A Pentax 6x7 was a camera that I avoided in the film days and continue to this day. I just don’t want to carry such a large and heavy camera. I have a Mamiya 7 and 7ii, Bronica and Fuji 645 rangefinders and the Bronica ETRSi. Of course, the downside is the rangefinder cameras is close focus and no TTL..which is irrelevant for me. That said, I do use TTL with digital medium format. I think that my favorite medium format camera is the Bronica RF645. All three lenses are quite good. You would want to make sure that you get the body calibrated for the 100mm and not the 135mm lens. Even the 100mm lens, with the widest aperture should not be used closer than 1.8m. That said, it does focus to one meter, but the rangefinder base is too small for accurate focusing at near with f/4.5, so distance is best measure for that last 0.8m. With many B&W films and modern color offerings like Portra, Ektar and E100, the 645 really holds up quite nicely. The ETRSi is the best bang for the money here and the most recent Bronica medium format SLR. It is comfortable to use, especially with the hand grip/winder and a mirrored prism. Focusing screens are also readily available and film backs are interchangeable. I think that the ergonomics here outshine the Pentax and the big Mamiya. The 6x7 with great lenses and a film like Ektar can actually exceed the resolution of the 100Mpix digital, but you need great copy/scanning equipment to get anywhere near maximum. On the other hand, the 645 copied by using my X2D and a Hasselblad 1:1 macro, might not be quite up to the X2D resolution, but it is close. Of course, the downside is the very expensive copy setup. I think that if you get top quality lab scans, or use a full frame camera to do the copy work, the 645 with the above films will push the digital copies. If you still use a wet darkroom, a top 6x7 with great lenses, like the Mamiya 7 will definitely outperform my 100Mpix digital camera.
Lastly, with the right film, great lenses and a steady hand, 35mm film can be quite good. I have a 30x40 print from an M3 and 90mm Macro-Elmar on Ektar that is tack sharp at arms length.
Mar 04, 2026 at 07:41 PM
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