My take on the Mamiya 150mm. What’s yours?

[macmx]

It seems to me that the 150mm lens for the Mamiya 7 is quite unloved by many. I have had this lens for about eight years now and it has produced some exceptional results. The 80mm plus the 150mm is my go to combination, and the 150mm is really the only option for the M7 if you don’t want a medium or wide angle lens - even the 80mm is quite wide in practice IMO. Sometimes, I even bring just the 150mm and not other lens on longer trips.

There seem to be three main complaints about this lens:

1. A maximum aperture of 4.5, it’s too slow.
2. It’s difficult to focus.
3. Closest focus is only 1.8m not allowing you to “get close enough”.

My experience with these things is:

1. It’s only a third of a stop slower than many other MF lenses with similar focal length and the leaf shutter on the M7 more than makes up for that in terms of handheld shooting. On my Hasselblad, I would not shoot the 120mm or 150mm at anything lower than 1/125 sec, but on the M7 I can easily shoot it at 1/60 handheld.

2. I have not found the lens difficult to focus, but maybe I am just lucky with my lens and body. I also had them calibrated. The calculated depth of field at the closest focus is 7.3cm. The rough equivalent 35mm focal length would be a 75mm. A 75mm Leica Summarit at maximum aperture of 2.4 has a depth of field of 8cm at the same distance (1.8m) - and few would probably say that that lens is “impossible to focus”. I realize that a Leica perhaps has a more accurate rangefinder, better base length etc., but still worth considering.

3. People sometimes write that they choose the 80mm because the 150 “only focuses to 1.8m”. However, if you calculate the magnification ratio of the 80mm at 1m, it’s 0.08. The 150mm at 1.8m is 0.0833 - so roughly the same. I will say that the parallax compensation of the M7 with the 150mm at that distance is not very good.

On a different note, I personally think the 150mm and M7 together is not a very handsome camera and has a face only a mother could love, but that’s okay!

I would be very interested to hear from other long term 150mm user what your experience and perspectives on this lens are.

Thanks.

 

[38Deardorff]

I rarely used the 150 on my Mamiya 6. I don't like to stand that far back to take a portrait. 4.5 is not slow for landscape photos. The 50/75 was my combo. When i had a Mamiya 7 for a short while i didn't even consider buying the 150.

 

[Leon C]

Whilst not directed at this lens, since my return to Photography I've seen lots of 'Complaints' about Cameras and Lenses that weren't moaned about when they were originally released, especially with older gear, what I've concluded is, I take any 'Complaint' with a pinch of salt and a lot of times it's down to using the wrong tool for the job and some peoples lack of research before buying gear or just copy/paste nonsense from others who are using the wrong tool.....etc.

I also think that some compare Medium Format gear with 35mm gear and think it should perform the same and obviously I don't know about every Lens available but there aren't many 'Fast' 150mm MF Lenses for a reason, I would have thought, cost, weight, size, small market....

Just my observations in recent times, if I want to try something and it doesn't meet my needs it's not the equipments fault as they are just made that way and I certainly wouldn't complain about whatever it was because it didn't work for me, I saw only yesterday a Video with some 'Photographer' saying the Pentax 6x7 was garbage and as several pointed out in the comments, it was user error that made the experience bad as they didn't know how to use it properly as it can be a quirky camera to use with it's own common faults, 15 mins online would have shown all about the camera and its foibles.

 

[jaredangle]

For landscapes, it’s an excellent lens. Certain types of landscape photography, especially high alpine, are ideal for telephoto lenses. The telephoto compression with the 150mm allows for very dramatic images with multiple layers of mountains to frame the main subject from behind, and the tight perspective also allows you to focus on fine details.