Mamiya7,150mm lens,pros & cons

Moto-Uno

Moto-Uno

Moto-Uno
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I'm finding this camera with the 50 and 80 lens to be getting more comfortable by the day. However, I keep feeling this urge for a somewhat greater reach and would like some experienced users input. (or am I wiser to just use my Bronica ETR with it's selection of longer lens(( 105,150 &250)) ?)
Thanks in advance for any direction,Peter
 
Its a good lens, you will not be dissapointed. Obviously for telephoto work slr's are better, but for someone who has invested into the m7 system, i think its a great lens to have, as good as the other lenses you currently own.
 
One of my concerns is the often remarked on problem with sharp focusing. I've not seen
any pictures with an actual fov comparison or sharpness for that matter. Any other users
experiences?
Thanks again,Peter
 
Keep in mind that on a 6x7 camera, a 150mm lens is not very long. I think that it is only equal to 75mm-80mm in 35mm. Having said that its a great lens but if you do a lot of telephoto work you may want to stick with the Bronica.
 
The only issue I think you may have on the Mamiya is focusing the lens wide open (or close to wide open), if you don't mind being stopped down a bit, then this may not bother you.

On the other hand, I used a 150mm on my Hasselblad, and it was a walk in the park to focus. However, I very rarely used it wide open, almost never.
 
I've got a mamiya 7 with 43, 65 and 150 lenses. The 150 lens is a lovely piece of kit but I'm not confident focusing it accurately as the bright lines cover so little of the viewfinder area. Stopped down isn't much of a problem but, as I also have a Hasselblad, I tend to agree with "thegman" above.
 
When you make reference to focusing wide open,I'm a bit confused.With the rangefinder,what does this have to do with focusing? Are you really mentioning taking the picture with the aperture stopped down ?
Thanks again for comments.Peter
 
The issue with the 150 is that the minimum focusing distance is 1.8m, vs 1m with the 80mm.

The upshot of that is that the 80mm actually gives you tighter framing than the 150, believe it or not. Of course, the perspective will be different, since you're ~1.8x further away with the 150, but you're not going to get any tighter than the 80, without cropping.
 
Yep, this lens is more for extra reach and flatter perspective rather than tighter shots. Definitely behaves more like an 80mm, so its not very long.

And yes, your rangefinder has to be well calibrated to achieve accurate focus wide open.
 
I like and dislike my M7. I find close focusing to be very difficult. Enough that I am considering a different set up. Everything else is very good. But I purchased the system with the goal to do portrait work. So I am not sure where to go now:)
 
jalLee2001 said:
I like and dislike my M7. I find close focusing to be very difficult. Enough that I am considering a different set up. Everything else is very good. But I purchased the system with the goal to do portrait work. So I am not sure where to go now:)
Click to expand...

It's definitely not a first choice as a 'portrait camera'. It can do environmentals very well, but H&S portraits are out, unless you want to crop. Lots of better MF choices for this.

But as a travel/street/editorial camera, the M7 is outstanding.
 
jalLee2001 said:
I like and dislike my M7. I find close focusing to be very difficult. Enough that I am considering a different set up. Everything else is very good. But I purchased the system with the goal to do portrait work. So I am not sure where to go now:)
Click to expand...

I agree with the other poster, the M7 is NOT a portrait system, it's more akin to landscape work and journalist work, it's a MF Leica.

The Mamiya RZ67 is the ultimate MF portrait system, 6x7, 6x6, 6x4.5, Polaroids, depth if field control, some floating elements, one of the few systems with an f/2.8 in MF.

There are other systems but for the money (especially right now) the RB67 with later lenses or RZ67 are both spectacular choices for portraits.

~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
 
jalLee2001 said:
I will checkout the RB67. Any opinions on the Pentax 6711?
Click to expand...

I believe it's similar it's a 6x7 SLR but I think it's body is wider, it's basically like an SLR version I the Mamiya 7 the way it has side grips.

The nice thing for studio work is that if the battery dies, the RZ67 will still function at 1/400 as an option. The RB67 doesn't use a battery and therefore is great for long exposure night work and cold temps etc. as far as I have been told, had I known that at the time I might have opted for the RB instead of RZ but there seems to be a lot more RZ's out there for sale and the prices are nice, you can also use RB lenses on RZ cameras.

As far as I can tell from pictures, the Pentax does not have a bellows.

The RZ/RB system operate the focus with bellows not lens element movement so you often have crisper lenses because the elements inside do not move at all (with some floating element exceptions) and the bellows allow you to shoot at macro distances with ANY of their lenses, great for shallow depth of field portraits of you want, or deep depth of field portraits of course. I don't think the Pentax can do that.

I think the Fuji ....6x9 SLR can so that... 609 or 690 or G069 or something like that, but it's much more expensive than the Mamiya and the quality is "similar" of course anyone will argue on both sides, like a Nikon/Canon discussion, they are BOTH equally amazing cameras.

Just my opinion...

~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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