Any Mamiya 645 shooters in Portland, OR area?

Hello all,

 

I'm searching for any Mamiya 645 shooters in the Portland, Oregon region. Specifically AF or Phase One shooters. I'd like together to test any/all lenses we can scrap together.

 

I am looking to try a few new lenses on my AFD II, ideally the 45mm and 55mm. Comparing their angle of view, sharpness, distortion etc.

 

Let's get together and shoot for an hour!

Doesn't look as if you're going to get any takers Steve.

 

I have the 45mm 's' version in manual focus, and the 55mm in leaf-shutter version. Both good lenses. Distortion is low and they're sharp enough.

 

The 55mm offers a usefully wider view than the 80mm standards, but if I had to choose between them, I'd pick the 45mm as offering a much more definite wide-angle view.

 

The leaf-shutter obviously sets the 55mm apart for use with fill flash outdoors.

 

I also have the 50mm shift lens, which sometimes appears quite soft, especially when shifted. Of all the M645 wide-angles, it's the one I'd least recommend unless you're shooting architecture or interiors.

 

Another lens worth getting is the 110mm f/2.8, which IMO has a unique 'look' and makes an excellent portrait lens.

 

However, I only have experience of those lenses in manual focus versions. Never seen the appeal of AF for medium format, since it wouldn't be my weapon of choice for speedy snapshot use.

Edited January 18, 2019 by rodeo_joe|1

[uSER=2403817]@rodeo_joe|1[/uSER] Thank you for the great feedback for those lenses. It's great to know that the 55mm leaf shutter makes it a fill-flash contender. Although I would imagine 55mm on a MF is pretty wide for fill-flash portraits, but I'm sure it would make for some amazing in-scene portraits such as on beach at sunset?!

 

I agree that I'll probably go with the 45mm just so I can get a little bit wider. I'd love to see a comparison shot of the two from the same exact tripod setting, if you have time. Specifically in tight quarters- I would be using the lens inside and am specifically curious how much room the 45mm adds, versus the amount of distortion it might add. Specifically- will people/things on the edges be much greater distorted, and therefor it's not even worth the extra mm's?

 

The 110 sounds like a great lens- I've heard great things. I hastily bought a very, very cheap 150mm 3.5 AF that arrives in the next few days.

 

Lastly, I have to select AF lenses because I often shoot with friends and family- they do not like manual lenses. I like to make it easy for them to hold the camera and feel confident that they're nailing the shot. Sounds crazy I know- but basically I want this AFD II to be like a very high end point and shoot. But when it's in MY hands I'll likely shoot manual everything.

 

On a side note, I finally got my scanning process down last night and the first few negative scans look very promising.

The 55mm leaf's main target market was wedding shooters, I suspect. It's great for small-to-medium groups with fill-flash. Or full-length Bride+Groom shots. Definitely not designed as a head & shoulders portrait lens. There's a 150mm leaf lens for that.

 

Sorry, but I'm not about to spend time, film and processing on comparison angle shots. My 645 kit is pretty much mothballed these days and hasn't seen use in quite a while.

 

The 55mm lens gives an almost identical horizontal (landscape) angle-of-view to a 35mm lens on the 135 format, and the 45mm lens is just slightly less wide than a 28mm on miniature film.

 

All I can add is that the distortion is fairly low on both lenses.

[uSER=2403817]@rodeo_joe|1[/uSER] Thanks for the good tip about low distortion- that's a big help. I'll post photos should I ever buy the 45 AF.