Even not produced any longer, the Contax 645 system ist still top notch in most areas and just wonderful to use.
- Most lenses (35, 45, 55, 80, 120M, 140, 210, 1,4x Mutar) and the body are very reasonable priced on 2nd hand market: 600 to 1500 $ per part
- Most lenses (35, 55, 80, 120M, 140, 350) are sharp (if stopped down a bit) even with the latest 60 and 80 MP backs (I use the P65+)
- Especially the 80f2 and 140f2.8 lenses have wonderful bokeh, both have excellent center area sharpness from f2.8 onwards
- The 35 is sharp corner to corner at f8 or f11 similar to a Schneider or Rodenstock 35, but without any color cast compensation! Distortion can be corrected very well with the Alpa lens corrector plug-in for PS.
- The handling of the camara is IMO unmatched by any other MF cam (i like esp. the +/- exposure compensation wheel), all functions directly accessable by buttons, not by LCD menu
- As one of few 645 cams it offers a very suitable waist level finder (Phase One/Mamiya, Leica S2, Pentax 645D don't offer. Fuji 645/Hasselblad H, Sinar M do offer)
- AF is (mostly) precise but slow. But better than no AF ;-)
- As stated before: as spare part, just buy a 2nd. lens or cam coz prices are so reasonable compared to other MF equipment
- Usage of Hasselblad V Zeiss glass via adapter is a great option: I use the CF 50f4 FLE, CF100f3.5 and CF 180f4 lenses which give nothing but stunning 60 MP files
… and the Contax 645 is the only cam you can do such self portraits
Christoph