the camera, it feels really nice to hold the camera and take photos with it. Even though the box design may feel weird to hold but I was really surprise how fast I like to hold it, without using the grip. At first, the mechanism to open and remove the back and prism feel a little annoy (because you have to press 1 button down and slide the other button with the same finger at the same time) but I believe you can get used to it very quickly. The other thing I don’t think ergonomic about the camera is the ISO dial, it’s so damn hard to turn the dial. You have to use your finger’s nail to turn it and it’s not easy to move, not mention that the dial is half beneath the prism finder [as photo below] makes it even harder because you have a very little space to move your finger around. Of course you can dial the ISO before you put the film back onto the camera to avoid the prism finder (but it’s still hard) and yes, you just have to dial it once per roll or don’t have to redial if you continue to shoot same ISO film but to me, it’s worth notice. The Metering Mode dial and Exposure Compensation dial are the same, they’re just on the top of the prism so they’re a bit easier than the ISO dial but you get the idea. The shutter speed dial on the other hand, so easy and friendly to use! Other than that, the camera is great. The lens are a bit rigid to turn when you’re focusing but not too much, compare to Pentax or Bronica lens. One thing better than the Bronica is it has a hot shoe on the side. And of course, why I said Bronica is a better choice for your first medium format camera? The price.
Next, the Pentax 645. I will not talk about the N and Nii because I haven’t use them, and since they have auto focus and higher price range for “first medium format camera” we newbie looking for, let’s just talk about the 645 original. Not having interchange backs, fully battery depends, no Mirror Up, and buttons for mode, not dials, these are some downsides for the Pentax. If you can get used to the buttons operation, you are good to go take beautiful photos, but it can be hard at first, and of course, it can be more time consuming when you want to change mode or setting, compare to dials. The Pentax 645N has dials instead of button if you’re curious.
One big drawback of the Pentax 645 is the battery holder, it’s extremely easy to break, especially the plastic holder is couple decade years old. This is a common problem of the Pentax 645, because the way people designed the holder was not very effective I guess, 6 AA batteries are hold in a thin plastic holder (not that thin and fragile but if you have to put the batteries in and out quite often, there’s a good chance you will break it at some point). And of course you have to put the batteries in and out because if you don’t use the camera in weeks or months, you have to take the batteries out or corrosion will happen to your battery compartment. And it’s hard to put the 6 batteries in, especially if you have big fingers. If you buy a Pentax 645, careful with the battery holder please. It’s super hard to find the replacement because there’s no replacement. Pentax discontinued the battery grip long before, and there’s no left. There’s no single one on eBay. The replacement you may find is just from Pentax 645 cameras that stop working and they take their parts for sell but trust me, the holder always breaks before the camera. My battery holder was broken as you can see in the photos here and it’s so freaking hard to find the replacement battery grip or holder, until I bought a remote battery pack for Pentax 645, which is a battery pack that not attachable to the camera like the original grip, you connect the battery pack to the camera through a cord so the camera can use battery but now you have to solve the problem how to attach the battery pack to the camera. Luckily I tried to put the holder from the remote pack into the original grip and it works, even though they’re not identical! Keep this in mind if you are purchasing a Pentax 645. The remote battery pack is available on eBay but there’re not so many and around $100 or more/pack. The Pentax 645 is cheaper than Bronica but you don’t need to deal with the battery holder issue with Mamiya or Bronica because they have battery compartment inside the body, and they also require one single battery only. Please note that even if you can buy a replacement holder for your Pentax, there’s always a change you can break it later because they’re just easy to break. Here the link you can check to see the headache of having a broken battery holder 🙂 https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/48-pentax-medium-format/400427-645-battery-holder.html
The holder of the battery pack also works on the original grip!
Okay, so now we talk about Bronica ETRS/Si. The ETR is the oldest in the line and doesn’t work with the AE prism finder, the ETRC doesn’t have interchange backs and mirror up feature. The ETRS/Si can use the AE prism finder for meter and interchange backs, they’re best choices in ETR line. If you use Bronica ETRS/Si, you may need the speed grip because the boxing design is harder to handling like the Mamiya. I don’t know why but I feel more comfortable to hold the Mamiya Super without a grip than the Bronica. And 1 more reason to buy a speed grip is you can attach flash on the grip, because the camera itself doesn’t have a hot shoe mount. Another disadvantage of the Bronica is the aperture ring on the lens is small and hard to find (because they placed it more to the front of the lens, not way back like other lens), you may looking around to find it when taking a photo but you will get used to it eventually. Other than that, the Bronica has everything you want, affordable, effective, build quality, interchange backs, interchange finder (but please use the prism finder, the waist level finder is super hard to use if you want to take vertical photos), mirror lock up, multi exposure, leaf shutter in the lens (means you can have flash sync at every speed). It’s easy to use and as far as I know, there’s not much common problems with it.
Other cameras can be mentioned are Contax 645 but that’s another level and super expensive, Mamiya 645AF/AFD is also great but high price range for first time Medium Format shooters, too. I didn’t talk about lens or photos quality of these brands I mentioned above because honestly I don’t see much a different. Every camera here is more than capable of taking beautiful photos as long as you know how to use it. I hope these experiences I share here can help you on choosing your first medium format camera. A man in a camera shop once told me “If you want to shoot film, you better shoot now because film will go away” so I guess my advice is buy it because the price are continue to raise because film is trendy now and yes, film will go away eventually. Shoot more, have fun!
film sequence 