[RobertMurariu]

Hi everyone!
I know there among us guys that are experienced with shooting film that would be in position to give me some recomandations.It's been almost 1 month now since i started hunting for a film camera able to shoot 120/220 film.There are so many options, wich makes it very hard to decide.It should fit a 500-600$ budget.
So far i'm stuck on these options: Pentacon six,pentax 67 and the more pricey  Mamiya 645. I plan to use this rarely, just for portraits ,because i love the look of MF and because i became obsessed of the skintones produced by Portra 
What would be your pick guys for this price range?
Thank you!
Robert

[EnglishBob]

I'd be all over the Mamiya, but these days I just shoot digital, shot my last film in 2008 I think it was.

[EdMak]

Have used both the Pentax, and, Mamiya, would go for the latter. Ed.

[GrahamS]

Mamiya 645 but beware shutter/film advance linkage problems. You need one that was not used commercially. Also Mamiya C330. Rolleiflex f3.5 Tessar. The ultimate is a Rolleiflex F f2.8 Planar but probably out of your budget.

[RobertMurariu]

Thank you for recomandation guys,Mamiya is a very good option,i already found some mint condition kits on ebay.I prefer trough the lens viewfinder since i'm already familiar from dslr, waist level would not suit me well since i plan to shoot portraits and with waist level you get a non aesthetic perspective when composing
Meanwhile i stumbled upon another option which is Pentax 645n, it's reliable and not very expensive, Pentax has great lens as well.
I found a review from a film shooter which i follow on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-743Mq32B4&t=33s

[RobertMurariu]

Mamiya 645 but beware shutter/film advance linkage problems.  You need one that was not used commercially.  Also Mamiya C330.  Rolleiflex f3.5 Tessar.  The ultimate is a Rolleiflex F f2.8 Planar but probably out of your budget.

Rolleiflex is way out of my budget and i would have a hard time composing portraits with a waist level viewfinder.I would buy it for collection maybe, when i retire

[EdMak]

Rollie can also be used eye level.

Our 645 was used commercially since introduced, it was still working about a year ago. Ed.

[sspphoto]

I became interested in photography on my eighth birthday in 1950 when my parents gave me,in addition to a bicycle, a "HappiTime" Film Size 127 camera with a fixed-focus lens and one shutter speed, presumably 1/50th second. I used it for three years shooting only Kodak Verichrome B&W film enjoying it all the while. Then in 1953, my parents gave me a Brownie Hawkeye 620 camera with its built-in "single-lens-reflex" finder plus a flash gun for Press 5 and Press 25 flashbulbs. I shot my first roll of color film, vintage Ansco Color which I also processed at home with my dad's help. What a rush it was to take part in bringing out all those beautiful colors even though it took 90 minutes to do so! I got my first 35mm camera on my 12th birthday which was an American-made Mercury II half-frame camera from Universal Corp. which I used until 1964 when I got my first 35mm SLR camera, a Voigtlander Bessamatic Deluxe while I was in the U.S. Air Force and stationed in Spain where my "shutterbugging" really took off! I played tuba in the 16th AF Band and we traveled all over Spain where we played concerts, marched in parades, played dance gigs and bullfights when they were in season and I was shooting different color films all the time including Kodacolor, Kodachrome, Ektachrome and European color films such as West German Agfachrome, Belgian-made both Perutz Peruchrome and Gevachrome and even East German Orwochrome. We also visited Dijon, France, then-West Berlin and London, UK with me shooting all the while. Sadly, in 1971, my Bessamatic was given to my first wife as part of our divorce settlement which placed me into a "photographic hiatus" until I bought a 35mm rangefinder camera in 1984 which I used until 1988 when one of my brothers gave me a 35mm Yashica FX-3 SLR with 6 different lenses and a 2X teleconverter to which I eventually added another Voigtlander Bessamatic as well as an Asahi ME 35mm SLR I actually found in a dumpster, that camera still being in good working condition. On Christmas Day 2012, my sister and brother-in-law gave me an Apple iPhone 4 with its built-in digital camera, my very first one and in 2013, I bought a Canon PowerShot SX160 IS digital camera and I now use both alongside my 35mm SLR's which I still prefer to use being that I am 74 and of the "old school" film photographers even though digital photography is now vastly superior in quality to film photography. However, with film, you have a tangible and an immutable original document that digital photography cannot produce which is why film photography is preferred when photographing legal documents and you cannot airbrush out anything from black-and-white negatives, color negatives and color transparencies. hence the logical reason for the continued need for film which I still prefer to use.   

[maisie]

Mamiya 645 is an excellent option, I think this is exactly what you need now!