Is the old imacon 132c a good back ?

[Claudefrançois]

Hello everyone !

First : sorry for my english, it is  not my natural  langage.

Second : i work with a mamiya 645, the old one, with film. But it  start  to be too expensive for me. I want buy a digital camera. One  the web, i find a mamiya AFD with a imacon 132c + image bank (good for work outside) for +/- 2000€.
Is that a good thing ? I dont need  the best. I'm a young photographer who want Start with digital, i know most film camera.
Is  my sekor c Lens are adaptable on this corps and  back ? (All manual of course)

Thanks everyone for helping me !

[Peter Devos]

The 132c is a great back and fits almost every MF camera ever made :-)
You need to be willing to use an external image bank but i never had a problem with that! However it is already +10 years old and should be really cheap. i still have 2 528C, the multishot versions of the 132c and nothing under 25K$ beats its quality ;-)

[BobDavid]

The 132C is a great back.

[Claudefrançois]

Thanks for your answers !

More questions !

is there a "expiry date" or a limited number of accuations to buy it ?

What software i need to read the raw ? ls lightroom enough ?

Have a good day !

[Kumar]

I owned an Imacon 132C in Hasselblad V mount. File quality is great, Phocus gets the best out of Hasselblad files. But, if you are living in a humid environment, be careful. The coating on the IR filter glass can be damaged by fungus, as I found out the hard way. Later backs have fungus-resistant coatings. My experience is detailed on the forum. I had to reach out to senior people at Hasselblad so that I could be charged the standard repair fee rather than the exorbitant charges  the Japanese dealer wanted.

Kumar

[Theodoros]

What all others mention above is true... The 132c is a great back to the extend that will compete with anything modern on everything but pixel count... There is an "myth" that accompanies the Kodak 22mp sensor, known as "the fat pixel magic"... It means that the Kodak sensor (now old) 22mp backs can often present a look that is surprisingly close to film, yet without the disadvantages of film... One thing to consider is that you'll find the 22mp resolution much more than ever thought it is...

Now, one thing to consider is that the 132c can work tethered with the AFD without any additional cable (other than the FW to connect the image bank with the computer)... But bear in mind that with AFDII and later Mamiya cameras, Mamiya "blocked" third party backs to most of the functions that one could do with the AFD... Also bear in mind that the AFD is the least reliable camera among them all for focal plane shutter failure... So, if you do decide to invest on the system, make your future plans by not having in mind to ever upgrade the body (if you are to keep the back) and also, the camera's shutter will at some time fail sooner or later...

My suggestion is that the best platforms for one to use the 132c (or the 528c) is  the Hasselblad H since it can provide "safe" future planning... The AFD is great to use with the 132C, but one has to forget about upgrading the camera in the future...