v3cron
Well-known
Todd.Hanz said:
the 50mm is one of the finest lenses i own.
New "M" body or Mamiya 7II
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the 50mm is one of the finest lenses i own.
RObert Budding
D'oh!
I find that I need both 35mm (Contax IIIa) and MF (Bronica RF645). The 35mm is great for low light. And the MF tonality is superb. And, even though I like the Bronica, the Mamiya 7 does tempt!
Topdog1
Well-known
Christopher,
"Big negative" quality seems to be the highest accolade you can give a camera these days. I note Sean Reid's review of the recently-lamented M8 which calls it (paraphrasing) a camera that "paints" its images like a MF film camera. (Jeez, I bet the Leica marketing dept. lapped that up.)
Regards,
Ira
P.S. Please - no digressions on the M8 here. I was just using it as an example of how MF quality is an exemplar held up to what the best 35mm film cameras approach but never reach.
"Big negative" quality seems to be the highest accolade you can give a camera these days. I note Sean Reid's review of the recently-lamented M8 which calls it (paraphrasing) a camera that "paints" its images like a MF film camera. (Jeez, I bet the Leica marketing dept. lapped that up.)
Regards,
Ira
P.S. Please - no digressions on the M8 here. I was just using it as an example of how MF quality is an exemplar held up to what the best 35mm film cameras approach but never reach.
K
Kyle
Guest
Topdog1 said:
The main difference is format. The 6 is 6x6 format while the 7 is 6x7. Second, is lens selection. The Mamiya 6 offers you three choices: 50mm, 75mm, and 150mm. While this isn't as many as the Mamiya 7, all three lenses are RF coupled and bring up the framelines (no annoying external finders!). I like to keep things simple anyways, and IMO these are the three essential lenses in a kit. Plus, the 50mm lens is absolutely fantastic. I've read reviews that claim its one of the sharpest lenses ever built.
Oh yeah, the best difference is the price. Like I said earlier, I got a Mamiya 6 plus all three lenses for around $1200. I did land some awesome deals, but still, a full Mamiya 6 kit shouldn't cost you anymore than a new 7II+80mm lens.
mervynyan
Mervyn Yan
I shoot both but in a totally different way. M7II is great travel camera, with a light tripod, you can totally go wherever you want. The slides came out really unmatched, I can put M7II, 80, 43mm and pano kit in a small topload bag. However the operation tends to be slow. I always use tripod with this. Leica M is better built and fast.
I think the arguement is whether you want to have a 120 or 35mm.
I think the arguement is whether you want to have a 120 or 35mm.
v3cron
Well-known
Topdog1 said:
well, yeah....but digital strives to be noise-free and hyper-real, right? i didn't think 35mm ever pretended to do that. at least not to me.
i used to be exclusively medium format because it's "better". then i realized that i really like "not better" quite often! 😉
dazedgonebye
Veteran
kyle said:
I've never seen that kit THAT cheap. I did a quick look a little bit ago and came up with around $2k for that kit. For my preferences, I could forgo the 75mm even.
Toby
On the alert
I don't have a mamiya 7 but I have had a Pentax 67 for 10 years. MF is not always win win. Cost per frame is hideous around $3-$4 in the uk for film and processing and operation is slower. The real benefit of MF is that it is far more technically demanding than 35mm, and if you are up for the challenge, an MF camera will make you a far better photographer, and of course this will spill over into all your other photography, another 35mm camera will not do this.
K
Kyle
Guest
dazedgonebye said:
It all seems to sell more as a kit, but I've seen the body+75 sell for $7-800, the 50 sell for $400-500 and the 150 sells for $200-300. Perhaps it will require a bit of patience, but I think you can get the whole kit for $1600-ish. I do know I scored one hell of a deal by getting the body plus 50 and 75 for $1000 cash out the door at a local camera shop, though.
R
rpsawin
Guest
Topdog1 said:
Topdog,
I have been shooting 35mm rf for a few years and really enjoy the format and the wonderful gear available for it. I just bought a used 7II with the 65 &150 lens. I have to say I am very happy with the camera, the way it handles and the results. I just did a few test rolls to get an idea of the metering and of how the lenses render images in B&W and Color.
Wow....it's a superb system. It will be a bit more pricey, 10 shots on 120 and 20 shots on 220, but it is worth it. Of course the rain, wind, floods and snow storms are currently the dominant weather conditions so I have to wait to test this out on a road trip.
Best Regards,
Bob
dazedgonebye
Veteran
I'll keep my eyes open.
kevin m
Veteran
Does Mamiya still service/support the M7 and M6, or, are there any well-regarded independent repairpersons as there are for Leica?
Benjamin Marks
Veteran
If you already own an M and have the glass, then the MP will really not change the way you see or make pictures. The Mamiya 7II will, though. The quality of the negatives out of that camera is just amazing. Keep in mind that you'd get a large portion of that gain in quality (say 65% - totally subjective made-up number) just by moving up in negative size (e.g. Mamiya C330, YashicaMat 124G, Rolleiflex to name a few). But the M7II has really, really nice glass, with the limitations noted above.
Think of it this way: the MP will be a really nice camera, the M7II will be a paradigm shift in how you view the world.
Ben
P.S. buy the M7II
Think of it this way: the MP will be a really nice camera, the M7II will be a paradigm shift in how you view the world.
Ben
P.S. buy the M7II
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keeds
Established
Guys stop it please! I keep talking myself out of a M7II. You lot just keep talking me into it. Todd is the worst. He doesn't have to say anything, just posts some sublime creamy casual shot of some dude just sitting which just blows your socks off. Stop, stop stop...
Bryce
Well-known
I don't get it. What's the fuss about? The Mamiya will blow away anything that uses 35mm film for image quality... A leica is more compact, easier to use, is useable in much less light, and probably more durable. Buy whichever suits your needs.
nightfly
Well-known
I sold my Mamiya 6 for a Leica M4-P.
Everything that everyone has said about the Mamiya is right on. The lenses are great, the negs look great and it's a nice camera. However although it's not much bigger, it's enough bigger than the Leica to make it a bit cumbersome as a carry around camera, at least for me. I found I wasn't making as many photos with it as I would have liked although the ones I did get looked great.
For it me it was a sort of decisive moment thing. If you already have 35 covered though, then definetley get one. I just couldn't justify two pricey cameras as an amateur.
Everything that everyone has said about the Mamiya is right on. The lenses are great, the negs look great and it's a nice camera. However although it's not much bigger, it's enough bigger than the Leica to make it a bit cumbersome as a carry around camera, at least for me. I found I wasn't making as many photos with it as I would have liked although the ones I did get looked great.
For it me it was a sort of decisive moment thing. If you already have 35 covered though, then definetley get one. I just couldn't justify two pricey cameras as an amateur.
RObert Budding
D'oh!
Bryce said:
Hey, this is RFF - buy both!
S
Simon Larbalestier
Guest
Having worked a lot with 120 RF (Mamiya 6, Mamiya 7i/7iis, Plaubel Makina 67/670's and the Fuji GW690111/BLG690) and Leicas on the same projects
i sold all my Mamiya's in the end. Fitted with the lens for travel they are quite bulky and if space is no option and you only want to work with a single lens in 120 format then i think the Fuji GW series II and III are very rugged and dependable with a bigger negative 6 x 9cm
These are unmetered though. For sheer portability the folding Plaubel Makina 67 and 670's with their 5 degree spot meters are superb ragefinders to work with, with excellent Nikon optics and the standard 80mm is fast at 2.8.
Of the Mamyia's i preferred the more compact square format Mamiya 6 which has three lenses available 50/75 and 150. The glass for the 7ii becomes very expensive when you look to go wide.
Working with 120 and 35mm on the same trip can be very rewarding but carrying large amounts of 120 film and 35mm certainly takes up a lot of extra space.
The debate about 120 blowing 35mm out of the water is a pointless argument IMHO the look of a fast 35mm such as a 1.4 or 1.0 is so different to that of a wide open 120 RF at F2.8 or 4.0 that detail and resolution become second to the OOF and forground/background separation not to mention the poor light and speed of handling that a 35mm can offer. They are very different tools for different types of image - for me anyway.
If you really like your 35mm leica set up you could do well to look at a clean M6 classic (Don atDAG can CLA and offer the flare free optics of the MP for very a reasonable price) the MP is a beautiful camera but expensive.
if you're really set on the Mamiya 7's then the mark 1 version (grey instead of black or champagne) is much cheaper to buy.
i sold all my Mamiya's in the end. Fitted with the lens for travel they are quite bulky and if space is no option and you only want to work with a single lens in 120 format then i think the Fuji GW series II and III are very rugged and dependable with a bigger negative 6 x 9cm
These are unmetered though. For sheer portability the folding Plaubel Makina 67 and 670's with their 5 degree spot meters are superb ragefinders to work with, with excellent Nikon optics and the standard 80mm is fast at 2.8.
Of the Mamyia's i preferred the more compact square format Mamiya 6 which has three lenses available 50/75 and 150. The glass for the 7ii becomes very expensive when you look to go wide.
Working with 120 and 35mm on the same trip can be very rewarding but carrying large amounts of 120 film and 35mm certainly takes up a lot of extra space.
The debate about 120 blowing 35mm out of the water is a pointless argument IMHO the look of a fast 35mm such as a 1.4 or 1.0 is so different to that of a wide open 120 RF at F2.8 or 4.0 that detail and resolution become second to the OOF and forground/background separation not to mention the poor light and speed of handling that a 35mm can offer. They are very different tools for different types of image - for me anyway.
If you really like your 35mm leica set up you could do well to look at a clean M6 classic (Don atDAG can CLA and offer the flare free optics of the MP for very a reasonable price) the MP is a beautiful camera but expensive.
if you're really set on the Mamiya 7's then the mark 1 version (grey instead of black or champagne) is much cheaper to buy.
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Pablito
coco frío
I regularly use Mamiya 6, Leica, X-pan, and Bronica 645RF. However the problems with the Mamiya 7 or any other 6x7 for me personally is the 6x7 format itself. To make clear, this is a personal preference but I find the 6x7 proportion very unsatisfying to compose in. It's almost but not quite square and this really bothers me. I like working in a true square or in a more elongated rectangle. As for the other issues, MF is MF and 35mm is 35mm - 'nuff said. And the quality of modern professional quality lenses, including Mamiya, is almost always very high so I only worry about issues like sharpness when the equipment is not giving me what I expect - and my standards are high. I did a project for which I made many 40x40 inch enlargements from the Mamiya 6 and the sharpness and contrast of the negs proved to be excellent.
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If you want to talk about negatives that sing, can I tell you about my Crown Graphic? 4x5 ROCKS for way great negatives. Lenses are a bit slow, selection is great though. I do not know why, but the negatives just seem to capture detail better, deeper some how. I know it's stupid, but that's the only thing I can say. Very subjective, but IMHO, dead on.
B2 (;->
B2 (;->
