Mamiyaflex C330/C330f: These late-model 120/220 Mamiyaflexes are the best ones for serious shooters because they have interchangeable lenses (the defining feature of the breed) along with single-stroke, fully automatic film-wind cranks (no separate shutter cocking, so no double exposures) and moving parallax-compensation lines in their bright Fresnel viewfinders-not as convenient as auto-parallax-compensation, but great to have in a TLR that focuses down to 18 inches. Twin-lens Rolleis don’t have interchangeable lenses, show a laterally reversed viewing/focusing image (unless you fit a bulky prism) and only focus down to three feet (unless you add Rolleinar close-up lenses that provide automatic parallax compensation.) Despite these endearing quirks, they’re among the best cameras for shooting retro portraits. Later Rolleiflex models have 75mm f/3.5 and 80mm f/2.8 Zeiss Planar and Schneider Xenotar lenses that are slightly sharper at the widest apertures, but they’re pricier and not really any better at capturing that retro look. Like all Rollei TLRs, it takes 120-size roll film, and captures twelve 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 images per roll. It has parallax compensation over the entire focusing range down to three feet, a commendably bright reflex viewfinder, a quiet, low vibration, high-grade Synchro-Compur leaf shutter with timed speeds of 1 to 1/500 of a second, single-stroke crank wind, ergonomic controls, and a compact form factor. Rolleiflex Automat MX EVS: Any post-WWII Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex is a great choice for retro analog shooters, but the classic MX EVS of the mid-’50s, with 75mm f/3.5 Zeiss Tessar or Schneider Xenar lens, is probably the most affordable. Four Vintage Medium Format 2-1/4 Square Twin-Lens Reflexes All the vintage cameras listed below are readily available used, so check the B&H Used Department and B&H’s eBay listings. They’re a cheap, cool way to capture soft, dreamy images. New Holga and Diana medium format cameras have their own tab. Select “medium- format cameras” and you’ll see new Horseman view cameras and exotic special-purpose Linhofs, all premium priced. Type “Film Cameras” into the search bar on the B&H Photo Video homepage, select “35mm cameras,” and six new rangefinder cameras and one new SLR come up-four Leica M, two Voigtländer Bessa, and the redoubtable Nikon F6 35mm pro SLR cameras. “Vintage” Analog Cameras You Can Buy Brand New The bottom line: If you want to capture nostalgic images that consistently look like they might have been shot 50 years ago, using a vintage medium format film camera is a great way to go. Also, vintage lenses render the subject in a noticeably different way than modern lenses, even if both are equally sharp, due to variations in contrast, gradation, and bokeh. That’s because the shooting characteristics of the camera and the photographer/camera interface are quite different. And portraits shot with, say, a medium-format twin-lens reflex have a qualitatively different look and feel from those shot with a full-frame SLR or DSLR. Digital images have a subjectively different look than images shot on film-even when you put them through one of those ingenious film-emulation apps. That’s why the photographic medium (film or digital) and the camera you use to take the picture have a much greater influence on the result than, say, an artist’s brush, or a writer’s pen. Sure, there’s truth in the cliché that the person behind the camera is the most important thing, but photography is a technologically based art form. If you want the past to be part of your future, there’s no better way than shooting modern vintage-look pictures with an old film camera-or a brand-new one that’s managed to survive the digital onslaught.
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