agree with bcooter
so I'm expected to pay for Hasselblad prices for a Mamiya system that wants to be on par with a hasselblad.
EXCEPT
That the only Hasselblad quality items this Mamiya has so far is the 28d, 45d, 80d and 150d, and the rest of the lenses are still pretty old and sometimes suspect and feel like pieces of plastic.
If mamiya released a whole upgraded system of lenses and accessories that were befitting of the price tag they were trying to go for that would be good, but they seem confused at the moment.
yes Mamiyas are hard to find in rental houses these days.Find me a rental house that's renting AFDIII. And if these cameras are not getting into the hands of professionals then the only impression they're getting of mamiya is the AFDII which has its share of problems.
Also, it's been a very very very rare occurance where I have to shoot 1/2000th of a second on ANY camera I've ever used.
I guess you're lucky to get that much light where you are, but chances are if you're shooting landscapes you're stopping down and if you're shooting people you would be scrimming and flagging to soften such a harsh light in the first place.
I would be so happy if I could even hit 1/400th of a second in the kind of work I do outdoors.
As far as finding a medium format camera in rental around the world in almost any market, first would be a hasselblad h body (probably with a phase back, with leaf a distant second) and then a few places will have Mamiya's afd 1's or 2's but very few AFDIII's if any.
I understand the Mamiya III is better, but it had nowhere to go but up so I don't now if that means that much. It's still a work a progress as firmware updates requires the camera has to be sent into service and shutter lag is still present, lenses and right angle grips are still waiting and it has a non removable viewfinder. It makes the Contax with Zeiss lenses look like a modern system and be realistic you can buy two Cotnax's and lenses for the price of the new Mamiya's and forget about rentals.