Mamiya 7 body-lens match - how critical?

[ssmc]

A certain well-known blogger (KR) who loves his M6 and M7 makes a big deal about making sure the lens is in tolerance with the body for best RF accuracy. In fact he basically says don't even buy a lens unless you can try it on your camera.

This is not practical for a lot of people (myself included) and I was wondering how much of an issue this really is with these cameras (in particular, the M7II). Maybe his M7 body is at the outer limits of it's spec?

I'm thinking of getting one and was wondering if it would be better to buy the "pack" with the 80mm lens and body together, or is it too much to hope that they are somehow matched at the factory? If I did get a 7II I would only be using it with 80mm or shorter lenses.

If anyone can shed some light on this I'd sure appreciate it. I tried a search but "7" is under the minimum string length of 3 characters...

Regards,
Scott

 

[gavinlg]

I would seriously doubt this is an issue unless there's something wrong with the cameras RF mechanism..

 

[sevo]

The M7 lenses are extremely high resolution - if you use them on a tripod and can take any time you need to set up each shot to create images that fail over issues of a marginal focal plane difference, it might be that there is a visible quality difference between better and worse matched lenses.

On the other hand, I've never seen a M7 used other than handheld, the lenses are relatively slow (and best by f/8-11) and Mamiyas precision standards are reasonably high to start with - I doubt that that is a issue that you'll ever encounter in real life.

 

[mickster]

I agree that this is unlikely to be an issue in practice, as the DOF with the 80mm in a worst case scenario (wide open (f4) at min focus (1m) ) will still likely be deep enough to cover any such issues. This assumes your rangefinder is calibrated ok.

If this ever becomes an issue it'll be when shooting the 150mm wide open at min focussing distance, but I don't use this lens so have no practical experience of whether this is an issue in practice. It certainly hasn't been a problem for me with the 80mm.

re the body/80mm pack - it's very unlikely that these are calibrated with each other at the factory.

HTH

 

[RObert Budding]

I stop down a bit when shooting with the 150mm. The DOF, even at f/8 and 6 feet, is only a bit over 5 inches. That's as shallow as I need. I do shoot i wide open, but only at greater distance.

http://dofmaster.com/doftable.html

 

[Landshark]

I'm curious why so many people accept his opinions as gospel?
If you believe everything seen on the internet the Mamiya is the best thing since sliced bread. Or not.

What evidence has he presented to verify the statements he makes?

 

[ssmc]

Thanks for all the replies!

I too thought it odd that lenses no faster than f/4 could be so sensitive to rangefinder alignment compared to (say) Leica or Zeiss, even though the focal lengths are a bit longer and the baseline is shorter (then again with the popularity of the Mamiya 50mm lens you could make a direct comparison). Maybe if you were doing shallow DOF portraiture it could be an issue but the M7 doesn't seem like the ideal system for that, and anyway I'm looking at it more as a travel/hiking camera for B&W.

Regards,
Scott

 

[tj01]

A Mamiya 7, F/4 is really shallow. However, I don't think it's a problem. I had a Mamiya 7 body from US, and the 65mm lens from Japan. They are well made and if focus is off, it's most likely the rangefinder adjustment.

 

[rpsawin]

FWIW...I talked to Precision Camera in Chicago about doing a CLA on my M7II. He mentioned that he preferred that I sent along my lenses as well so he could match them to the body. I don't think it's a huge deal but it's a "tweak" that is available.

Best regards,

Bob

 

[hatidua]

FWIW...I talked to Precision Camera in Chicago about doing a CLA on my M7II. He mentioned that he preferred that I sent along my lenses as well so he could match them to the body.

I send all of mine to him as soon as I purchase them, I don't see any harm in doing so.

 

[kram]

I had some problems in the past focussing with the 80mm lens at distances less than 4 meters, now and again. Since then I have adjusted the range finder, and I get good focus even with the 150mm lens! Moral: make sure the rangefinder is adjusted, and take you time focussing.

 

[Matus]

I had some problems in the past focussing with the 80mm lens at distances less than 4 meters, now and again. Since then I have adjusted the range finder, and I get good focus even with the 150mm lens! Moral: make sure the rangefinder is adjusted, and take you time focussing.

Probably the best advice. I have Mamiya 6 and can only say that to focus the 150 wide open and close requires attention, but can be done.

In general I find the focusing as follows:
- 50 - is easy
- 75 - not a problem
- 150 - take your time and you will be fine 🙂

I would say - if the camera with careful focusing shows some troubles - it would be wise to have the RF checked in the first place before going into lens/body matching.

 

[newsgrunt]

Bought my 7 off one seller and the 43 from another and they worked great together and no issues at all with focus or sharpness. I think if one were very anal about this, go for it but real world experience suggests it's not necessary.