My early experiments in adapting ObscuraFlex to work with medium format cameras never quite felt like a win to me. The adapter bodies always felt clunky, and the results captured with a phone felt more like novelty than photography to me, so I put the idea on the back burner and focused on large format cameras instead. But then...
Along Came the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome
Captured on an ObscuraFlex adapted Mamiya Super23 6x9 using a Ricoh GR iv Monochrome digital camera.
The Ricoh GR series (and a few other recent high-end digital point-and-shoot cameras) sports an impressively tight minimum focus distance and exceptional low light sensitivity that work beautifully with the comparatively small image area of the medium format 6x9 frame.
At only a quarter the size of 4x5, the smaller 6x9 format doesn't have quite the character of a full frame large format image capture on a 4x5 (or even a Polaroid) but as soon as I paired ObscuraFlex with the exceptional build quality and optics available in the Mamiya Universal Press lineup, I was really impressed with the results.
I have always loved my Mamiya Super23 6x9 so this seemed like a great place to start. The 6x9cm format sits really nicely within the aspect ratio of today's digital cameras, and the rock solid build of the camera made it literally a solid choice.
The Super23 is just one model in the Mamiya Universal Press Camera lineup. With an impressive selection of lenses (50mm to 250mm), film backs in various formats, and it's rock solid side-grip design, the Mamiya Universal range finder was a real work-horse in the 1960s and beyond, finally ending production in 1991.
I still love shooting film with mine today, but when I just want to grab a few shots for fun, without concern for the cost or time involved in exposing and processing rolls of film, I increasingly rely on my ObscuraFlex to fill the gap between the freedom and convenience of digital and the look I get when shooting analog.
Captured on an ObscuraFlex adapted Mamiya Super23 6x9 using a Ricoh GR iv Monochrome digital camera.
The ObscuraFlex Mirrorless Ecosystem is Born
After extensive testing, trial and error, and many prototypes, I landed on a new way of thinking about the whole ObscuraFlex ecosystem. And so I'm introducing a new 70mm "ObscuraFlex Mirrorless" bayonet mount, designed with a MUCH larger opening, to allow cameras with telescoping lenses (like the Ricoh GR and Leica D-Lux) to freely expand inside the body of the adapter without interference.
No longer limited to the tiny opening on the smartphone mounts, the floodgates are open.
As I expand this new system I expect to announce new mounts for a long list of digital point-and-shoot cameras like the Ricoh GR, Leica D-Lux, and Lumix L10 lines, as well as the potential for any mirrorless or DSLR camera with a compatible lens.
Keeping in mind that the camera must be capable of focusing close enough, and seeing wide enough to capture the full image area of the format in question without becoming cumbersome, the right combination or optics, diopters, and rigging might mean it's possible to capture a full frame 4x5 image using high-end digital cameras like the Leica M11 or Hasselblad X2D 100C. This would really start to push past the "Nyquist Limit" that hampers the 20-30 megapixel cameras, and makes their level of detail continually fall short of the analog capabilities of larger formats of film.
The future is looking pretty bright as I think about what other genres of medium format I might tackle next... such as twin-lens reflex, with obvious stars like the Rolleiflex and my beloved Mamiya C330, or the Mamiya RB67 which I think of as the SLR sibling of the Universal Press range finder cameras.
Obviously none of these adapters will be able to match the quality of shooting a well exposed roll of 120 on these beautiful old cameras, but if it does no harm to the camera, and lets you experiment, have fun, and grow as an photographer between expensive rolls of film... what's the harm?
If you happen to have a Mamiya Super23, and a Ricoh GR, visit the product page to build your own kit.