Seeking ideas for a low cost 120 format camera

aidanic

Hi,

I bought an Agfa box camera recently at a flea-market for €10, and have shot Tri-X and Provia 100f on it (all self processed). The 120 format film is great, the slides in particular - I'm really getting into it. The Agfa on the other hand is as basic as it gets, and it's scratching all the film on it's rollers.

So, any suggestions for eBay or elsewhere, where I can get a 120 format camera, with decent shutter/apperture control, and with a basic lens, and will cost around €100.

Thanks,

Aidan

Mr. Grieves

A Yashica Mat, Minolta Autocord or other TLR's are probably your best bet. f/3.5 lens, coupled lightmeter, manual control of aperature and shutter are typical.

You'll get a good Yashica with a working lightmeter for €100 on ebay, if you're persistant and/or lucky, you'll only pay €50

Kintarō Hattori

I got the below Yashica delivered from the states for €48 earlier in the year. If you go down the eBay route you're best off ignoring the .ie and .co.uk sites and go straight to the American site. Even though most sellers state they don't ship outside of the US, ask them as the majority are quite happy to post their items here.

Mr. Grieves

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

If you go down the eBay route you're best off ignoring the .ie and .co.uk sites and go straight to the American site. Even though most sellers state they don't ship outside of the US, ask them as the majority are quite happy to post their items here.

Interestingly, the best value for stuff like this can often be had from sellers based in India and Pakistan. They'll list on the UK or US sites and ship worldwide.

DaireQuinlan

There are three routes you can take into MF that can produce good quality pics. I'm discounting holgas, dianas, and their ilk. The first is, as mentioned above, TLRs. My first MF purchase was a Yashicamat 124g. Gorgeous camera, produced great images. That's probably the most expensive model though, if only probably because it was the last produced, there are a pile of other yashica and minolta ones, or the mamiya C220/330 models that would be cheaper.
The second is the various SLR systems, the bronicas, hasselblads and mamiya SLRs. These probably aren't in your budget though.
The third is the wealth of old folders, shooting anything from 6x4.5 to 6x9, typically they don't have metering though, and only some have rangefinders. There are so many as well that doing any research into them can be kinda daunting, and there's a vast range of prices. One fairly cheap example I've been looking to pick up is the 6x6 Baldax, it's one of the cheaper good quality folders with a coupled rangefinder.

Simplicius

I have a collection of MF gear ..... which i use a lot mainly for street

Autocords are fantastic, Rolleicord is more expensive and difference in lens is arguable. TLR are heavy but generally have better film flatness. haven't tried yashica but they get equally high marks from users.

Folders: simple, easy & light.
Agfa Isolettes with a solinar lens - deadly, Zeiss Ikontas with Opton tessars great too but they tend to have film spacing issues which I have never experience with Agfas. Balda Baldax is similar to Agfa Isolette another robust lightweight and great lens.

all of above can be picked up for sub 100 euro if you are lucky.

the super versions ( means with rangefinder tend to be 100 to 150 dearer depending on condition)

minkynuts

As was said earlier The Mamya C220/330 camera's are just what you want, unlike the other camera's mentioned the Mamya cameras have interchangeable lenses, and a who host of attachments that can now be picked up cheap,

Rob

DaireQuinlan

minkynuts wrote: »

As was said earlier The Mamya C220/330 camera's are just what you want, unlike the other camera's mentioned the Mamya cameras have interchangeable lenses, and a who host of attachments that can now be picked up cheap,

Rob

Although, from having handled them, the mamiya TLRs are also pretty heavy. They -do- have an unrivalled range of accessories including metered prisms and handles, and the interchangeable lenses are definately a big plus point.

minkynuts

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mamiya-C220-80mm-55mm-135-Lenses-/270665660201?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f04ee3729#ht_500wt_1156