Mamiya 6 for portraiture....

[shawnuff]

Hi,
I've just received a Mamiya 6/ 75mm. Looking forward to using it for documentary/ portraiture/ art photography. I seem to keep reading that it is useless for portraits. Now I know that it isn't build for close work/ head shots but some one recently pointed me in the direction of Alec Soth's new book in which he uses the M6 to great effect IMHO.
What do you use it for? And if you've had a look at Alec Soth's book, which lens or lenses do you think he's used.
Will post some images when I get my first film back.
Regards, Brian.

 

[shawnuff]

Forgot to add that I'm new to this site so please go easy!

 

[vincentbenoit]

Is the book you mention "Dog Days Bogotá"? Didn't know Soth used a Mamiya 6.

Vincent

 

[vincentbenoit]

http://www.magnumphotos.com/archive/c.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.StoryDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3R1MWXSH

 

[shawnuff]

Yes, that's right. "Dog Day's" is the only work I've seen from him were he's used the M6. Really enjoyed it. Loved the square format which is why I picked up the M6.

 

[shawnuff]

Sorry Vincent, forgot to add that I read about him using it on his blog.

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

The problem is that you can't really get very close. For 3/4 it is still oke. But for tight headshots you can't get close enough. same problem with the Bronica rf645.

Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema

 

[jan normandale]

Michael... just wondering what you regard as "really close" for taking a portrait with a 6x6 camera and a 75 mm lens? The minimum distance for a subject is 1 metre using the 75mm lens.

Many TLR's are 75 - 80mm and have a long and honourable history of portraiture.

 

[keithwms]

The mamiya 6 is best suited to documentary style work in which you want the environment to play a substantial role in the composition. If you want dissolved backgrounds, then you quickly discover that the bokeh isn't as smooth as you get from a true-blue portrait camera like a hassie or rb67 or rz or such. Also, I like longish lenses for portraits and the longest lens for the mamiya 6 is of course only 150mm. But if you want front-to-back, documentary-style sharpness and you want to explore wider perspectives quickly then the 6 is a very nice tool.

As for close focus, you can simply crop. Not the optimal way to work but in a pinch...

Anyway, experiment and find out for yourself! There is an awful lot of parroting on the web; the value of individual experimentation has never been higher.

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

Michael... just wondering what you regard as "really close" for taking a portrait with a 6x6 camera and a 75 mm lens? The minimum distance for a subject is 1 metre using the 75mm lens.

Many TLR's are 75 - 80mm and have a long and honourable history of portraiture.

For tight head shots the 75-80 is too short. In the same way a 50mm is too short in 35mm. the nose will look too big. For 3/4 or full body portraits their is no problem of course. You rather use a 150 or 180. But most mf long lenses don't focus very close. Except of course the rb67. On the hasselblad you need a short extension ring.

Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema

 

[vincentbenoit]

For tight head shots the 75-80 is too short. In the same way a 50mm is too short in 35mm.

Tight head shots are boring anyway, and rangefinder camera users know better than taking boring pictures (in any format). 😉

Vincent

 

[jan normandale]

Thanks Michiel, I'm not really a portrait photographer. Always interested to hear something new.

 

[kuzano]

For tight head shots the 75-80 is too short. In the same way a 50mm is too short in 35mm. the nose will look too big.

Exactly. The normal lens for any format is too short for close portrait work. A good portrait focal length is usually about 1.3 time the normal focal length. The Big nose problem is simply the most obvious failing of using normal lenses for portraiture.

 

[nksyoon]

This is about as close as you can get with the 75:

 

[shawnuff]

Cheers everyone - some good replys. Like the photo Nick - that looks as close as I'd want to get.

 

[Assaf]

This is about as close as you can get with the 75:

Nice shot, but it has some serious distortions - just look at the hands and the glass

 

[Toby]

I'd have to say that a mamiya wouldn't focus close enough for me to consider using it as a portrait camera. MF SLR's don't focus much coser but a least you can buy extension tubes. The limiting factor me is that I'd want to be able to focus past whatever compostion I chose. With something like the Mam6 the close focus distance can end up influencing your framing too much so you end up with a lot of 'samey' portraits. I've attached a petax 67 shot that's shot with a 105 takumar and 1 small ext tube - this isn't exactly close up but I still needed a tube. A mamiya 6 would drive me crackers if I couldn't even shoot this close.

 

[Abbazz]

I've attached a petax 67 shot

Now, that's a great portrait. Too bad this camera is such a brick 😱

Cheers,

Abbazz

 

[Toby]

Now, that's a great portrait. Too bad this camera is such a brick 😱

Cheers,

Abbazz

But think of the money you save in gym subscriptions 😀

 

[sleepyhead]

Looking at Alec Soth's photos on that site, I would guess he's used the 50mm and 75mm in about equal proportion.

Check out this guy's work on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotowillem/

Lot's of very impressive street portraiture with the Mamiya 6 and the 50mm lens. I really admire his work.