What kind of Mamiya camera and lenses?

[Keith Catron]

I have been using sony digtal camera and wanted to explosre in using Mamiya 67 camera for excellent blow up BW photos. I enjoy taking close up outdoor pictures of statues and old buildings. Any suggestion of what kind of camera and lens before I start bidding on ebay? Thanks

 

[mysteryscribe]

My knowledge stops with the rb67.. It was a fine camera I am told. I expect you would have to go with a close up lens on front of a regular lens. It would also be much less expensive. My guess it it won't matter at all to the image quality. there are a lot of those after market lenses that will work.

 

[Philip Weir]

The Mamiya RB is an excellent camera, I used one for many, many years, and still do on occassions. It is very robust and an excellent workhorse, but quite heavy for hand held work. Unlike most medium format film cameras, it has a bellows, which is most beneficial for close up work, so you will seldom have the need for close-up attacments for the type of shooting you propose. Trust this helps.
www.philipweirphotography.com

 

[ksmattfish]

A Mamiya 7 or 7II rangefinder would be more portable and handholdable, if that's an issue.

 

[Soocom1]

A 127mm is good for general pics.
The 180mm is more like a 90-100 mm in 35mm format. (Good for product and portrait).
The 90mm is much more like a 35-45mm equivalent, and the 50,65mm's are much closer to a 20-28mm equivalent.

The best bet is get a 150mm soft focus with the disks so you can do various portraits with it. There is a ton of info on that lens out there, and the cost is pretty reasonable.

Get a 6x7 RB PRO!

I have the older original model, and though it is a good camera, I am limited on some items. Even better would be to go with a RZ Pro, and get the latest lenses, and have the more available digital set ups. (Rb's are available, though not as common.)

Get a double cable realize, and make sure the tripod you use is THICK!!!
All the other various add ons will come in time, and is very enjoyable to use.
The 220 inserts will fit into any Pro back piece, as will any 120 Pro insert. But make sure they are the Pro version. Check the back to be sure it will advance normally. They have a tendency to stick a little.

Extension tubes are available, but unless you are going to do allot of macro work, don't bother. Get a manual ahead of time, because like the Kiev 88s, you can damage them if not careful. (Though better built.)

 

[Paul Ron]

I can attest to the hardyness of RBs, I repair them and have dealt with quite a few of em. They are built like Russian tanks and weigh as much.

They have many good points from a photographers point of view such as the revolving back that lets you do wither portrait or landscape film positions without turning the camera over on it's side as you must do with other medium format cameras. Also these cameras have many lenses adn backs available including a digital back, albeit the price of a small car, it is an amzing machine.

The differences between RB67, RB Pro and RB Pro-S in age order is that the older cameras didn't have double exposure prevention features nad dark slide interlocks built in as you do in the Pro-S model. The older RBs to the Pro model, after taking a picture you have to flip a little tab on the back before advancing the film aside from cocking the camera body.

Another featur on the Pro-S is the red indicator bar that moves in the view screen to let you know which format the film is in, portrait or landscape. All models have the Mirror Up feature which is actually built into the lens not the body. Also, none of them require you to have the double release cable, it's just some people prefer it.

Mirror up incase you don't know what this is... it lets you focus the camera and get everyting set up. Then you press the fire button which brings up the mirror without firing the shutter. The cable release is screwed into the lens so now you fire th eshutter via release cable and your picture is taken without the mirror vibrations. Handy to have for very slow shutter speeds.

Another quirk is the T shutter and no B mode. The T setting lets you fire the shutter and leave it open untill you cock the body, then the shutter will close up again. It's a nice feature when doing very long exposures over 1 second. Some people like a B setting, it allows you to hold the shutter open till you let go of the cable release but after you get used to this T mode, B is not really a very good setting after all.

One word of caution... if you do get one of these beauties, DON'T BUY IT ON E-BAY! That place is just someones junk yard. I see more junk come into my shop from there than anywhere else. It's nice to know you have a return policy incase it doesn't work or something is missing that you would ahve never known unless you are familiar with the camera.

I recomend KEH or perhaps someone off the forums as a good source of equipemt. I like buying my stuff from people I talk to on PhotoNet and here becasue many of the people are either photographers or dedicated to photography not bumping junk on you but are generally honest. I've dealt with people from all over the world on these sites and I haven't been skunked yet in the years I have been doing this.

Another thing you must also know is not to force anything on these cameras. If you try using a heavy hand on something that isn't moving, you are bound to damage it. I'd sugest you download the user manual form the Mamiya site http://www.mamiya.com/customerservice1.asp?id=3&id2=115 and take a good read of what you may be in for. If you need a hand buying a camera, The nice people here as well as I will give you all the information and help you may need. I have also set up many students with eqipment so if you need anything I can help you locate it since I am always checking the classifieds on the internet and can point you to the source.

Feel free to e-mail me anytime at automax1@juno.com if you need help.

Good luck,
Paul

 

[Majik Imaje]

Standing, clapping, cheering and applauding EVERYONE for all those wonderful comments.

Mamiya RB 67! I bought my first one in 1973

there is no other camera out there! that I would ever trade for my mamiya!

RUGGED ?? HA HA HA HA.. Mine was encased in ICE! FOR WEEKS.! see the images
general galleries.. HIGH IN THE ARCTIC ESKIMOS

and it worked perfectly flawlessly in 60 below zero weather.!

heavy.. only at first.. then you get used to it as your muscle power develops!
E phillip Levine Boston Ma.. cameras.com huge selection!

I loved the comment about a thick tripod.. THIS IS WHAT I READ ONCE..

the rule of thumb for buying a tripod.. IF it is a pain in the neck to pick up

BUY IT!........... BOGEN 350 rock solid!

my first image in '73 with my new mamiya 1 minutes @ f 45

 

[fmw]

Mine was an RZ. Actually, I had two bodies. The system has a shift lens which would likely be pretty close to perfect for statues and old buildings - assuming you want to correct some keystoning.

The optical advantage of the RB and RZ systems is that the lenses don't do the focusing. The body does. So the lenses have no moving parts aside from the shutters. That means the the designers can absolutely nail the corrections and these lenses are just plain spectacular - just like view camera lenses.