Best Portable Medium Format Cameras

Among Medium Format folders from the 1950's, the camera with the best optics was the 6x9 Voigtlander Bessa II with Color Heliar lens. Rolleiflex 6x6 cameras of that era had terrific optics, but they were not folding cameras. Add to that the additional enlargement (and subsequent loss of image quality) required for a 6x6 to match a 6x9, and the Bessa was a champion of its day. Even by modern standards, the Color Heliar lens is quite good.
If you want to get the absolute best optics in a highly portable Medium Format camera, go for the Mamiya 6 and 7 cameras, which were made in 6x6 and 6x7 formats respectively. They were manufactured right into the 21st Century. The lenses for those Mamiya cameras are among the best lenses ever made, almost optically perfect ! With an ultra-fine-grained film like TMAX 100 or Fuji Acros, you can make images of outstanding clarity and fidelity. When scanned at high resolution, these cameras can match the quality of large format. Here is an image made with a Mamiya 7 and 150mm lens. Here is another one.
Considering that the Mamiya cameras come with a built-in light meter and coupled rangefinder focusing, they are really just as portable as their ancestors: the folding cameras of the 1950's. They may not be as... cute as the folding cameras, but with their ability to use longer and shorter lenses, they represent the Summum Bonum of Medium Format.
Here's something wonderful: The new 6x7 Voigtlander Bessa III. It's a modern folding camera - based on the venerable Voigtlander Bessa II shown above - with a coupled rangefinder, a modern Fujinon lens, and 21st century precision. It takes 120 and 220 film, and lets you shoot in both 6x6 and 6x7 format. It folds ! Fujinon lenses are superb. Please purchase two of these cameras: one for you, and one for me :-)
This article courtesy of : Kenneth Lee Gallery