The Mamiya 645 AFD was my first fully electronic professional medium format camera, with autofocus, light metering and automatic film advance all in one body. I got this camera through a private seller with the ambition that one day I would be able to get a digital back to shoot medium format digitally. That day is getting closer but for now I’ve been shooting many rolls of film through the camera and enjoying the freedom of not having to do everything manually all the time.
The Mamiya 645 AFD was produced in 2001 and was replaced by the AFDII in September 2005. It’s not as modular as other 645 cameras from Mamiya, the only thing that you can change on this camera are the film backs and lenses, a far cry from what they use to be able to do. You could also add a battery grip with extra batteries to increase your shooting time and the ease of shooting vertically oriented images.
As given in the name of the camera, 645 stands for the negative frame size of 6cm x 4.5cm although the actual frame size is 56mm x 42mm. AFD stands for Automatic Focus, Digital. Mamiya added a few software upgrades and electrical contacts to the body so that the camera could accept some digital backs (not made by mamiya) along with the film backs, as opposed to the earlier AF model.
I used this camera mainly in the field as lighter option to my Mamiya RB67 Pro S. In my opinion, the 645 AFD is best suited for landscape and portrait style shooting as the autofocus is very slow and loud using a body based motor that uses a mechanical worm screw to focus the lens. Also the focus is only in the centre of the frame, meaning you have to set your focus in the centre of your view, lock it in and then re-compose your image all little quirks that once you get a grasp of are easy to work around.
The camera does have focus tracking for moving subjects but given the slow focusing and a frame speed of (as quoted from the manual) about 2 frames a second it would be challenging for fast action. So, unless your really good a predicting your shots I’d recommend not using this camera at say race tracks, air shows (flight displays) or any other fast moving subjects.
As for ergonomics the camera is heavy compared to regular 35mm camera seeing as it’s at least double the size but the grip is comfortable to hold the camera however I feel the grip could have extended down a touch more. That being said a battery grip is available to hold more power and the ability to have a bigger grip to also shoot vertically.
For me this has been my “Go to” camera for when I’m going to be shooting medium format out and about in nature when I know I may be doing some longer hikes and I want to have a lighter backpack. Being that the camera is pretty much an oversized SLR I can attach it to my camera straps and walk around comfortably while looking for my next subject and if a slow moving animal cross my path I’ll be able to capture its majesty with out worrying about finding my light meter. As a side note, this camera was apart of my regular gear bag but has since been replaced with a newer model. Not to say I’ll never use it again as it’s a nice back up.
The Specs:
Produced: December 2001 – September 2005
Type of camera: Single Lens reflex (SLR)
Film/picture format: 120 or 220 film with a 6×4.5 image frame (4:3 aspect ratio)
Lens Mount: Mamiya Bayonet
Lens(es): Variable focal plane and leaf shutter lenses
Shutter: Focal plane vertical travel shutter with speeds of 30sec. to 1/4000 in one-eighth of a stop when in AE more or half stops when manually set. also has a Bulb setting.
Exposure metering: Internal exposure control is available for Program, Shutter Speed – Priority, Aperture Priority, Metered Manual Exposure, Auto flash, and for long exposures Time.
Viewfinder: Fixed pentaprism
Focussing screen: Interchangeable
Reflex mirror: Yes, automatic return and mirror lock up available.
Depth-of-field preview: Yes, with a push of a button on the lower right on the front of the camera next to the lens mount.
Frame counter: Shown on the LCD screen of the removable film back.
Film advance: Electronically advanced about 2 frames a second.
Power source: 6 AA batteries for camera body, 1 CR2032 battery for the film back.
Camera Back: Interchangeable with Mamiya AF film backs and polaroid back is also available
Body Finish: Black plastic.