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NEAR MINT! Mamiya-6 6x6 Coupled Rangefinder Camera, FRESHLY SERVICED - Mamiya- Petrakla Classic Cameras

Mamiya

NEAR MINT! Mamiya-6 6x6 Coupled Rangefinder Camera, FRESHLY SERVICED

$ 525.00 USD

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use

This is an extraordinarily lovely classic medium format camera that folds out to take beautiful 6x6 exposures on a 120 roll film. Bright exposures alive with all the vivid details and rich values that only medium format can provide. When it comes to photography, bigger is better and this camera will produce a negative that’s more than four times larger than the average 35mm snapshot. So whether you’re interested in large prints, fine grain, rich tonal gradations or lovely colors, this camera will do all of that and it may just become your favorite photographic companion.

This is one of those legendary cameras that you hear about, read about but rarely ever see. And if you want one… good luck. The reason? It’s unique and advanced system of focusing. This is the legendary camera that moves the film to focus rather than the lens… It’s an expensive and very precise way of focusing the image. This feature make this camera very popular with collectors as well as photographers. As a result, few are willing to sell them. Because of this and the relatively low production numbers the Mamiya-6 will always remain a desirable and hard to find camera.

If you’ve never handled one of these I think you’ll be impressed by its quality. It’s not the cheap lightweight sheet metal camera you may have had as a kid. This is one of the best classic folders ever made. It’ features a hefty, solid die-cast metal, trimmed in black lacquer and chrome. It has a built in coupled rangefinder that never leaves you guessing about the distance or the focus. And it has a sophisticated film advance mechanism that automatically counts the exposures for you and stops you from winding past the next exposure. In use this means all you have to do is take a shot, advance the film until it stops and you’re already for another one. You won’t be slowed down by the need to look for exposure numbers through a red ruby window.

As I mentioned, these cameras are very hard to find. This is especially true of fully functional examples in mint condition. This particular camera is so close to mint that you’d almost believe that it’s possible to travel back thru time to the 1950’s. Not only that but it’s also been freshly cleaned, lubricated and adjusted . The quality Seikosha-MX shutter was top of the line. It works smoothly and all speeds (B & 1 sec to 1/500th ) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along smoothly and the fast speeds are clean and snappy. The rangefinder image is easy to see and accurate. The bellows are in good shape and light tight. Everything works and it’s ready to be put to use.

The lens on this cameras is a coated Olympus Zuiko f3.5 /75mm. This is a high quality Japanese clone of the Zeiss Tessar. The lens looks like new. It’s wonderfully clean and clear. There are no scratches or cleaning marks and it’s capable of producing beautiful photos with modern color and B&W films. (In fact, I knew a photographer who enjoyed using one of these cameras and he said it noticeably outperformed his top of the line postwar Super Ikonta B. High praise indeed and we both believed this high performance is probably due to the advanced design of the film pressure plate which holds the film very flat

It comes complete with a lovely original used brown leather case.

All in all a very fine collectable classic camera that not only looks great, it deserves to be used regularly. Load it with your favorite film and keep it handy for that perfect shot you’ve been looking for. You know the one... the one with the perfect Ansel Adams light breaking through the dark storm clouds that leaves you wishing that you had a classic medium format camera with you...

 


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