Top 10 Medium Format Film Cameras for 2022

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We go over the top 10 most searched medium format film cameras, as determined by YOU (and search engine data that you may or may not have participated in).

Time codes
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00:00 - Intro
00:20 - No. 1 - Mamiya 645
02:50 - No. 2 - Mamiya RB67
06:45 - No. 3 - Mamiya RZ67
10:38 - No. 4 - Mamiya 7
15:22 - No. 5 - Hasselblad 500CM
18:30 - No. 6 - Pentax 6x7
23:21 - No. 7 - Hasselblad 500C
24:49 - No. 8 - Mamiya 6
28:37 - No. 9 - Yashica Mat 124G
31:30 - No. 10 - Rolleiflex 2.8
35:40 - No. 10+1 - Mamiya C330

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[glengustafson]

In 2005 a coworker asked me to take a group photo of his family reunion with over 40 people. I had a Nikon D100 at the time. After realizing that each face would only get a few pixels resolution, I dusted off the Mamiya RB67 I’d bought new in ‘76. Sure glad I did as everyone wanted enlargements. Your video convinced me to have a cla done on it and both lenses. Time to bring it back into play.

[WillNGo]

Kids, old dude here. I've shot the Hassy, Mamiya 6x6 (like the Rollei) and the Pentax 6x7, as well as 35mm, 4x5, 8x10. The Hassy is a great studio camera, the Mamiya/Rollei.... very slow to work with - I don't recommend them at all. The Pentax 6x7? That's the one I'd haul around to get larger B&W negatives - so here are a couple of tips from my experience. Pentax: get the big wooden handle (unless you're always using a tripod), and practice, practice, practice - that huge mirror swinging around inside at first ruins every handheld shot you'll take. Too much vibration. For a while I thought - no tripod, no go. But I got better at it. (It's probably more like shooting a pistol than taking a photograph). I also had a Kowa - Japanese knock off of the Hassy. The 55mm wide angle lens had to be stopped down or most of your frame would be out of focus. But the lenses were a bit soft and so were better portrait lenses (80 and 150) than the Hassy's (which was designed for map making not people.) However, the Kowa has a stamped sheet metal main gear that will warp and jam - so mechanically they're unreliable. Definite no go (I think I've still got mine - jammed if anyone wants it.) To buy any of this gear 30 years after its manufacture? Hassys are good, reliable, but I think a Pentax 6x7 is basically bullet proof.
The point about slow flash sync shutter speed for the Pentax is very important point. Do you think you're Annie Leibowitz or Diane Arbus? You're going to need a faster sync speed for controlling flash outdoors. Good point. (I'd want at least a 1/250 flash sync leaf shutter -otherwise you'd need large flash units with long extension cords.)
Would I shoot film again? Maybe B&W, T-Max I wouldn't take it to a lab. Since the mid-1980s I've used pyro developers. These are compensating developers. This is really really important. A compensating developer will develop the highlights (densest darkest part of the neg) and then it will peter out - so not too much. In the shadow areas (thinnest lightest part of the neg) the developer will keep working building up the density. You will then get a negative that is easier to print - gives you more options. (None of that 1950s - 70s D76 blank white skies, D-Max shadows- if later you decide you want that? Just crank up the contrast - it's impossible going the other way.) Edward Weston had no light meter, guessed at his exposures, used a pyro compensating film developer... and changed photography. I would probably only shoot B&W if after I process it myself (easy) I could get really high res scans. I wouldn't want to go anywhere near a darkroom again. Things that would take me hours and days; that I wouldn't know if they worked or not until weeks later when I toned the prints... I can do in seconds on a computer. (And I've got Epson Photo inkjet prints from 1995 on watercolor paper that still look like new - so any of the archival inks made since then should be brilliant. They're also behind UV protective OP1 plex.)
Should young photographers shoot film? Sure. It slows you down, connects you to the history. (But anybody saying "I only want to shoot film, " "Film is the only real photography, " "film is better, " should be left on the side of the road someplace. Color film is a complete dead end. There's no more Kodachrome (and I could talk your ears off for hours about how brilliant Kodak film was in the 1990s.) There is nothing that color negative can do that just about any digital system can't do infinitely better - meaning if you want something to look like 1950s Kodachrome - you can only do it digitally. So film slows you down, but so does spending hours chasing that idea using Photoshop and a good digital printer. You do want this, later you'll be able to do things much quicker.

[timmotion]

Hasselblad 500c - I bought second hand in 1978. That sound. I love the square format, a challenge for composition but beautiful when you get it right. This camera is still going strong, everything works; it's been serviced a few times but never broke down. You can also attach a V system digital back like a Phase One.

[thethirdman]

A word of warning: the RB67 is not a camera for beginners. There are so many interlocks on them that they are extremely -difficult- complicated to use, compared to a Mamiya 645 or Hasselblad. I used a Bronica in the brief period I was a working photographer in the 1980s and it was a much simpler camera to use. I also used the Mamiya 645. The RB is a great camera - I own one - but it requires the photographer to think before every step. Focusing is different, especially with floating element lenses, there are no electronic connections between the various components and the body. Cocking is a two step process - cocking the mirror and the shutter and winding the film. You can really screw up if you don't know what you're doing.

It’s a great camera - I have taken spectacular pictures with it - but it's hard to use and not a good place for beginners to start.

[JonnyEnglish-gucs]

I own a Bronica ETRS and SQA absolutely gorgeous both of them I won’t part with either lens are superb SQ - A is sometimes called the Japanese Hasselblad I can see why for less than 1/3 of the price of a 500 series yep I do love my Bronnyblad 👍🏻greetings from the UK 🇬🇧

[tankthetuba]

I decided to make the move into medium format earlier this year, and I'd always liked the Mamiya C series, so I managed to get a bargain..a C2 that had been fully serviced and has the 80mm "Blue Dot" lens. It's over 60 years old, but takes some awesome images!

[Narsuitus]

Thanks for a great video.

I began shooting medium format cameras at the age of 5. During my childhood, I used a variety of fixed-lens medium format cameras such as Ansco, Diana, Holga, Kodak Brownie, and Kodak Bullet.

In college, the YashicaMat TLR was my first professional quality medium format camera.

The Mamiya TLR was my second professional quality medium format camera.

Fuji 6x7 and 6x9cm fixed-lens rangefinders replaced my worn Mamiya TLR wedding cameras.

The Mamiya RB67 SLR was my last professional quality medium format camera.

[danieltaylor]

Surprised didn't mention the Fuji GX680. It is more robust than the Mamiya RB67. One thing I love about the 680 is the ability can do movements similar to a large format camera- rise and fall/tilt and shift, it also has amazing optics and not to mention the ability to go from 6x8 to 6x7, 6x6, 645 to even Polaroid.

[GOLDDYNACO]

I went for the second best thing. Instead of Rolleiflex I have Minolta Autocord III, instead of Mamiya 7II I have Fuji GSW690III and instead of Pentax 67 or Mamiya RB/RZ I have Bronica GS-1. Much cheaper, but good enough for me and my customers

[Out-to-Pastor]

I'm just getting into 120 medium format. I havnt invested yet but love the look of the photos and want to try it. I'm used to 35mm film and know there is a learning curve. But I love this video, I know it has narrowed my search down especially to affordability.

[hemmogrol]

Thank you Kamerastore for your nice and helpful reviews. I had a Pentax 67-2 for many years until recently. I had the wooden left hand grip, and it has a hot shoe on it. Only the version for the Pentax 67-2 has this. I started to have some electronic issues with it and I replaced it with the Bronica Gs-1 6x7. So far I am very pleased with it and with the results. Better than I had expected. My other MF kamera's are a late Rolleiflex 3.5F with the very sharp Carl Zeiss 6 element lens, a Fuji gs645s and a Fuji gsw690 rangefinder.

[pancakelens]

I think the Mamiya 645 has some of the most underrated glass of any cameras!

[BarwickGreen]

Lovely and very fair review. I own the Mamiya 6 and 330f, and I have previously owned a Mamiya 645 and RZ67 and your review was spot on. Interesting that none of the Fuji medium format cameras made it into the top ten, I wonder why people weren't searching for them?

[savinggracechurch]

I have used in the past as a assistant photographer the Hasselblad 500cm and the SWC with its fixed superwide lens that you had to use a tape measure for focusing.

I have also used the RB67 but fancied the Fuji GX 6×8 camera and this to had a revolving back.
I liked using occasionally fixed lens TLR cameras like Rolliflex and Yashica

But my favourite camera I actually owned was the Bronica S2a with a rare 100mm f2.4 made by Carl Zeiss in Jena I also got a photo used from this camera for a book cover. A 30 year old camera at the time the picture was published.
I also liked the idea of being able to use a tilt shift bellows instead of the cameras helicoid.

Always fancied trying out the Mamiya Universal or 23 with it 6×9 format.
Very cheap well made camera!

[GONZOFAM]

I have a Yashica 635 that I love and shoot with often.

[niklasjohansson]

Yeah there is Aperture priority on the Mamiya 6, just choose the square or circle on the speed dial.

[odukar]

5 out of 10 of the presented cameras are in my possession! And all are working great. Thx for your video.

[oudviola]

I am very satisfied with my Bronica GS-1! I had bad luck with a Yashica Mat124, now have the D. I kind if like the separate film advance and shutter cock levers, makes multiple exposures easy.

[janradtke]

Great selection! I have the Mamiya 7, RB and 645 Pro TL and the briefly mentioned Fuji GX680 III. All those which I could not afford in the nineties. ;-)

[johnrflinn]

A very affordable Medium Format camera is the Mamiya Press Super 23. The 50mm F6.3 and the 100mm F2.8 lenses are outstanding and it has interchangeable 6x9 and 6x7 backs known for their film flatness. It also has a fast 250mm F5 telephoto lens. The camera has a back bellows which provide the equivalent of swing for providing foreground to background focus.