The Mamiya ZD is as rare as they come

Look at that HUGE mirror. You bet the viewfinder is awesome to look through.

I never thought I would be holding a Mamiya ZD, let alone own one. It's a medium format camera announced in 2004, but not released until years later. In the end, it's reported that less than 2,000 were ever produced and it was never imported for sale in the United States.

It uses a 22mp CCD sensor made by DALSA. A relatively rare treat, although it's difficult to tell exactly how many photography centered cameras use DALSA sensors. It's not many though, comparatively.

The sensor is 36x48mm in size. That's larger than the Pentax 645D by a tad (which came out just a few years later, at a much smaller cost and twice the resolution). However, it's smaller than the 645 film format and smaller than Phase One's other medium format digital bodies.

First of it's kind

The Mamiya ZD was the first medium format SLR with an integrated digital back. Other digital medium format sensors existed, but as backs for film bodies. Which is a cool concept. This was an all-in-one digital solution, and it was the first.

Body and design

Check out this body. It's basically a modern DSLR design with a big grip and viewfinder hump. Just take every dimension from a professional full-frame DSLR and 1.5x or 2x it and this is the camera you get. That includes the weight. It's not a light camera.

I love the little circular LCD screen on the top for viewing settings.

There's some wild stuff going on with the build. It varies in material and quality depending where you touch the camera. The bottom plate seems to be some sort of metal, maybe aluminum based on where my paint chipped on mine. There's a front metal plate on the side that is getting some brassing(!?). Then to top it off the whole CF/SD card door system is plastic and cheap. See what I mean? A lot going on here.

Overall it feels good, but not nearly as good as you'd expect from a camera originally costing over $10,000. I've never owned a digital medium format camera before though, maybe they're all like this until you get to $80,000 :P

Camera controls

If you've used a DSLR, you'll feel right at home with the Mamiya ZD. Most things can be changed using physical buttons and the single dial in the front near the shutter button. There's a menu system, but it's not too packed. Ah, the early days when camera menu systems were simple.

Optical viewfinder, LCD screen and info screen take up the majority of the rear. Along with the huge thumb grip!

The one part I'm not too fond of is the mode button at the top of the camera. There's just about no way to comfortably toggle this while handholding the camera. Not that you're supposed to handhold the camera. I'm clearly breaking some unspoken rule by taking this camera on a hike around the park. It's a tripod camera through and through, probably more suited for indoor studio shoots.

Viewfinder

The viewfinder is incredible. My only other medium format camera is my Pentax 645n. There is something about optical viewfinders that awakens your mind to your surroundings. Maybe Pentax is onto something with sticking with DSLRs. (Or really they have no other choice but to try SOMETHING to be different :) )

Quirky filter system

The Mamiya ZD has swappable filters that you can put over the sensor. The only two ever produced were an IR cut filter and a AA filter of sorts. The filters come in these self-enclosed cartridges that are inserted beneath the camera. The enclosure keeps the filter dust free and to keep dust from entering onto the sensor as well. Pretty cool.

You cannot use the camera without a filter in place. There's some system in place to verify one is installed. That's too bad, because if you could you would have a medium format IR camera when you wanted, and a normal medium format camera a few seconds later. I'm toying with different ideas of how to hack around this without causing any damages to a very expensive rare camera.

I wouldn't forgive myself if I broke it doing something stupid, and I doubt any of you would either.

Story behind my camera

The reason I have one of these is not because I'm loaded with money. One came up for sale with a buy it now under $1,000 with a lens. This was because the camera supposedly had its mirror stick up on occasion. I decided to take the chance, figuring it was either a low battery problem, or could be resolved by hitting mirror up. At the worst I figured I could remove the lens and manually move the mirror back. Okay, it probably could be worse than that but I'm a wishful thinker by trade.

I haven't had the mirror issue once since receiving the camera (yay!). I do, however, have another problem. The power switch does nothing. In the off or on position the camera turns on as soon as you put a battery in. So no batteries left in the camera for me.

A minor issue for saving me thousands of dollars.

Images

I've only had the camera for a month now, so expect more from it in the future, including a snappiness video or two. (Or three). But I have taken a handful of images so far that I like.

You can check out my Mamiya ZD Flickr album here

Until next time, happy snappin' -james