Mamiya 6 or 7?

[Jasbla]

Hi all,

I'm in a quandary as to whether I buy a Mamiya 6 or 7?? My heart says the 6. I love the square format. My head says the 7, newer, bigger range of lens, larger neg etc. I'm concerned about picking up a 6 that has had too many actuation's and maybe troublesome in the future. I am happy to wait for a good model on the 6 and to pay the money. I know this has been discussed before but would appreciate any more opinions.

Thank you

 

[Doug]

I'm in a quandary as to whether I buy a Mamiya 6 or 7?? My heart says the 6. I love the square format...

Then I think you'd be happier with a good clean Mamiya 6. This will take some careful shopping. Good luck!

 

[Jasbla]

Thanks Doug,
I think that will be the mission. A bit of intuition needed too!!

 

[craygc]

The 6 has not been a current model for a long time and leads to repair issues. It has an inherent film winder failure problem which you cant do much about. Just get a 7...

 

[lic4]

The Nippon Photo Clinic here in NYC told me they see 7's come in all the time and that it's fragile. He told me to count on a repair every year or two if I'm shooting a lot, and to be gentle with the film advance.

 

[jky]

6... I'm biased though as I love the square...

 

[Bob Michaels]

I have a Mamiya 7 but have never owned a 6. The 7 is very slightly larger but seems to weigh the same. It is more current in it's parts availability. BTW, mine has never needed any service in 5+ years with a lot of use.

You can crop a 6x7 neg into a square and not lose anything. But you can't make a 6x6 into a rectangle without losing a little bit. Although to be honest, it probably won't make that much difference.

You do have the option for the supposedly fantastic 43mm with the Mamiya 7. I personally don't own that lens as I prefer the 50mm.

You can't go wrong either way. I was actually looking for a 6 many years ago when an incredible deal on a 7 came along. I am now glad that I ended up with the 7.

FWIW, I shoot my Mamiya 7 exactly the same way I do a 35mm rangefinder.

I must caution you that after you shoot with a good MF rangefinder, you will question the validity of striving for image quality with 35mm. You realize you can work so hard and spend a lot of money in 35mm for small results. Or you can get a quantum leap just by stepping up to a bigger neg.

 

[Bob Michaels]

The Nippon Photo Clinic here in NYC told me they see 7's come in all the time and that it's fragile. He told me to count on a repair every year or two if I'm shooting a lot, and to be gentle with the film advance.

I can say that my experience with my Mamiya 7 does not support that. I am not gentle on gear at all. Mine has never needed any service.

 

[Jasbla]

Damn it! I'm being pulled back to the 7 again. i know of a mamiya 7 for sale with very little use. At the end of the day we are talking 1cm from 6x6 so for the convenience and certainty of a later model I think this will be my choice. Many thanks for your responses.

 

[35mmdelux]

7, easier to find repair work, less milage.

 

[Doug]

At the end of the day we are talking 1cm from 6x6 so for the convenience and...

Keep in mind these old roll-film formats were originally sized in inches... 2 1/4" square comes out fairly close to 6x6cm, but it's actually 56x56mm. And 6x7cm is a convenient designation for 2 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches, so it's 1/2 inch longer on one side. 56mm x 70mm often, though some cameras do a mm or so less. So, saying "1cm" is minimizing the real difference... about 12-14mm more length.

On the issue of square vs rectangular format, I'm personally not a fan of square, but I do find that when I shoot with a 6x6 camera I tend to compose to the format I see, and the pictures are more likely to work best as square. Some of my rectangular-format shots end up cropped square or nearly so but it's uncommon. Some photos "want" to be cropped longer and narrower too. I know some shooters really like square; certainly there's great work done with Rolleis and Hasselblads for instance... and Mamiya 6 too.

 

[Rayt]

Mamiya 6 for the collapsible mount. When collapsed it is very very small. I traveled with two of them with 50mm and 75mm and both fit in a very small Domke. Great lenses too.

 

[vdonovan]

The 6 is not bulletproof. Mine just died and cost $350 to fix. And spares are going to be an issue eventually. If I had to do it over again I *might* go 7. Maybe.

 

[TJV]

I own the 7ii and love it. The whole thing is still current, parts are easy to come by, and repairs can be done easily by most technicians worth their salt. I recently sourced a replacement part for a laughably tiny amount. I think though that Mamiya is not quite Leitz in terms of build, in that I wouldn't be surprised to see screws fall out and plastic parts cracking under heavy use. Fingers crossed I don't experience too much of that. A couple hundreds of rolls from new and still 100%, touch wood...

I'm thinking of getting this parts and repair manual from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mamiya-7-Factory-Repair-Manual-(Complete)_W0QQitemZ200231145168QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0806121550r8455

only $35 and it can be used to reference parts and give to trusted local repair people in a pinch.

Having said all that I also like the idea of the 6 being able to be folded up. But if I think like that I start lusting after the Plaubel Makina...

 

[Pherdinand]

the "bigger range of lenses" is always a catch.
Do you really need those extra more-superwides, or the big expensive tele's, with all the complications of them on a rangefinder (external finders, focusin gaccuracies, etc)?

the 6 is much more convenient, in my oppinion. It's a shame they discontinued it.

 

[Pherdinand]

You can crop a 6x7 neg into a square and not lose anything. But you can't make a 6x6 into a rectangle without losing a little bit. Although to be honest, it probably won't make that much difference.

?? i am afraid i don't understand this.
If you crop, you lose a piece of film. How would you crop 6x7 into square without losing that 1.2-1.4 cm of negative? Pull hard on the short side?

 

[Jasbla]

Thanks for all of the responses in this thread. I agree it is a shame Mamiya stopped production of the 6. Frankly the oply lens' I need would be the 75 and the wide.

 

[Film Junkie]

i've been thinking this over for some time too, repair and calibration issues are like a dark cloud over the 6 but i do much prefer the square format. the multiple exposure option of the 7ii would be a big plus. ouch my head hurts 🙄

 

[RObert Budding]

I went with a 7ii myself. Newer, easier to repair, and I like rectangle. The lenses are stunning!

 

[john_s]

What I'd like to see Mamiya make is a new 6x6 rangefinder that would take the Mamiya 7 lenses. The viewfinder framelines could go as wide as 50mm like the Mamiya 6, and the retractable mount could be dispensed with to keep the cost down. (I have read that the mount of the Mamiya 6 accounted for a large part of its manufacturing cost).

Not likely, I admit!