I am glad you included the Yashica! Surprised too. I have the Yashica 124 and the Mamiya C220, plus a Super Ikonta, and a Bronica S2A. Nice video, very well done.

Thanks for parroting opinions that You saw here on KZfaq. So original.

Love my Hasselblad 503 cxi. Great lenses and all mechanical just what the Dr ordered.

My first medium format roll film camera is/was a Rolleicord V. It was interesting, but hard to use under low light until I sent it in to Rollei for a CLA. The focusing screen was replaced with a much better one, and minor adjustments brought it up to "good enough for Verichrome Pan or even Tri-X Pan." I still have it, since there's nothing electronic or battery-dependent in it. The Rolleiflex crowd sneer at it, but Ye Olde 75mm f/3.5 Schneider Xenar is a goodTessar-type lens design.

Very helpful video I love my Rolleiflex 3.5 from 1937

Hasselblad !!! I had the 2000FC, Distagon 50mm 2.8, Planar 110mm 2.0, Tele-Tessar 350mm 4.0 and 2x Mutar a very great set ! The 110mm plus the 2x Mutar works great for close-up !

Great video lad ! ❤

I am missing the Rolleiflex SL66. Especially for working in the studio it is a great system: a bellow for focusing and tilding (up and down), the possibillity to take pictures on the schale of 1:1 with the standard lens, built-in lightmeter (SL66 E, SL66 SE, also for flashlight) a wide range of lenses and attachments.

thanks for the insight i will keep this in my when i will look in to medium format cameras :)

I’d throw in a mention for the Minolta Autocord in the TLR section. Excellent image quality and the Autocord’s are more inline with the Yashica’s as far as price. They also have great accessories like the Autopole for a polarizing filter. Focusing is achieved with a lever on the bottom front which is a nice alternative to the focusing knob on the side of the camera.

Like your videos....you forgot to mention that the Mamiya C series can natively focus at about 20 cm....it's a very nice feature if you don't want to spend money on a Rolleiflex (or Yashica ) and a set of 3 Rolleinar close up lenses (quite expensive)

Kowa 6 and Kowa 6mm are fabulous, I still have mine which I bought in the seventies. Glass is amazing. Kowa are famous for cinema lenses and also for cinematography. Leaf shutter means sync to 1/500th sec. Perfect wedding camera.

love medium format cameras.

Should look at the Arax 60, it's an improved Kiev 60 which uses Pentagon Six lenses which are superb and negates the Pentagon Six's film advancing issues

Seagull 4a & Bronica s2a got my money recently as the best knockoff options for TLR and modular design 6x6 cameras to start the journey with.

Super Ikonta 👍

Very good video, but all the really good Rolleiflex (later versions) do have a light meter.

Well explained 👍

The Yashica’s have gone up like crazy, good call. Lens seems pretty soft though from what I’ve seen

Thank you very much. Bronica SQ-A it is, I was looking for square because of not only prints but that's the Instagram aspect ratio.

Gotta say I really enjoy your channel. At first I thought "oh gahd, another hipster kid", but you turned out to be much less annoying and pretentious than I expected. You got my subscription!

The TLR oim currently looking at is a Minolta Autlocord

I was never drawn to the 6x6 format as I have shot landscapes and subjects outside a studio and its requirements. In considering what system to make a long term investment, I realized that a square format was, for me, always going to be cropped down to some rectangle, and the original reason for the 8x6 SLR format was to avoid the huge inconvenience having to turn the camera on its side to shoot verticals. A 645 system would be better all around for me. In the end, I went for 6x7, several different ending with the Pentax 67. However, were I to go for a 6x6, the only system I would consider is the Rollei SL66. Last year, 40 years too late, I passed on a mint SL66E, 3 lens kit with all related accessories and three backs (for zone system work). $1,700 total. I almost cried.

Mamiya C3 also has interchangeable lenses.

Rolleiflex with the "F" version (I believe) 2.8F added a light meter.

Kowa Six. 'the poor man's Hasselblad'.

Mamiya 6 - Leaf shutter medium format rangefinder camera - SWEET! Too bad I got stupid and sold it a few years ago.

I recently got a Mamiya 6 with the 50mm, it was a good deal but still a big chunk of change. It's worth every penny though, the image quality is just ridiculous and after lugging around an RB67 it's as easy to shoot as my Leica.

Hi, You did an excellent job covering so many 6x6 cameras, however you forgot one important one ! Think hard..here it is: The Rolleiflex SLX followed by the 6000 series. Having been a Rolleiflex user for over 60 years I could not miss buying an SLX as soon as I saw one at the N.Y. photo show as it came out in the US.. You could get a great prism finder for $100 at the same time and what a camera it has been especially for shooting action photos such as weddings. It was not perfect but once you had experienced one of the missing safety features you never had problems with it !... The other small bad features could be easily overlooked. The 6000 series because of their film loading was less convenient for fast reloading but great in other ways like for going from one film emulsion to another in the middle of a shoot.The 45 degree prism is the best for convenience. Their 😅lenses are the same as for the Hasselblad.

The Kiev 88 is a Hasselblad 100/1600 clone not a 500 clone. I'd also like to have seen the Rollie SL66 in the review...

I have a Mamiya C33 with the 55mm, 65mm, 80mm, 105mm and 180mm lenses. Its a nice and cheap system wich i recommend if you dont need interchangeable backs. You dont need large filter and you dont have to see through the filter which is very handy with IR or ND filter. The lenses dont like back light, but the effect can be beautiful. But i changed to a Rolleiflex Sl66 with the 50mm, 80mm and 150mm Lenses. Its more expensive and you probably need a service, but its a beautiful and a well thought out system.

These are not human prices, these are London prices! Pentacon 6 is a system camera. Not only regarding the fact, that you can change the lens, but you can change the viewfinder as well (you just press the little knobs on the sides). It doesn't come with any given viewfinder, you can swap them in the field. And mine was 12 GBP 4 years ago, 30 more for servicing it and it works perfectly.

there is one 6 x 6 you forgot and thats the Rollei 6001 and 6008 series, they have a lot of electrics, but have a great lens selection, and apparently rival hasselblads for the crown in this category.

No Rolleiflex sl66?

💯

@jonahan Notley what are your thoughts on a Kiev 60?

good overview, thx. but you should have mentioned the Rolleiflex SLX / 600x cameras.

It should be noted that the Zeiss lenses for the Pentacon Six, though different in name, are identical to the Hasselblad lenses.

You call Hasselblad mechanical marvel? My 500cm jammed all the time, and the aperture blades in the lenses also became sticky and needed service. My Mamiya RB67 on the other hand works like a champion after 40+ years since it was made.

Rolleiflex 2,8F has a lightmeter on camera.

There are a lot more TLR camera's: NOCOFLEX , GREAT WALL, LUBITEL, SEMFLEX, MINOLTA AUTOCORD,MPP. FLEXARET etc. Plus an Italian TLR and tons of made in Japan and Germany.

Personally, I don't want a fixed lens TLR like the Rollei because I believe that the excellent Mamiya C330 has the 55mm, 65mm, 80mm, 105mm, 135mm, 180mm, 250mm lenses for it and I can shoot within 2" of my subject because it has bellows focusing and I can use my little $50 Paramender to eliminate parallax focusing errors. It has excellent optics as all Mamiya cameras have. I just don't see the value tradeoff of the one focal length Rollei vs a complete system with interchangeable lenses and bellows. Just one man's opinion.

The lenses made for the PENTACON SIX are made by Meyer and Carl Zeiss. Do not forget to mention the SLR made by Kowa with lenses from 19 mm up 500 mm

What about Bronica s2a? 100% mechanical, nikkor lenses, beautifull modular body, cheaper than sq...

me seeing the price difference from 2018 to 2021 is wild

Rolleiflex 6008 integral and 6008 professional?!?

Prices have skyrocketed since this video was made. Even the previously "budget" Kievs are going for like 500+.

Jonathan, Several comments: 1) In the TLR domain, you ignore the Minolta Autocord. It's a first cousin of the Yashica 124 with an important improvement: it uses a film pressure plate to ensure that the film lies perfectly flat across the breech. Granted, it is not as well known as the 124, but the negatives it can produce are at least as good. 2) You completely ignore the classic 6x6 folder! My $200 Zeiss can easily produce B&W negatives that I can enlarge to 11x14. I grant you that the resolving power of my f3.5 Novar cannot approach that of your system cameras, but I think that resolving power has been vastly overrated in modern photography. My Zeiss travels in my backpack across the karstic limestone of the Balkans. It smiles at rough useage. It is tough enough to hammer tent pegs. I can abandon it on a Montenegran Cafe table. No one will glance at it. And if something tragic happened to it, I would be out...$200.

will the lenses for bronica etrsi work on the bronica 6x6 bodies

One take? Not bad

I'm sorry I bought all of my film cameras. Film and processing costs have left me penniless

Zeiss Ikon series. Cheap and reliable, even though only 1 lens.

Hasselblad, if funds allowed

what are the defernces between mat 124 and mat 124 G ?

I'm interested in buying a tlr camera and I'm really short. In your opinion, would my height be an issue?

one tip IMPORTANT: the battery "slugs" (no matter the vintage-original Hasselblad or non-oem cells, single use Crxx's ) MUST insert NEG (---) towards YOU, (+ to the center of the camera body); THIS is the main trouble, they go all tiretts on you (no offence), winding continually, not responding to the operation switch, etc, THE only thing wrong is the POLARITY of the cells, re-install as above!, then all is right with the world. They run magasines great, ALWAYS leave the camera cocked (to take lenses off, etc), but one more thing, they jam just as sure as the 500 c/m's do, so make sure the lens is on the mount propperly, and if it does jam, FIRST, switch OFF, and think, take the mag off, try a cycle, does it work 'normally'?; if NOT, wiggle the lens, it should wind-on automatically, IF NOT, switch OFF, try the 'screwdriver trick' (POWER OFF) : open the Bottom baffell, place a flat head screwdriver on the SILVER screw inside below the lens, BE CAREFUL the mirror is down, and the lens rear element is close, ROTATE the screw clockwise about a turn (it may be less!, just be prepared to turn a full 360 deg. it depends where in the cycle it jammed); this should allow you to push the lens release, and dismount the lens, STOP, with everything off, run a cycle to cock it propperly!!, then it is SAFE to re-assemble, and continue shooting.

You forgot the Rollei sl66 series and the Kowa Six series.

Kiev 60🥰

Is there any Digital Back available for Yashika 124G or other TLRs ?

Rolleiflex usualy have light meters

Does anyone here hand develop prints in a wet darkroom? IMO, if the negatives are scanned for digital printing much would be lost, and that would defeat the purpose of using film.

Kiev60

In the uk....all zenith equipment was examined reassembled by TOE London. The only importer to the uk....so comments about quality are somewhat made up. Design.....was a different matter. Parallax with TLR is only an issue close up....or zoomed.

Having a matching back for Hasselblad cameras is not important at all. I have three backs for my two houses, and they're roughly 40 years apart in age! All three work equally well. They're not that expensive anymore either, I got my Hasselblad 500c cheaper than most Mamiya RZ67 houses go for on ebay. I also have a Pentacon Six. Love both my Hassies and my Pentacon! They're both surprisingly light and easy to carry around. Plus no battery, so you'll never get caught out with a non-functioning camera.

One of each? 4 Rolleiflexes, 1 Rolleicord, 1 Flexaret, 3 Yashica-mats, 1 Minolta Autocord, 1 Ricoh Diacord, 1 Hasselblad 500CM with 5 lenses, a Voigtlander I've missed some, numerous 6x6 folders... I sold a Mamiya 6 outfit to purchase a couple of Fujica GSW's (6x7, 6x9) and the Mamiya C330f outfit to get an RB67 and regret selling both. Always liked the Rollei 6006, but couldn't justify buying one.

I think Hassie and Leica are over priced and overhyped. The Kiev and the Pentacon 6 are a minefield as you say. I shoot medium format and what I use is a Rolleicord VA and two Pentax 67 cameras. I use the Rollei for black and white and the 6x7s for colour. If I was setting out to buy now I would look at Rolleiflex 6008 as a system camera. If I could get a 6000 series Rolleiflex with a Schnieder 90 mm macro lens I would be over the moon. Also the basic Yashica mats which go very cheaply.

The Bronica SQ-A is not comparable to the Hasselblad. The Bronica S2 is.

Hi, just watched about half of your Video, nice setup, but while talking about so much camerastuff, esp. medium format, just saw you fiddling around with a Canon AE-1, for some tenths of a second. Did it happened to have that you never got in touch with any of that cameras your´e talking about in the first half of that video? I hardly doubt, esp. when introducing the Pentacon-Six, fitted cleaerly with a KIEV 60 metered prism finder - without any mentioning/commenting from your side. I don´t want to go any further in details, but I clearly can see a principle: analogue photography is hip, equipment prices and therefore film prices are rising rapidly - why not jump on that train? Economywise absolutly correct, but - what was the intention of that video? I confess - I did´n watch the second half of that video. I was afraid, not to get any additional substantial information on medium format photography. Was I wrong?

Why do I feel like he is being held at gun-point to say this?

Nonsense; Hasselblad have now stated that the images purporting to have been taken on the Moon with their cameras were not. It is impossible today as it was in 1969 to travel through the Van Allen belt.

i find it strange when a 15 or 17 year old guy talks ablut cameras as if he would be in the business since the 70ies hehe Also a rolleiflex 2.8f for 1200 bucks? i would buy that instantly, but sadly they are at least double the prize

The comment section is better at recommending cameras than you. So just stop now.