In article
>I am considering the purchase of an inexpensive medium format camera >and am in a quandary as to which of two possible cameras from two >different dealers to buy.The two options are:
> A: Rolleiflex 3.5 E2 (TLR) with a Zeiss Tessar lens. Excellent >condition. Slightly more expensive than:
> B: Kowa 6 (SLR) with Kowa 2.8 85mm lens. Slightly dinged body but in
>fine working order and clean optics.
>Does anyone have any experience with the Kowa optic? [.....]
While the Rollei Tessar is likely to be good (except for the corners,
maybe), the Kowa lenses were remarkably good, and allow for the possibility of changing lenses (a 75-85mm lens on 2 1/4 square is
very limiting for most architectural work - and Kowa made rectangular-perspective lenses as short as 35mm [and the 35mm was
pretty good!]). The hitch is that the Kowa is hard to repair, and can
be a bit troublesome mechanically. If I purchased the Kowa, I would
look for multiple bodies for back-up before investing a lot of money
in lenses. It could be a good system camera at a good price, and worth
the search for lenses/bodies.
Hope This Helps