Buying the Cheapest Medium Format on eBay

Have you ever wanted to shoot with a medium format camera, but you can’t justify the cost? Well, you’re not alone. The question is, what would the cheapest medium format on eBay be like?

I can pinpoint when I first became obsessed with medium format cameras. A photographer I knew rather well — we were in the same online community and he’d started a few years before I had — bought a Hasselblad. I remember at the time thinking the price tag was utterly unjustifiable, but then he started to share his results. Even the snaps looked like still from a movie and I quickly became transfixed on getting something medium format one day.

There is some debate about digital medium format cameras today, including about the one I own and whether or not it is truly medium format, but it scratches the visual itch I want it to. That said, there is one side of medium format I haven’t yet tried and this video has not helped with my desire to: medium format film cameras. Although film is more expensive than ever, the process of shooting it is still as great as it once was and the results from this Pentax are superb. Then again, I might be biased about the subject matter!

Have you shot with a medium format camera before? What was your experience?