Second film from new Mamiya 7 - HP5

Johnmcd

Johnmcd

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I met up with my partner in Chennai, India for the start of a two week vacation. She hands me a surprise birthday present in the hotel that night after a 10 hour flight. I unwrap the bubble wrap that was safely covering a weighty object to reveal a second hand Mamiya 7 and 80mm lens.

The camera I had been lusting for is now a reality. After suitably expressing my thanks my thoughts turned to getting some film the next day. Surely I could find it somewhere in the next few weeks...

Chennai - no
Bangalore - no
Mysore - no
Cochin - no

After a bit of ringing around, word was that only Delhi would have 120mm.

And I had 3 rolls sitting in the fridge back home!

So here I was in a photographic wonderland and the 7 had to stay in the backpack. Not complaining mind you but talk about FRUSTRATING 🙂

My R-D1 and E-P1 did the job and I hope to post some shots soon in those forums.

Quick question - is the 35mm pano adaptor the same for the 7 and 7II?

Cheers - John
 
Yes a fantastic gift from a very special girl who knows all about my camera obsessions 🙂

Will be using it soon enough. We will also be using it as the catalyst for a new darkroom when we move into our new house in Nov. Can't wait.

Cheers - John
 
Second film from new Mamiya 7 - HP5

Just finished scanning my second film from my birthday Mamiya 7. This time HP5 in Microphen and scanned again on my Minolta Scan Multi Pro (without glass).

Once again, absolutely blown away with the results. The camera just begs me to pick it up and use. One very happy photographer at the moment 🙂

This time I only scanned at 1600 dpi not 2400 dpi. This gave me a image of 4276 x 3468 pixels. Heaven forbid 4800 dpi!

One more roll of Pan F before I buy some new film. A couple of rolls of FP4 I think.

I have included a 100% crop to see the grain (1600 dpi)

p634031632.jpg


p923238088.jpg


Cheers - John
 
I shoot a lot of HP5.

Are you shooting at 650 and diluting at 1+3 for 23 minutes at 20 degrees C?

HP5 at 320 developed in ID-11 1+1 has great tonality. Too bad Ilford doesn't make HP5 in 220.

I find that diluted developer lowers contrast BTW, but Microphen is more contrasty than ID-11 at the above speeds. I also love the control of the grain.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
I shoot a lot of HP5.

Are you shooting at 650 and diluting at 1+3 for 23 minutes at 20 degrees C?

HP5 at 320 developed in ID-11 1+1 has great tonality. Too bad Ilford doesn't make HP5 in 220.

I find that diluted developer lowers contrast BTW, but Microphen is more contrasty than ID-11 at the above speeds. I also love the control of the grain.

Cal
Click to expand...

Hi Cal,

HP5 @ 400 in Microphen 1+1 for 12 minutes at 20 degrees C.

John
 
John,

Like you, I'm new to MF.

Nice contrast and tonality. I never used Microphen with HP5 at box speed, but I have used it at 1:1 with HP5 bumped to 650 ASA. I found that at 1+3 Microphen with extended developement lowered the contrast that was the result of the push, and I got negatives that could be easily "straight printed" on number two graded paper. You might want to try this. Not only did like the results better at 1+3, using this dilution became more economical.

Also developed Tri-X and HP5 in the same tank that were both shot at 400, using ID-11 at 1:1. I found that the highlights were a little blown on the Tri-X when compared to the HP5 and I had to reduce the developement time on subsequent rolls of Tri-X.

As another experiment I dropped the speed of HP5 to 320, but I used the standard developement times given for box speed. The result was more mid-tones and slightly less contrast that IMHO resembles the tonality of Tri-X (less contrast with more mid-tones). The nice thing about this is that HP5 shot at 320 or 400 can be developed in the same tank. I use 220 reels even for 120, and do four reels at a time. What flexability!!!

What I love about HP5 is its consistent versitility. Also using Microphen, even when pushed, fine/small grain is the result. Playing with HP5's extended lattitude is a great asset. but I haven't pulled HP5 down to 200 or 250 yet for those creamy shots that are posted by others that are developed with Perceptol. You might want to try this before trying FP4, although Perceptol is not an inexpensive developer like ID-11. Keep me informed of your experiments. Ultimately, I'm just a lazy slacker dude who loves negatives that are easy to "straight print."

Even though I have shot HP5 for decades, it wasn't untill I started MF that I took HP5 to new levels because of the format. I'm thinking of trying liquid developers like that HC-110/Rodinal cocktail because I go throught so much chemicals and mixing powders is a hassle.

Cal
 
Cal,

I actually starting shooting MF in the late 80's with a Mamiya 645J but haven't shot for many years. I was surprised how much bigger the 6x7 neg is and I'm glad I didn't compromise by picking up a 6x4.5 outfit.

Looking forward to trying some more film / developing combinations.

John
 
Hi,

I have a Fuji 690 GW which is a fixed lens body and I'm looking for informations about the mamiya 7 II. What lens did you use for the previous pictures ? what about rangefinder calibration with different lenses ? I mean when you plug a new lens it's automatically detected by the body and it adjust rangefinder and framing line in focusing glass ?

I'm new to rangefinder system, so maybe I don't really understand how it works, the only thing that I'm sure it's a great system fast focus, really precise even at widest apertures.

'Morning from Paris,
Thomas
 
fledah said:
Hi,

I have a Fuji 690 GW which is a fixed lens body and I'm looking for informations about the mamiya 7 II. What lens did you use for the previous pictures ? what about rangefinder calibration with different lenses ? I mean when you plug a new lens it's automatically detected by the body and it adjust rangefinder and framing line in focusing glass ?

I'm new to rangefinder system, so maybe I don't really understand how it works, the only thing that I'm sure it's a great system fast focus, really precise even at widest apertures.

'Morning from Paris,
Thomas
Click to expand...

Hi Thomas,

The lens used was the 80mm F4. I'm new to the Mamiya 7 myself but I'm pretty sure that the frame lines automatically change except for the wide angles where a external VF is used.

Cheers,

John
 
Johnmcd said:
Hi Thomas,

The lens used was the 80mm F4. I'm new to the Mamiya 7 myself but I'm pretty sure that the frame lines automatically change except for the wide angles where a external VF is used.

Cheers,

John
Click to expand...

John is correct, but on my Mamiya 6 that shoots a square negative there are no external viewfinders for the wide angle (50/4.0). The Mamiya 6 system only has three lenses; a 50/4.0; a 80/3.5; and a 150/4.0. The Mamiya 7, not only shoots a bigger negative, it also has a bigger selection of lenses.

Cal
 
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