I've had two new acquisitions since my last post: a venerable Hasselblad 500 CM and a Rolleiflex 6006.
Anyone with a knowledge of photography should recognize the Hasselblad brand. It is associated with quality, reliability, and repairability. The quality of the Zeiss lenses that Hasselblad uses are another significant factor as to why Hasselblads are so highly regarded. I won't go into a lot of detail about the Hasselblad as there are many posts and articles about the classic Hasselblad V system cameras, but here are the high-level details.
The Hasselblad 500 CM is an all-manual system requiring no battery for any of its operations. The lack of reliance on battery power means that it's definitely one less thing to worry about in the field. That also means it does not have any built-in exposure metering, requires manual winding of the film, re-cocking of the in-lens shutter, and return of the mirror into its 45 degree position. It's also compact (for a medium format camera), but has a good, solid weight to it.
The Rolleiflex 6006 is a lesser-known camera compared to the Hasselblad, but is no less of a slouch, and is definitely the anti-thesis of a Hasselblad in terms of "manualness".
Most photo aficionados are familiar with the Rollei name in the form of the small-format Rollei 35 and the highly-regarded Rolleiflex TLR (twin-lens reflex) cameras. The Rolleiflex TLRs featured Zeiss and Schneider Kreuznach lenses. Again, most are familiar with Zeiss, but not so much Schneider Kreuznach. The Schneider Kreuznach lenses suffer from lack of brand recognition, especially in the U.S., but do not suffer from quality in comparison with the Zeiss lenses. That is also inherently the problem with the Rolleiflex SLRs.
Rolleiflex SLRs are very much in a class of their own. When the 6006 was introduced in 1983, there was no medium format camera that had the level of automation and ergonomics in the market. The controls on the 6006 were intuitive, with dual shutter release buttons for either left or right-handed use. It has a built-in motor drive shooting at 1.5 frames per second. It has TTL center-weighted exposure metering and TTL OTF plane flash metering, all within the camera body, not in the viewfinder. The film magazines had built-in, retractable dark slides, and completely reversible film spools. The bayonet lens mount had electronic contacts like the Canon EF lens mount, but came out a full 6 years before Canon introduced them to the 35mm world. Back in 1983, this was a very advanced camera.
Now, 30 years later, the Rolleiflex 6006 is finally out-classed by the Mamiyas in terms of automation, but not in the 6x6 world. The Mamiya 645AFD is certainly a top of the class in the 6 x 4.5 arena, but the newer Rolleiflex SLR cameras like the Hy6 and 6008 Integral Mod 2 are far and above the state-of-the-art medium format cameras of the current generation.
The lenses for the Rolleiflex SLRs and even for the 6006 utilize either Zeiss or Schneider Kreuznach designs. Even the cheaper, "Made by Rollei" f/2.8 80mm kit lens, while not owning the Zeiss label, utilizes the Zeiss Planar design and is by no means a slouch. All the lenses are leaf shutters which can provide flash synchronization at any speed up to 1/500 second, and even higher with the PQS (Professional Quality) lenses, though PQS lenses cannot be used with the 6006.
All this automation is powered by a rechargeable battery, albeit with lower-capacity Ni-Cad cells. There are plenty of modified batteries available that can re-cell the batteries to use Ni-MH cells with the Rollei N charger or custom chargers.