I've just recently gone to a intro to darkroom session where I live, and used some H1 Fuji Acros 100 negatives to wet print in 8x10 paper, wow, and this is just 645 wait until you go 6x6 or up to 4x5" sheets, where the dof is even thinner, here f 5.6 is wide, you mostly get f8/f9 max. for LF glass, but one can only highly recommend trying the 'wet' side, and if nothing else, just have a go, and see what its capable of, so you can make a decision if this is a good fit for what you shoot.
one other bonus about the H1 Hasselblad is that they do have a rechargeable li-on battery 'pack' interchangeable with the Cr123A battery tray handle which comes standard, so you can charge it, and even a car cigarette lighter adaptor can be used to.
I'm a cheap skate and got the Bronica ETRSi along with 75mm f/2.8, 40mm f/4 and 200mm f/4.5 along with winder and speed grip, spare back for less than the price of that 40mm for the Contax. I got all mine for less than UK £500. I had a Mamiya 645 but sold it a few years ago and also owned a Pentax 645N in the past however, imho my Zenzanon Bronica lenses are every bit as good as the Mamiyas. Not owned a Cotax to compare them against. Nice video.
Very informative. And Beautiful images! the Mamiya has a dial for your forefinger and one for your thumb for changing the aperture and shutterspeed easily while seeing the settings in the viewfinder. So you don’t have to stop and view the display on top.
one other missed model is the Hasselblad H1 camera (with the HM 16-32 back), this is 645, even though digitally it isn't (it is 33x44 mm or there abouts); one positive about this is that extension tubes, and a tilt & shift adaptor is also available, so further increasing the usabillity of the system.
Hi Katie, thank you so much for making this review!! I've been waiting to bite the medium format bullet for a while, and your video helped me make my decision-I've got a Mamiya AFD on the way to me now! I so appreciate the time you put into going through the options and the differences between them-truly so helpful!
Hey Paige!! Thanks so much for following along :) that’s so exciting you bought a Mamiya! I’m sure you’ll love it. There’s nothing quite like medium format!
Isn't the M645 AFD compatible with recent top notch Schneider blue ring lenses built for Phase One cameras ? ( Phase One cameras are based on Mamiya 645 AFD) I guess Schneider blue ring are superior to Zeiss for Contax.
Good Video.. Im a big fan of Contax Zeiss lenses, which Ive adapted and use allot on my Sony A7r. But as far as Medium format film goes, which Ive shot allot over the past 35 years with several different systems. I think the Bronica GS-1 is better then both of these cameras you are reviewing. The Bronica GS-1 takes 645, 6x6 and 6x7 film backs, giving you 3 cameras in one. The Bronica lenses are very good and you can use either the metered Eye level view finder or a waist level finder. You can add the Speed Grip, which makes hand hold shooting easy. Plus you can get a Bronica system on eBay for under $1000 and still get a completely modular system that rivals both of the cameras you just reviewed.
I think the main buying point of these two cameras is that autofocus and automatic film advance. Makes it quicker for street work and wedding photography.
Great content. Thank you for sharing. I recently got the contax 645 kit. There's some looseness of the lens in terms when you tilt the camera back and forth or from side to side or you hear and feel the inside of the lens move a bit. Is that normal? For film plane flatness, I heard suggestions on tighten the film during initial load. Do you think that is helpful? Thank you.
Thank you so much for following along! I feel like my lens in general is a little "loose" feeling... not the attachment to the camera... but the lens itself. I don't hear anything move though.... If you join the "contax 645" group on Facebook and post a video - there's lots of people who will be able to help you there & I'll see your video too :) If you feel you need to get it looked at... I would recommend the Nippon photo clinic in NYC or possibly Kew's in Utah. But try posting on the facebook group first so we can make sure it's not a simple fix. Yes I always load my film nice & tight, but sometimes there's nothing you can do when it's the actual insert that is broken!
I had a severe film flattenes issue with my Mamiya after leaving a few weeks my camera mid roll. So the second frame was badly unsharp in some frame parts due to the film back-bent on the insert rollers. I guess this issue is common to all MF cameras with S shaped film track. Lesson learned learned is : store your camera empty of film. Finish your last film after a shooting.
This a system that I have always fancied. I shoot Hasselblad, Mamiya 67, and Bronica SQ and 645, so have most things covered. The Contax glass is appealing, although in my head it is the same as the Hasselblad. The issue with the film backs, I feel, is too high a price/risk to pay as a wonky film plain means no usable images vs the marginal downside of 2.8 vs 2.0. That said, I still fancy a Contax system, just not sure I would want to rely on it in a commercial setting.
Katie, thanks for a balanced and to the point review. I had the Mamiya 645 pro for a few years and were thinking of the Contax 645 but was shocked at the current pricing. To get a decent one they are going for a cool 6k USD. Is the film flatness an issue with the Contax? If something happens to it, do you recommend a place to service the camera or does it have to be sent to Japan? Film is becoming a niche area those days with the most recent price increases.
one tip with the digital like cameras, they use 1/3rd stop incraments, so one stop, is 3 clicks left or right!!, or for 1/2 stops, 2 clicks, just have to read the manual, and get to know your camera make, model and it's ideosyncracies.(this also applies to exposure compensation dials too).
Great info Katie. Loved my Contax for the editorial shoots. The format was perfect for the page size if shooting vertical or a full spread. Gonna be selling the entire lot if I cannot find a decent priced digital back for it. Any suggestions for a digital back?
Can you do. A video on how to acquire a Contax 645?! I move seen used ones on Ebay but how do you weed out good options from bad ones?! They’re (seemingly) very hard to get your hands on!
one thing to note here, Mamiya 645 D, the make you have, has been taken over by PHASE ONE and the equivalent model is the XF system with a digital IQ back.($AUD 60,000 and change- for the IQ-4 150MP back and the 80mm standard lens as well as the body, that is), so the Contax is a cheaper option, relitively speaking anyway.
you are also forgetting about the S.Kreusnag leaf shutter lenses on the mamiya/ Phase One side of things, so you can sync at 1/1600th of a second with flash, and you don't get the banding with the Focal plane, as with leaf shutter the whole image is exposed at one time.
Great video and nice to see film still getting thrashed. Have you consider switching to the Fuji GFX medium format system? It may not be film but I would say having the Fuji film simulations it would be as close to film as it ever was,
Why you don't use Mamiya Sekor 80mm F1.9 on Mamiya? It will be more correct compare. I have Mamiya with 80 F1.9, it is very similar to Contax, but Mamiya 80mm has a tiny yellow color in tests. If I someday will take rent a Contax, I'll test it :)
It looks like a beautiful lens - the 80mm 1.9 but it doesn’t have Autofocus :( And I heavily rely on the autofocus for my Contax. The 80mm 2.8 is still a great lens on the Mamiya and I love it, but there is something extra special about the Zeiss 2.0 😍
Sorry to say but Mamiya 80mm 1.9 isn’t really that good when compared to Zeiss 80mm 2.0 .. that’s another beast. The ONLY lens that comes to similar image quality and bokeh to Zeiss 80mm f/2 is Takumar 105mm F2.4 from pentax 67.
I got the mamiya 645 in the 90 s. now im using the z6II. I wonder why the young generations are buying back this tanks? Was very costly to used. I becouse the Youngers want to emule Jose Villas work?
Great video! Please do another one on working with lab, because it might be more important then what camera you choose(Mamiya, Contax or Pentax). Also, now I know why no one is buying my Contax 645 on kijiji :)
People who keep asking if it's worth to pay more for the 1EV more with the Contax... Have they ever seen pictures from both of the lenses? The 1EV difference is a bonus to how different the image looks like like and how great the bokeh is on the Planar vs Sekor. Also people who say the Sekor 80/1.9 is cheaper than the Planar 80/2.0... have they seen how different the lenses are image-wise? :D
I’m shocked to learn an old film camera cost the same as a modern digital medium format camera. Shooting medium format film seems like a very expensive pain in the tookish
You might be interested, as I understand the film focus issue with film backs is due to film stocks have become thiner... The old sticks were much thicker. Also the tension spring in the back pressing against the film stock does loose its spring factor and in the old days technicians use to adjust this some how or replace it. But maybe its an issue with the Contax.... Thanks for the tut
Hey Katie! Fellow wedding photographer here, thanks for the really informative video. I've been using my unexpected downtime to do some research, and I'm definitely falling down a rabbit hole researching medium format film. I wanted to ask, with shooting with one Maiya and one Contax, do you notice a colour difference switch because of the different lens brands even if you're shooting the same film stock? I've noticed when I've adapted lenses to the sony, I've noticed a colour shift between lens brands, but if I'm going to mix film cameras, it'll be harder to fix that in post.
Hi Kari, thanks for following along :) I know how easy it is to get sucked into the research web haha. I do notice a slight difference yes... but nothing crazy and nothing I can't fix in post. However I'm using my mamiya for wide angle shots, which are kind of different anyways with the depth of field etc. Personally, I don't see it being a problem. But all you can really do is test for yourself! Here are two blog posts that I shot both cameras with: www.katienicollephotography.com/big-sur-elopement www.katienicollephotography.com/blog/2020/3/13/rolling-hills-california-kendall-marco
People have had bad experience with contax 645 + rechargeable batteries :( Unless you have a battery grip attached. So that's why I don't recommend them!
Also as far as eBay goes. Yes most Japanese camera sellers are reputable and have allot of good condition gear for sale. I just purchased a Contax Zeiss 60mm S-Planer from a Japanese seller. But Japanese sellers also charge premium prices and there is a chance you might just find the same condition gear from a seller in the US for a lower price at least on shipping. There is allot of reputable eBay sellers in the US as well. I know I'm one of them. I'm a published photographer, but I also sell vintage gear on eBay as a side business and I can tell you the return policy of the seller means nothing. If you buy on eBay and pay with Paypal, and you have a problem. You can file a Paypal or an eBay dispute and you will get your money back. Remember if you buy a bulky heavy Med Format camera from Japan or Hong Kong like the ones being reviewed here, you will have to ship that back to the seller overseas if you are not happy and allot of times the buyer has to pay return shipping. I highly recommend looking at US sellers first and stores that sell used gear like Adorama or B&H.
I've just recently gone to a intro to darkroom session where I live, and used some H1 Fuji Acros 100 negatives to wet print in 8x10 paper, wow, and this is just 645 wait until you go 6x6 or up to 4x5" sheets, where the dof is even thinner, here f 5.6 is wide, you mostly get f8/f9 max. for LF glass, but one can only highly recommend trying the 'wet' side, and if nothing else, just have a go, and see what its capable of, so you can make a decision if this is a good fit for what you shoot.
one other bonus about the H1 Hasselblad is that they do have a rechargeable li-on battery 'pack' interchangeable with the Cr123A battery tray handle which comes standard, so you can charge it, and even a car cigarette lighter adaptor can be used to.
I'm a cheap skate and got the Bronica ETRSi along with 75mm f/2.8, 40mm f/4 and 200mm f/4.5 along with winder and speed grip, spare back for less than the price of that 40mm for the Contax. I got all mine for less than UK £500. I had a Mamiya 645 but sold it a few years ago and also owned a Pentax 645N in the past however, imho my Zenzanon Bronica lenses are every bit as good as the Mamiyas. Not owned a Cotax to compare them against.
Nice video.
Very informative. And Beautiful images! the Mamiya has a dial for your forefinger and one for your thumb for changing the aperture and shutterspeed easily while seeing the settings in the viewfinder. So you don’t have to stop and view the display on top.
Scott Sapp oh amazing!! Thank you for the tip! :)
and Thank you for the kind words!
Did you use a special filter OR VIGNETTE for the bouquet of flowers shot at 1319 on the video counter? BEAUTIFUL !!!!!!!!!!!!!
one other missed model is the Hasselblad H1 camera (with the HM 16-32 back), this is 645, even though digitally it isn't (it is 33x44 mm or there abouts); one positive about this is that extension tubes, and a tilt & shift adaptor is also available, so further increasing the usabillity of the system.
Just purchased the mamiya 645 pro. Cant wait to get my hands on it. Thanks for the great info.
645 pro is very different from the 645 AF
@@jean-claudemuller3199 of course it is.
Hi Katie, thank you so much for making this review!! I've been waiting to bite the medium format bullet for a while, and your video helped me make my decision-I've got a Mamiya AFD on the way to me now! I so appreciate the time you put into going through the options and the differences between them-truly so helpful!
Hey Paige!! Thanks so much for following along :) that’s so exciting you bought a Mamiya! I’m sure you’ll love it. There’s nothing quite like medium format!
Great video! Thank you so much for it. I also appreciate the words of encouragement.
Sold my Contax 645 in 2014 :'( Regretted it for a long time. So last month, I finally acquired another one. Yayy. Great video btw.
Oh wow!!! Glad you got one again :) although I’m sure the price tag was quite expensive since the first time you bought one haha 🤯
Thank you... great video! And so cool to know that you are all about medium format! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Katie! You mention servicing, where do you reccomend to do this?
I was so worried that you might knock over the lens sitting on the table.
Same here throughout all video
Isn't the M645 AFD compatible with recent top notch Schneider blue ring lenses built for Phase One cameras ?
( Phase One cameras are based on Mamiya 645 AFD)
I guess Schneider blue ring are superior to Zeiss for Contax.
Good Video.. Im a big fan of Contax Zeiss lenses, which Ive adapted and use allot on my Sony A7r. But as far as Medium format film goes, which Ive shot allot over the past 35 years with several different systems. I think the Bronica GS-1 is better then both of these cameras you are reviewing. The Bronica GS-1 takes 645, 6x6 and 6x7 film backs, giving you 3 cameras in one. The Bronica lenses are very good and you can use either the metered Eye level view finder or a waist level finder. You can add the Speed Grip, which makes hand hold shooting easy. Plus you can get a Bronica system on eBay for under $1000 and still get a completely modular system that rivals both of the cameras you just reviewed.
I think the main buying point of these two cameras is that autofocus and automatic film advance. Makes it quicker for street work and wedding photography.
Great content. Thank you for sharing. I recently got the contax 645 kit. There's some looseness of the lens in terms when you tilt the camera back and forth or from side to side or you hear and feel the inside of the lens move a bit. Is that normal? For film plane flatness, I heard suggestions on tighten the film during initial load. Do you think that is helpful? Thank you.
Thank you so much for following along! I feel like my lens in general is a little "loose" feeling... not the attachment to the camera... but the lens itself. I don't hear anything move though.... If you join the "contax 645" group on Facebook and post a video - there's lots of people who will be able to help you there & I'll see your video too :)
If you feel you need to get it looked at... I would recommend the Nippon photo clinic in NYC or possibly Kew's in Utah. But try posting on the facebook group first so we can make sure it's not a simple fix.
Yes I always load my film nice & tight, but sometimes there's nothing you can do when it's the actual insert that is broken!
I had a severe film flattenes issue with my Mamiya after leaving a few weeks my camera mid roll. So the second frame was badly unsharp in some frame parts due to the film back-bent on the insert rollers.
I guess this issue is common to all MF cameras with S shaped film track.
Lesson learned learned is : store your camera empty of film. Finish your last film after a shooting.
This a system that I have always fancied. I shoot Hasselblad, Mamiya 67, and Bronica SQ and 645, so have most things covered. The Contax glass is appealing, although in my head it is the same as the Hasselblad. The issue with the film backs, I feel, is too high a price/risk to pay as a wonky film plain means no usable images vs the marginal downside of 2.8 vs 2.0.
That said, I still fancy a Contax system, just not sure I would want to rely on it in a commercial setting.
Contax lenses are near Hasselblad F lenses but not current Hasselblad C/CF lenses
Katie, thanks for a balanced and to the point review. I had the Mamiya 645 pro for a few years and were thinking of the Contax 645 but was shocked at the current pricing. To get a decent one they are going for a cool 6k USD. Is the film flatness an issue with the Contax? If something happens to it, do you recommend a place to service the camera or does it have to be sent to Japan? Film is becoming a niche area those days with the most recent price increases.
Flatness is not a camera problem but an issue with the insert. The camera itself does not cause flatness
I remember buying my first Contax in 2012 for $1800 with the 80 f2. Reeeeeally wish I held on to it.
Now I see them selling for $6000 ☹️ wanted one
one tip with the digital like cameras, they use 1/3rd stop incraments, so one stop, is 3 clicks left or right!!, or for 1/2 stops, 2 clicks, just have to read the manual, and get to know your camera make, model and it's ideosyncracies.(this also applies to exposure compensation dials too).
Great info Katie. Loved my Contax for the editorial shoots. The format was perfect for the page size if shooting vertical or a full spread. Gonna be selling the entire lot if I cannot find a decent priced digital back for it. Any suggestions for a digital back?
Are you selling your Contax 645?
Can you do. A video on how to acquire a Contax 645?! I move seen used ones on Ebay but how do you weed out good options from bad ones?! They’re (seemingly) very hard to get your hands on!
After all the searching I’ve done for a place to rent a contact 645 it was just under my nose... thanks!
John Nelson so glad I could help! Have fun with the contax :)
Where does it say it?
Thank you so much for this! Beautiful images!!!
Beautiful images, what film stocks do you use?
samsstreets my favourite and most used film stock is Fuji 400h. And then I use portra 800 when it gets dark and ilford 3200 :)
There’s also an afd iii. Which I have. Nice comparison.
Nice video. Another comparison could be the Hasselblad H1 or H2. Lenses are also quite good.
one thing to note here, Mamiya 645 D, the make you have, has been taken over by PHASE ONE and the equivalent model is the XF system with a digital IQ back.($AUD 60,000 and change- for the IQ-4 150MP back and the 80mm standard lens as well as the body, that is), so the Contax is a cheaper option, relitively speaking anyway.
you are also forgetting about the S.Kreusnag leaf shutter lenses on the mamiya/ Phase One side of things, so you can sync at 1/1600th of a second with flash, and you don't get the banding with the Focal plane, as with leaf shutter the whole image is exposed at one time.
Do you ever use a digital back on either of these cameras??
kevin james no I don’t!
It will be nice to see side by side photos taken under the same circumstances.
Great video and nice to see film still getting thrashed. Have you consider switching to the Fuji GFX medium format system? It may not be film but I would say having the Fuji film simulations it would be as close to film as it ever was,
nope film remains film
Why you don't use Mamiya Sekor 80mm F1.9 on Mamiya? It will be more correct compare. I have Mamiya with 80 F1.9, it is very similar to Contax, but Mamiya 80mm has a tiny yellow color in tests. If I someday will take rent a Contax, I'll test it :)
It looks like a beautiful lens - the 80mm 1.9 but it doesn’t have Autofocus :( And I heavily rely on the autofocus for my Contax. The 80mm 2.8 is still a great lens on the Mamiya and I love it, but there is something extra special about the Zeiss 2.0 😍
Sorry to say but Mamiya 80mm 1.9 isn’t really that good when compared to Zeiss 80mm 2.0 .. that’s another beast. The ONLY lens that comes to similar image quality and bokeh to Zeiss 80mm f/2 is Takumar 105mm F2.4 from pentax 67.
@@Pentax67 you know Christopher Nolan used the Mamiya 1.9 lens on The Dark Knight and Interstellar... can't be that bad 😉
This Mamiya lens isn't compatible with the M645 AFD
I got the mamiya 645 in the 90 s. now im using the z6II. I wonder why the young generations are buying back this tanks? Was very costly to used. I becouse the Youngers want to emule Jose Villas work?
These reviews make these cameras look like current products
Great video! Please do another one on working with lab, because it might be more important then what camera you choose(Mamiya, Contax or Pentax).
Also, now I know why no one is buying my Contax 645 on kijiji :)
When buying any film camera. Always buy from reputable seller. Local camera store would be best. I learned that the hard way.
How does the mamiya 645 AFD II compare to the Mamiya 645 pro?
Annie Caplan I haven’t tried any other versions of the Mamiya, I’m sorry! I know all of the AFD versions are pretty good though :)
It's got autofocus. The 645 pro / pro TL are manual focus cameras.
Two totally different cameras, only The lens bayonet size is the same without real lenses compatibility.
Thank you so much for the informative video :)
Mamiya (and PhaseOne DF) use a Li-Ion rechargeable battery....
People who keep asking if it's worth to pay more for the 1EV more with the Contax... Have they ever seen pictures from both of the lenses? The 1EV difference is a bonus to how different the image looks like like and how great the bokeh is on the Planar vs Sekor.
Also people who say the Sekor 80/1.9 is cheaper than the Planar 80/2.0... have they seen how different the lenses are image-wise? :D
I’m shocked to learn an old film camera cost the same as a modern digital medium format camera. Shooting medium format film seems like a very expensive pain in the tookish
You might be interested, as I understand the film focus issue with film backs is due to film stocks have become thiner... The old sticks were much thicker. Also the tension spring in the back pressing against the film stock does loose its spring factor and in the old days technicians use to adjust this some how or replace it. But maybe its an issue with the Contax....
Thanks for the tut
Hey Katie! Fellow wedding photographer here, thanks for the really informative video. I've been using my unexpected downtime to do some research, and I'm definitely falling down a rabbit hole researching medium format film. I wanted to ask, with shooting with one Maiya and one Contax, do you notice a colour difference switch because of the different lens brands even if you're shooting the same film stock? I've noticed when I've adapted lenses to the sony, I've noticed a colour shift between lens brands, but if I'm going to mix film cameras, it'll be harder to fix that in post.
Hi Kari, thanks for following along :) I know how easy it is to get sucked into the research web haha. I do notice a slight difference yes... but nothing crazy and nothing I can't fix in post. However I'm using my mamiya for wide angle shots, which are kind of different anyways with the depth of field etc. Personally, I don't see it being a problem. But all you can really do is test for yourself!
Here are two blog posts that I shot both cameras with: www.katienicollephotography.com/big-sur-elopement
www.katienicollephotography.com/blog/2020/3/13/rolling-hills-california-kendall-marco
mamiya has 80mm f1.9
I like contax
Mamiya 80 1.9
You can actually get 2cr5 rechargeable
People have had bad experience with contax 645 + rechargeable batteries :( Unless you have a battery grip attached. So that's why I don't recommend them!
Also as far as eBay goes. Yes most Japanese camera sellers are reputable and have allot of good condition gear for sale. I just purchased a Contax Zeiss 60mm S-Planer from a Japanese seller. But Japanese sellers also charge premium prices and there is a chance you might just find the same condition gear from a seller in the US for a lower price at least on shipping. There is allot of reputable eBay sellers in the US as well. I know I'm one of them. I'm a published photographer, but I also sell vintage gear on eBay as a side business and I can tell you the return policy of the seller means nothing. If you buy on eBay and pay with Paypal, and you have a problem. You can file a Paypal or an eBay dispute and you will get your money back. Remember if you buy a bulky heavy Med Format camera from Japan or Hong Kong like the ones being reviewed here, you will have to ship that back to the seller overseas if you are not happy and allot of times the buyer has to pay return shipping. I highly recommend looking at US sellers first and stores that sell used gear like Adorama or B&H.
Great video! My Dad worked for Kyocera UK they owned Contax. If you are stuck for parts or servicing dm me.
Ryan A Oh that’s so cool! Thanks so much Ryan!!
Does your dad have any places that he recommends buying a Contax 645 from?!
Mam `iya ? WTF ? Originally (maꜜmija ) - mAmiya , its japanes word , but not Canadian.
Great camera boring photos
Ох Целка 💋💋💋💋