Mamiya RB67 weight

excalibur2

excalibur2

My F4's Broken...
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Brian
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If you are thinking of buying a RB67 then this lot weighs 8lbs ....inc prism, grip, 65mm and 180mm lens. It would make your shoulder ache after a while but I usually carry it in a back pack with plenty of bubble wrap (don't want the lenses banging around).
Took it out today and if you get one it's something looking thru the viewfinder as the scene comes to life and you think\hope the shot comes out as good as what you are seeing.
 
Totally agree. Its a big heavy beast but sooo worth it once you pop that view finder open.
 
Even the SQ is significantly lighter than the RB.

And you still have the magical viewfinder experience.
 
simon ess said:
There is an obvious solution.

It begins with B, ends in a and has ronic in the middle.

:)
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Got an ETRSi as well ;) but bigger the format, surely better the image in the viewfinder (y)......anyone thinking of a prism IMO don't bother with the metered one as it easier to take a separate light meter or use your backup camera. Anyway more useless for me (i.e.metering) as I'm a sunny weather shooter and nearly all my shots (on average things) are always 1/250 f5.6 or f8 for 200asa and this exposure lasts for hours...in Ibiza it's a bit brighter and the lens would be f11 for slower film 100asa
 
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The Bronica might well be lighter than the Mamiya but it is far from light! I was out with my ETRs this morning and an hour was my physical limit.
 
Been a while since i weighed it but i remember my Bronica SQ-Ai + prism head + speed grip + 80mm lens + film back was in the 2.2KG area which is like 4.9lbs or something, If you shoot with the waist level finder and no grip it's in the 1.8KG range.
Have been thinking of selling the lot as while it's a excellent camera can just never be bothered to haul it around, probably weighs more than some 4x5" field cameras.
 
I found an SQ-A with a waist level finder to be no problem to carry at all. Mine went to the top of numerous hills/mountains, such as Ben Lomond and Ben Lui, for instance, and I even hiked 10km on the Great Wall of China with it, including some very steep sections.
 
skysh4rk said:
I found an SQ-A with a waist level finder to be no problem to carry at all. Mine went to the top of numerous hills/mountains, such as Ben Lomond and Ben Lui, for instance, and I even hiked 10km on the Great Wall of China with it, including some very steep sections.
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Dont you just hate young, fit people.... :D
 
My RZ67 has been up munros. I just need to be a bit more careful deciding how much water to take up and be certain that I can find a burn etc. In a way, it makes carrying a tripod easier to justify though... "it's only another 1kg!"
 
Many years ago, I used to use an RB67 for weddings. The sound didn't half reverberate around the church when the mirror 'crashed' up.
 
Cloudforest said:
Many years ago, I used to use an RB67 for weddings. The sound didn't half reverberate around the church when the mirror 'crashed' up.
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Well I used to always use the RB67 on a tripod for potraiture and group shots.....which reminds me on using the camera without the tripod now is:- I might not be getting a sharp picture in that I hear the mirror, think I've taken the shot move the camera away from my eye (using a prism), but forget the iris closes a fraction later... so what I saw in the viewfinder might not be exactly the same as the final shot and of course a slower shutter speed would be more of a problem. So gotta remember and repeat to myself WAIT TILL YOU HEAR THE IRIS CLOSE
 
excalibur2 said:
If you are thinking of buying a RB67 then this lot weighs 8lbs ....inc prism, grip, 65mm and 180mm lens. It would make your shoulder ache after a while but I usually carry it in a back pack with plenty of bubble wrap (don't want the lenses banging around).
Took it out today and if you get one it's something looking thru the viewfinder as the scene comes to life and you think\hope the shot comes out as good as what you are seeing.
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Lose the prism and grip. Something about the waist level finder makes you think more about your framing. My framing is always more accurate on the RZ than it is when using the digital SLR... gotta be a reason for that. The RZ/RB really needs to be a on a tripod any way.... they're not great cameras to hand hold, even WITH a grip.
 
David is far more experienced with these cameras than me but I'd agree with that - handholding is a last resort and just not a great idea given the resolution of those film squares and their ability to register even small amounts of shake.

I found a pistol grip on a tripod was a great combination for the Mamiya - it worked well with the WLF for me at least.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Lose the prism and grip. Something about the waist level finder makes you think more about your framing. My framing is always more accurate on the RZ than it is when using the digital SLR... gotta be a reason for that. The RZ/RB really needs to be a on a tripod any way.... they're not great cameras to hand hold, even WITH a grip.
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Well of course a tripod is best as I'm not your sure even the top speed of 1/500 sec (probably true speed is less) is enough to eliminate all camera shake (I suppose someone has done tests)....but for me unless I'm going to somewhere specific for a shot, like to travel around on a push bike or motorbike and a sturdy tripod is an inconvenience and could be dangerous esp cycling in rough public footpaths across fields where if I came off I don't want a tripod attached to a backpack hitting my head.

Edit: found this https://lycabettus.wordpress.com/20...-sacrifices-over-a-tripod-and-mirror-lock-up/
 
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I go out and about with an RZ67 a fair bit and wrote the following blog article about the experience of carry and using just the RZ67 on Skye for a week:

https://kevinthephotographer.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/one-camera-on-the-isle-of-skye/

I've recently added the extra weight of the tilt-shift adaptor and the 75mm SB lens (about 1kg by itself) - at the moment when I take these items out I only take that one lens - partly because of bulk as much as weight.
 
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Kevin Allan said:
I go out and about with an RZ67 a fair bit and wrote the following blog article about the experience of carry and using just the RZ67 on Skye for a week:

https://kevinthephotographer.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/one-camera-on-the-isle-of-skye/

I've recently added the extra weight of the tilt-shift adaptor and the 75mm SB lens (about 1kg by itself) - at the moment when I take these items out I only take that one lens - partly because of bulk as much as weight.
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That's a fantastic blog, Kevin :clap:
 
Kevin Allan said:
I go out and about with an RZ67 a fair bit and wrote the following blog article about the experience of carry and using just the RZ67 on Skye for a week:

https://kevinthephotographer.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/one-camera-on-the-isle-of-skye/

I've recently added the extra weight of the tilt-shift adaptor and the 75mm SB lens (about 1kg by itself) - at the moment when I take these items out I only take that one lens - partly because of bulk as much as weight.
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That was no doubt from ffordes. I'd been looking at those two for about 3 months but couldn't bring myself to buy them as they just weigh too much. (plus it was quite an outlay and I really want a 210 APO first)

I carry my RZ around in a lowepro toploader 75AW which is extremely compact. I can squeeze in the hoods, a handful of filters, my meter, several films, two cable releases and a couple of spare batteries with room to spare. I usually only take one lens, which is usually the 65mm F4. With the 127mm 3.5 fitted, it'll actually fit into the smaller toploader 65. This is essentailly my everyday camera bag and I swap the 67 out with the 645 where I need to fit longer lenses.
Lowepro Toploader 75 + RZ67 by Kyle, on Flickr
 
Kei said:
That was no doubt from ffordes.
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Well, yes and no. I ordered a tilt-shift adaptor and the 75mm f4.5 short barrel lens from Ffordes. When the package arrived it turned out the lens was wrongly described as it was the rather uncommon 75mm f3.5 (not short barrel) lens. This one can't focus to infinity with the tilt-shift adaptor so it went back. Of course my money was refunded although it would have been nice to have received an email just saying "sorry for the mistake", especially as I had to pay the return postage. I then ordered an actual SB lens from http://ianbfoto.com/home.php.

I also made a mistake myself by buying the 27.5m extension tube that allows you to use the 75mm (or 180mm) SB lenses WITHOUT the adaptor and still focus to infinity. Although this is less bulky than using the T/S adaptor when you don't need movements, it isn't essential. On my second outing I failed to zip the camera backpack and the extension tube dropped on a hard floor and dented the rear so that it won't fit the lens mount. So the two lessons I learnt were (a) don't buy a piece of kit "just in case" and (b) don't hoist a pack onto your shoulder that isn't fastened properly.

I've now got another problem, which has happened to three of my Mamiya lenses. The issue is that part of a cable release can snap off inside the shutter release (i.e the one on the lens which you will be using when you need to lock the mirror up). This happened to the 75mm SB lens on my third outing and it means I have to wiggle the extended shutter release cable into the socket, until such time as I get round to sending it off for repair.

I'm still in love with the RZ (actually I have two) but it can be a rocky relationship.
 
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