What about Mamiya RZ67 ProII?
What lens would any person suggest to me?
What must-have accessories?
Thanks.
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I am in the same situation. Here's the skinny, based upon a couple of weeks worth of intense research(4-5 hours a day):(assuming you don't want to go digital - whole other issue)
Film scanner - Minolta Pro - this runs about $500-$600 used. this cuts into your budget a lot. You'll also need an ad-on slide holder if you shoot slides. Nothing else worth a dime can be had for less money. This is essentially where film scanning reaches decent levels. (ie - for MF, $4000 would be better than $1500)
6*7 is essentially a gimmick. Here's why: All of the printers and scanners have gone digital, so there's no way to effectively use those extra pixels short of roughly 20+ inch prints. The Minolta scanner does medium format at 3200DPI and at 400DPI dye-sub, that's an astounding 18 inches high and 21 inches wide at pixel for pixel quality(0% loss). Considering that anything that large will be on a wall and not viewed from 4 inches away, you can safely push that to 200DPI or the equivalent on an inkjet. Do you really need to print 36x42? A printer capable of printing that, even an inkjet, will cost you an arm and a leg as well. If you plan to print 8*11 or similar, then you don't need even medium format as the printer and scanner's limitations effectively make it moot.
Note - 4800DPI MF scanners exist, but they cost $1000+, even used. 3200 is more than adequate, anyways, as that's about where you see more grain than improvement.
Back to MF, though:
The 67 ProII also will run you about $1000 for a good condition used body alone and the lenses are pricey - essentially 6x6 cost. Parts and accessories are also $$$.
MF on a budget means rangefinder or manual with one exception which I'll get to later. That said, a rangefinder camera can do astounding things.
6*6 costs a fortune for the cameras unless you get a fully manual model like an old Rolleiflex or Rolleicord everything else in 6x6 under $1000 is essentially worthless in that type of camera. As they say, Rollei makes no junk. I had an old Rolleicord and other than the F3.5 lens on it - slightly worse than the high-end model - it worked the same and took identical pictures 98% of the time. $300-$400 for a typical model in mint condition is common. You'll want the later model Vb which was made in the late 70s, though. It has a built-in meter and a few other goodies, plus is less likely to have died from old age/wear.
Ebay # 260224044287 - a mint example that recently sold. This would obliterate the Chinese made one you used to have. I had one and it worked exceedingly well. I just was stupid and young and sold it about 15 years ago. Whole other story... heh.
As for rangefinders, there are 6*7 models, but they literally weight 6 lbs. Not a joke. They are unwieldy to the point of absurdity. 6x6 rangefinders are a bit less cumbersome. Not much, though.
You will need a heavy tripod for any of them unless you are shooting 1/200 or faster. (note rangefinders and TLRs have no moving parts to speak of other than the shutter, so they can get away with slightly slower speeds handheld. A SLR type 6*7 will noticeably move in your hand when the mirror slams out of the way.
If you want modern features, you're stuck with one option, really. This is my recommendation at your price range and likely what I'll buy myself:
Get a 6*4.5. This gives you a negative that is almost three times the size of 35mm. It costs a LOT less, weights a lot less, can be had with auto-focus and other goodies like a typical 35mm(or in a perfectly normal sized rangefinder) , and when you print it out, it will do 13.5*18 prints with 0% loss at 400DPI dye-sub/good inkjet. With reasonable losses, you can still print in excess of 3 ft wide.
[a href=\"http://www.design215.com/toolbox/film_chart.php]http://www.design215.com/toolbox/film_chart.php[/url]
Honestly, 6*4.5 versus even 6*7 isn't that large of a size difference. They all dwarf 35mm by a large margin.
Considering that this is in excess of the largest home printer's capacity/size, and from there it jumps to $3000+ drum printers... 6*6 or 6*7 are wasted for home use.(unless you do slides, where 6*6 is slightly better - but MF projectors are another $1000+ for a typical setup) 6*4.5 is a perfect compromise.
Plus, 6*4.5 gives you 32-33 shots on a 220 roll.
A Pentax 645NII can be had used for well under $500 for just the body or about $1000 with a slew of accessories and lenses. Mamiya also makes a nice one.
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One last thing... The problems you are having are likely due to you needing to bracket the exposure in B&W and then merge the two to get a cleaned up image.
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....775&hl=blendingThis technique might make your shots come out like you want. The trick appears to be to bracket in a tight group to look realistic. No more than 3-4 steps between maximum and minimum. A +1/0/-1 group would work very well, for instance. You can go farther for high dynamic range, but it starts to look more like a print than a photograph.
Notice how clean this is. In combination with a good camera, this can make very good results. At least as clean as 35mm film. Fuji has a camera that does this in-camera so action shots and such are possible. The rest require a couple of shots and blending, which is pretty easy.
I'd try this with your D80 first before you spend a lot of money.
