My first medium format camera was a Mamiya 7 II, purchased in July 1999. The frame is small, making a wlvf awkward to use, so they weren't hugely popular.Please note that I no longer own nor use this camera system and cannot answer questions as to current status of lenses, parts, etc. If you're talking about 35mm cameras, then the scarcity problem is because there weren't many WLVFs produced back in the day for 35mm interchangeable finder cameras. They don't generally cost hundreds of pounds or anything Obviously for some camera systems the WLVFs are more common than others, and so they're cheaper, and tbh I don't think waist level viewfinders are obscenely over priced for most medium format cameras. So second hand waistlevel finders are scarce. And there aren't that many dead medium format cameras, as they were mostly built well, with the expectation of a long and hard life. There probably aren't that many people who are willing to sell their waist level finder even though they prefer a prism, just in case they want to use the WLVF once in a while. Either one that someone is using with a different finder, or from a dead camera, which had been cannibalised for parts. So the ones that are sold most of the time have been taken off of another camera. Therefore new old stock finders are scarce. People bought the camera with the waist level finder back in the day, so the manufacturers didn't make many spares. Like there are plenty, but it's not like looking for a Nikon F prism finder or something where there are endless quantities. There aren't that many spare WLVF out there for lots of medium format cameras. I imagine you have a prism right now and hope this makes you feel better about having since the wlf isn't really more useful in most situations. You have to face 90 degrees off your subject and even then your subject is upside down. I see that you are talking about a mamiya 645? I'm not sure if you've ever tried but if you try taking a portrait photo with a 645 wlf, it's basically impossible to compose well. I do think prisms are more useful and much faster to compose with. IMO, other than when hiking and needing a lighter camera.
So yeah, cameras with them usually are sold as a kit and individual accessories are rare, and in high demand recently. What does the wlf do that a prism can't? Anyone who wanted one for a studio would have bought a kit with one. People didn't buy a 645 camera kit and seek wlf separately. Usually wlf came with the camera as a kit and are now sold as a kit. wedding photographers), they didn't really have a use for a wlf. Also.If you think about the kind of people who used these 645 cameras back in the day (e.g.
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