Is the Mamiya 7 150mm really THAT hard to focus properly?

[__jc]

Well I tracked one down and it's on its way, so we'll see how "demonic" it really is 😉
(nicely put Mr. Scarecrow)

I hope we'll get to see some of the results from it when you've had a chance to put it to good use!

 

[RObert Budding]

I have a 150mm lens and it's fantastic. You just have to be realistic when using it - the DOF at 6 feet and f/5.6 is only 4 inches, so stop down a bit and enjoy the lens.

 

[RObert Budding]

If you are going to photograph subjects that are within few meters away from your camera, please note that the minimum focus distance for 150mm lens is 1,8 meters. Because of that, I almost never used those longer lenses on Mamiya 6/7. It was way easier to just use shorter lens and take a few steps closer to the subject. For portraits, one could not get any tighter crop with 150mm (than with normal lens) because of the focus distance.

Stepping closer changes the perspective. It depends on what you want. Personally I use my 150mm quite a lot.

 

[agoglanian]

So now that I have it in hand, I can see why people felt it was difficult to use. The VF frame is quite small, totally usable just rather small.

I look forward to seeing some results though!

 

[Mark C]

Well thanks for the info gents (and Katie!). As always it's nice to get some truth out of all the chatter. I knew it couldn't be as bad as the internet seems to claim 😉

Well, now we'll find out the "truth" 🙂

 

[nightfly]

I just bought one too. Needed a larger lens for a project I'm working on. Yes, it's hard to focus but so far it's working out OK. I was at like f22 on this one and just zone focused it because it was impossible to focus on moving water with lots of glare.

I was doing some other shots yesterday at minimum focus distance with the sun to the side and the viewfinder was washing out making life difficult. Anxious to see the shots though.

 

[agoglanian]

Ok.. So yes, focusing up close and wide open nets me very out of focus images. Hrm.

I've been meaning to send my kit in anyways so I'll just have the lens calibrated to my camera, should hopefully be ok after that.

 

[namredlawt]

Is there a viewfinder magnifier that would work on this camera and aid focusing accuracy with the 150mm?

There is a diopter. I user the +1 with the 150 and I have a +2 but its too strong for me.

 

[brian steinberger]

Ok.. So yes, focusing up close and wide open nets me very out of focus images. Hrm.

I've been meaning to send my kit in anyways so I'll just have the lens calibrated to my camera, should hopefully be ok after that.

Send it to bob at precision camera in Chicago. He does great work on the mamiya RF cameras. He set my mamiya 6s with the 150 up and it's easy to focus.

Some of this being able to focus with these longer lenses may depend on how good your eyesight is. And also getting your eye to just the right spot on the VF. Practice makes perfect!

 

[agoglanian]

I sent it all in to Bob this past week so hopefully it'll get dialed in. Had a small issue with my 65mm I wanted resolved too so it all works out.

To my knowledge I still have excellent vision, maybe not the 20/15 I used to have but it is still very good and I don't require glasses for anything.