Best portrait lens for Mamiya RZ 67 pro II

[randy_hage]

I am planning on purchasing a Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II camera and am having

trouble deciding which way to go on the lens. I shoot mainly B/W

portrait. Studio and existing light exterior. I am looking at the

150mm 3.5, the 180mm and the 180 soft focus. I would greatly

appreciate any insight. Thanks in advance!

 

R

[scott_eaton]

The 180 series Mamiya lenses are very, very sharp and remind me a lot of shooting Nikon's 105mm 2.5 series with a similiar facial compression. This is a great lens, but it's an intimate focal length with MF gear that should suit your style. Again, if you like the 105mm focal length in 35mm you'll like the 180mm in 6x7. Personally I find the 150mm focal length more flexible for shooting in confined studios, but that's my preference. If you prefer close in, shoulders and above shooting with tight depth of field you'll love the 180.

 

I don't like soft focus lenses - I'd rather use a filter with a regular lens.

[chris_waller]

I use the normal 180 mm lens on my RB67. It's very sharp. You can diffuse with a filter on-camera or at the printing stage.

[garry edwards]

I have a 180 SF lens (among others) for my RZ. The results are excellent but it is an absolute pain to focus and the soft focus effects disappear completely at f8 or smaller. I am very happyy generally with my RZ but this lens is a total waste of time in my opinion.

[fg]

Hi, after trying the 180, I made my mind up and decided to purchase... two lenses! 140/4.5 Macro, very good for studio work, and 250/4.5 when you cannot get close to your subject. The perspective of the 180 is quite good if you can manage to keep the correct distance between camera and subject. Trouble is, it does not always happens.

Bye.

F.

[william_d_correll]

I use the 110mm for full-length body and small group/family portraits and the 250mm for single portraits, as I like "tight" headshots. I have no experience with soft focus lenses as I use filters.

 

If I were starting out with an RZ and it came down to living with only one portrait lens � I would opt for the longer 180mm rather than 150mm. This is very subjective but I work better when subjects are out of my space and they seem more comfortable when I�m not in theirs. A good distance is generally more flattering too. It flattens the subject's features i.e. bulbous noses, protruding ears. Another little plus of using long portrait lenses (provided it's the effect you want) is how the shallow DOF can easily throw studio backgrounds (that are most often very close and crowded) out-of-focus.

 

The down side is the added maneuvering room and extra light required by long focal lengths. Not much I can do when the space is not available, but most of the time I get around the lighting limitation by just slowing down the shutter or turning up the juice on the strobes.

[randall_shafer]

The RZII with the 180 soft focus was, until recently, my primary portrait system. It takes a bit of learning to use effectively, but it offers results you can't get any other way, and certainly not with a filter over the lens.

 

I've found the regular RZ lenses and the big MF piece of film to be too sharp and detailed for good portraits. (110mm 140mm and regular 180mm) Especially with light-skin people, every whisker and imperfection show. However, with the soft focus, you can literally dial away this very fine detail to whatever extent you desire, without producing an image that looks soft or out of focus. (Which is a typical result with filters.)

 

The camera is set up with disc no. 3 and the strobes set for an exposure at f9.5, and the aperture varied to vary the effect. Because of the way the lens works, a four-stop variation can be made in the aperture with only a 1/2-stop variation in exposure at the film. (No sweat for print film.)

 

I have a favorite sequence of shots at each setting of a middle-Eastern gentleman who has light skin but black hair. His beard always shows very heavily though the light skin, and the non-soft focus shot really looks haggard and unattractive, even for a man. As the soft focus effect is dialed in, the whiskers and small imperfections, lines, pores and blemishes disappear, with the smallest ones going first, while larger features like eyelashes and eyebrowns are still very visible. On the strongest setting, though, some of these features start to go and the image does start to look soft, without looking blurred or out-of-focus.

 

This is an excellent tool for the studio portraitist. I do not, however, recommend this lens for candids and available light portraits. It is difficult to focus and does not react well to high key and backlit scenes. It also does not integrate well with the metering prism, and the result usually is underexposure. Finally, because the optimum situation is with lighting set to expose at f9.5, available light conditions can create situations where the aperture settings do not produce the results you expected. I have used it in the field, with mixed results.

[greg_tomas]

Nothing beats 210 APO lens with Fuji Astia for beauty head shots.