The lenses of this camera are second to none. Focuses fast and surely, nice and bright, you can truly "feel" the subject and the light on the subject and a sense of "presence" that's a function both of the excellent prism finder and focusing screen as well as the superlative lenses. My preferred configuration is with the split range/microprism collar finder. Among medium format systems only the Hasselblad H1 is marginally better, and the Pentax 6x7 with is slightly better than that in this regard. With any of the f/2.8-f/4 lenses, downgrade that to somewhere between very good and ecxcellent. With the 80mm f/2 mounted, the view is exceptional. The standard prism finder gives a big bright image with the nice fast Zeiss glass that predominates the system. In my opinion, the single most important aspect of a camera is its viewing system. In this regard, the Contax 645 is wonderful. To me, the 645 format is a med format roll film system that can be hand-held and shot much like you would 35mm. I handle this one almost as easily as my 35mm SLR system (those being Canon EOS for AF purposes and a Contax RTS III as my MF SLR). This camera, while a tad heavy, is very easily handlable and hand-holdable. If this places me on the lunatic fringer, so be it. I no longer own any 35mm equipment because I found myself falling back on it for landscapes and scenics on trips and then realizing that the 16x20 prints I favor just do not have the detail and snap needed. So, I am back with the Hasselblad and various other medium format fixes to get the job done. Soon thereafter, a visit to a real eye clinic rather than the mall-inhabitors revealed I just needed better glasses. I thought that I was being foolish for bringing so many batteries but am very thankful that I did. However, that wedding, even with the AF not being used, went through FIVE sets of Batteries. I purchased the larger packs to avoid burning through batteries so quickly. Second, the battery situation is ridiculous. I eventually overrode the AF and did most of the wedding manually. If the AF lock does not work, when you compose the picture you find your focus has strayed to the area between the two people, often infinity and never right. At a wedding, you are shooting large numbers of pictures with 2 or more people in them. The denoument was my favorite niece's wedding which I had come out of retirement to photograph. This did not work a great deal of the time. However, what was most disappointing was that the auto-focus lock system did not work properly.Īs most of you know, with a good auto-focus system, you aim the center point at the most important part of your picture (okay, some of you depth of field freaks aim at the point for 1-3/2-3's depth), press down slightly on the shutter release to lock the focus at that point, recompose the shot and then release the shutter. I was disappointed that, within four months, the camera conked out and I was hit for a $480 repair bill for electronics. Having turned 50 years old, I thought that my vision was getting too poor to focus my Hasselblad equipment that I have had since 1969, so I bought a 645 with 80mm, quickly added the 140mm and tele-extender, then waited until Contax got their act together and came out with the 55mm lens (the 45mm lens, which was the next shorter focal length to the normal when Contax first came out is equivalent to 28mm on the 35mm format and I prefer 35mm on a Nikon or Leia). I owned and used a Contax 645 for over two years.
0 kommentar(er)
