I am soon traveling to India, and of course I intend to shoot like my life depends on it. One problem though...I got used to the unmatched pictures of my 6x7 medium format Mamiya RZ67 and can't accept to travel with only digital or 35mm film. Why is it a problem? Well have you seen, and mostly weighted a Mamiya RZ? I call it the Tank for a reason (5.5 pounds to be precise). Not to mention the absence of built in metering. I tried walking around in NYC with it, painful experience. No thanks.
Therefor I ended up entering an exciting yet terrible phase: finding and choosing a new more portable / autonomous MF camera, adapted to street life photography. Starting with the stars: Mamiya 6 and Mamiya 7. Naaaa...metering is dodgy, and bokeh on the one lens that I wanted (75mm F3.5) is crap. They are landscape cameras anyway.
Pentax 67II : excellent camera, but comparable to the Tank itself in size, and sounds like a tank firing when you trigger it. Not for traveling.
Rollei and other TLRs : no metering.
Bronica RF645: a very good choice (ended up #3 on my list), built in metering, 645 format but...
...but Fujicas came along: at first the GW690 series. OMG, 6x9 frames, soo much film, too much actually, no more that 8 shots on a roll of 120 film. And no metering. However those are AMAZING, fantastic lenses, beats Leica M easily, I can only recommend as a second MF camera, and they are cheap as hell used.
I ended up ordering a Fujica GA645 60mm F4. It has an easy to use meter, AF (yes yes, a medium format automated rangefinder), and a lens that compares to the one of its brother the 690. Kind of big Contax G2 :)
Not as amazing optics as Mamiya's, not 6x7, but 15 shots a roll, automated, and equivalent to a 35mm lens in 135 format. It's always a matter of compromise, this was the best for me in order to travel.
Can't wait.
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