Classic Cameras: Mamiya 645 Pro

Over the years, I’ve dabbled with many cameras and many film formats. I’ve used pretty much everything from 8 x 10" view cameras to half-frame 35mm cameras and ended up settling on 6 x 7 for the majority of my work. Somehow, though, after all of this time, I managed to skip the 645 format entirely. I didn’t do this intentionally; it just never seemed to fall into place. The cameras and lenses are larger than those for 35mm, but the film format is smaller than 6 x 7. It’s either a happy medium or an awkward compromise, depending on how you look at it. Recently, I became hooked on the idea of working with longer, telephoto lenses while shooting handheld, and also working with closer subjects and tighter compositions. I knew I didn’t want to drop down in format to 35mm—I wanted to keep a more square aspect ratio than 3:2, and knew I wanted to continue using 120 film… but I was also very wary of working with the huge telephotos made for Mamiya’s 6 x 7 systems. Enter the Mamiya 645 Pro.

Angeles National Foreset

I’d known of Mamiya’s extensive 645 system for a long time, and admit to being curious about working with it for a while, but for some reason or another I never felt the urge to incorporate yet another film format into my workflow. After getting this desire to change up some lens choices, it seemed like the perfect time to try something new altogether. Long story short: I acquired a Mamiya 645 Pro body, along with the FK402 AE prism finder, a couple of backs, the C 110mm f/2.8 N lens, the C 300mm f/5.6 N lens, and a 2x teleconverter. It’s a bit of a unique starter setup, but that’s one of the pluses of working with such a wide-ranging and readily available system—you don’t need to start with the basics.
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