What are the typical costs involved in Medium Format photography?

Question

I was wondering what it might cost me to buy a decent medium format camera with autofocus (if that's possible), a good fixed lens, plus all of the film and developing costs. Also, are there labs that will give you nice digital scans of your negatives? Thanks!

Answer 1

AFAIK, one would only find autofocus on medium format cameras such as the Hasselblad H-series, which is digital...and therefore pricey.



All is not lost, though, as many fine MF cameras can be found on the used market, such as eBay, for reasonable prices. Keep in mind, though, that MF gear tends to cost more than its 35mm counterpart where applicable.



Being a Hasselblad user, I can comment specifically on that brand; if you'd like to learn more, email me directly at [e-mail]. There are also other brands, such as Mamiya, Rollei and Bronica, but note that in the past few years, some of the other manufacturers have either left the market or gone out of business entirely. (At least with Hasselblad, you can send their products in for service; out-of-warranty repairs do involve money.)



For the film and processing, 120 format rollfilm typically runs about $4-5 or so per roll. Most film manufacturers (Kodak and Fuji, notably) also offer five-roll "pro packs," but without even a modest discount. Most retailers charge a multiple of their single-roll price.



For the processing side of it, if you're shooting black & white, you could develop it yourself at home, once you've made the initial investment in the necessary equipment and chemistry (I've covered what is required in previous answers, so I won't repeat them here.)



I also shoot color transparencies, which I send to an outside lab (A&I) for development, using mailers bought from B&H in New York, at a price less than A&I's, at about $10-13 per mailer (B&H's sku is AIMS). They also offer other services, such as scanning, for an additional fee, which, if memory serves, is $20 per 120 roll.



(You can also look in Shutterbug Magazine's monthly Lab Showcase for additional labs that may be closer to you.)

Answer 2

Believe it or not, the cheapest medium format cameras are Holgas that cost all of about $40 and have a fixed, 60mm f/8 lens. These are fully manual focus cameras. Autofocus medium format cameras and lenses are not cheap. You're looking at spending $3500 to $4000 for the camera body alone for those that are still in production (Hasselblad H2F and Mamiya 645AFD). Mamiya's AF lenses are significantly cheaper than Hasselblad but, you are still looking at a minimum investment of an additional $1200 for a good 80mm prime. Costs will be similar for a 35mm "wide-angle" lens for landscapes, even more for the few tilt-shift lenses around for these cameras. Hasselblad H series lenses start at around $2000 so don't be fooled by the higher initial cost of the Mamiya cameras.



As for scanning and developing, that's a little tougher problem. C-41 processing is still available and most medium format films available today can be processed using that system. That said, I don't know anyone shooting medium format today who doesn't use one of the dwindling number of local development labs or do it themselves in their own darkroom. Scanning at least is a bit easier because MPIX and others do offer scanning of negatives and slides. But again, most people I know who are shooting medium format, scan it themselves. You might want to try doing a Google or Yahoo search on scanning as well as one for medium format film developing to come up with options. Labs around the country are slowly fading away as the market has moved en masse toward digital. Only committed artists and professionals seem to cling to film anymore. That's not a bad thing, it is simply the nature of a society that wants immediate results because in many ways, film is still better than digital.

Answer 3

To me there's no question about what you should buy- Get a Rolleicord IV, V, or Va, or a Rolleiflex Automat III, IV, MX, or MX-EVS. Cameras from Rollei are an absolute pleasure to use. Once you use one, every Japanese camera will feel like junk-I've never handled anything from Canon, Nikon, Mamiya, Yashica, etc., which has the same glassy smooth operation in the film advance or shutter as the European cameras(including Rollei, Leica, Hassie, etc). The Various Yashica cameras are often suggested, however they feel like a typical Japanese camera, and the ones before the 124/124G have some notorious reliability problems. The 124 and 124G are capable cameras which I would feel comfortable using as a main camera, however in my opinion, they are overpriced. The Rollei cameras I have suggested typically sell for less than the Yashica 124 or 124G. You should be able to pick up any of the suggested Rolleis for under $100. The Mamiya TLRs are alright, however the lenses aren't that great in my experience, and fungus seems to love them. Also, the silver lenses are unreliable and unrepairable, while the black lenses carry a significant price premium. If I needed interchangeable lenses, I'd buy a Hasselbad-they're not much more expensive, the lenses are much better, and they can be readily repaired. In short, buy a Rollei-you won't regret it.

Answer 4

Autofocus, forget it. Friend of mine recently bought a rather complete pentax set for around 600 euros. Of course that was used. Film, why not check with your local pro lab?

Answer 5

Look at this list. I think you'll find the least expensive to be over $4,000 up to much more.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=medium+format+film+cameras&N=0&InitialSearch=yes