Inside Look at the MAMIYA RB67

I had the chance to hang out with my friend Monica Henriquez, who is also an LA based photographer. She uses her MIMIYA RB67 to do street and fashion photography, so I thought this was a great time to get a tutorial on how to use this camera.

The MAMIYA has a waist level viewfinder, it takes a little bit of time to get used to because when you look through the viewfinder, everything is reversed. It uses 120mm film, Monica’s favorite is Portra 400 film. You can have multiple film backs, with varying types of film, which makes it quickly interchangeable between color, black and white, or multiple rolls. You do only get 10 shots with one roll of film so composing your shots and taking it slow is a must. The RB stands for rotating back, which means you can rotate the back from landscape to portrait quite quickly. The way you focus, is there are 2 focusing knobs on the side, and it uses a bello system so the lens gets further away from the body but you just need to take your light fall off into account. It really helps if you have a Light Meter. You can also lock the knobs so they won’t move.

The camera is a bit heavy so if you’re going to be carrying it around all day it’s best to have a bag or strap.

Don’t forget your tripod!

If you have any questions about the MIMIYA RB67 don’t be afraid to ask in the comments section in the youtube video.