Mamiya 7 150mm: Improving Focus Acciracy

Fitting to the viewfinder would be very different. For eyesight correction diopters, the Leica has a screw-on arrangement but on the Mamiya the correction lens is in a rectangular frame that snaps in.

Magnifying the rangefinder should make it easier to focus, but you still have to rely on the design and adjustment of the rangefinder itself and here I think the Mamiya is at its limit, and even magnifying the image wouldn't make it more accurate.
 
hello,
here is my approach to focus accuracy...not sure a different diopter would have helped me. i thought i might improve focus accuracy by increasing the area in focus by adding more depth of field on my subject.

here is what "works" for me on my mamiya 6 with the 150mm lens...i have learned to stop the lens down an extra stop or two more than i might prefer.

i discovered shooting wide open with this focal length on a range finder takes more luck and skill than i possess...seems this is related to the unique characteristics of the range finder focus system, yep it is more technical than i can explain.

i opted for higher iso rated film to cope with stopping down the lens and the resulting slower shutter speed. for me, the larger negative size does not show an unacceptable increase in grain, nor reduction of tonal range - compared to smaller film formats.

you might try a roll or two of higher iso film than you have been using and experiment a bit. there are several images of my grand daughter splashing around in a wading pool in my rff gallery...some were made with the 150mm lens and are surprisingly in focus...

i hope i have not muddied the waters with my somewhat muddled explanation.

breathe, relax and enjoy.
sming gecko, aka kenneth
 
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Having used this lens with my old Mamiya 7, I can tell you that the incredibly short rangefinder baselength makes shooting this lens wide open an almost futile effort. Here were my guidelines for my own personal work with this combo:

- minimum ISO 400 film
- rarely would I shoot wider than f/8
- focus and recompose only two or three RF patch-lengths away from the patch itself
- shoot at infinity at much as possible

That last one may put a lot of people off, but the 150mm, while aggravating at times, can resolve as much detail at the 43mm, and is wonderful for landscapes yet tricky for anything that moves.

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I rarely shoot the 150mm wide open. But I'd still like to improve focus accuracy. Perhaps I'll send the body and lens off to have them calibrated. Nice lens. Just wish that the rangefinder baseline were longer.
 
I have a Mamiya 6 and the 150mm lens gets more use than the 75mm by me.
I had my camera body and the lens adjusted in England together, and I can consistently nail focus with the 150mm at maximum aperture.

(This is not to boast), but to say that I think the body and lens need to be adjusted together.

I can't remember the repair place I sent them to right now, but they were great.
 
My eyes aren't getting better with age. I'll send the body and lens in together for calibration. But a magnifier sure would help! Perhaps I'll contact SK Grimes to see if they can fabricate something for me.
 
I'm actually kind of surprised, I just got my 150 in the mail (last night) I had read this post earlier and so wanted to check right away) I find it EASIER than my 65mm, the "throw" on it is long so you can really fine tune the focus, it's almost too long of a rotation if you're trying to shoot fast but still very easy to focus I thought.

I'll find out how my images look though, I'll shoot wide open just for you guys ;)

~Stone~ The Noteworthy Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic. Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner
 
It's been a while now and I'm curious how your 150mm photos turned out at wide open aperture?
Regards,Peter
 
Moto-Uno said:
It's been a while now and I'm curious how your 150mm photos turned out at wide open aperture?
Regards,Peter
Click to expand...

Me too haha, I've been walking around with that lens and I just end up using my 65mm or 43mm haha (the latter of which is a pain since I haven't found a viewfinder I can afford yet for it...).

I'll shoot something soon I promise!

~Stone~ The Noteworthy Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic. Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner
 
I don't have a Mamiya 7, but do have several Mamiya 6 cameras and have a 150mm f4.5 lens, which probably is pretty similar to the 150mm for the Mamiya 7. Properly used, it is an excellent lens, being very sharp and without vignetting even wide open if the focusing is properly calibrated (a whole other subject).

The lens is not the easiest to focus. Properly centering your eye is critical to focusing this lens. You can see this by moving the camera slightly while looking through the viewfinder -- the focus appears to shift slightly. The key is to make sure that all 4 of the 150mm viewfinder guidelines are evenly illuminated when focusing. This is made easier by not pressing one's eye right up against the viewfinder, but rather by holding the viewfinder about an inch or two away from one's eye.
 
Ok so I finally shot some street photos with the 150mm ....

As it turns out I can't tell if it's camera shake or out of focus but this shot was taken REALLY fast as a result of the bird landing suddenly an not wanting it to get away, he moved as soon as I clicked, so it's the best example of street photos hand held wide open that I have (since its the only wide open shot I've done.



image-1115954396.jpg

~Stone~ The Noteworthy Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic. Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner
 
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