Mamiya 23 Back Movements - Anyone use them?

[kevin_kemner1]

Hi,

 

Just curious if anyone has any direct experience with the back

movements on the Super 23? What did you use them for and what

lenses, if any, other than the 100 f3.5. I'm guessing they're not as

accurate as a view camera, but did you find them useful or just a

pain.

 

Thanks

 

KK

[john_lawson4]

Yes I use the back tilt all the time for getting the foreground and background in focus in landscape shots. I use mainly the 100 f/3.5 but you can also use other lenses if infinity is not in the picture. I made up some shims from 1/8" aluminum to give me the average tilt when the tripod is at 5 1/2'high. I have also remounted a 90mm Computar enlarging lens on an old 90mm Mamiya mount that will allow room to tilt even at infinity. The Mamiya super 23 is now my favorite camera and I have quite a few.

[roger krueger]

Both useful and a pain.

 

Useful in my case mainly for macro shots. Combining tilts and helical focusing with

DOF marking is pretty cool. I dislike the 3.5 lenses, and don't do landscapes in any

event.

 

A pain because it's almost impossible to get them locked town tight enough that

there's no risk of absent-mindedly picking the camera up by the back and giving

yourself a quarter-inch of "stealth tilt" fot the rest of the roll.

[bob_salomon]

And using back movements, besides controlling the plane of focus, changes the shape

of the subject. Front movements control the plane of focus without changing image

shape.

[david_gwynne]

OK I've finally proven it. I have modified a super 23 by milling 5.3mm off the back of the body, so that non retracting lenses can be used with swing and tilt. If you look through a ground glass (lucky me, I have the magnifying viewer), the swing or tilt will throw the distant objects out of focus when you try to bring foreground into focus, and no refocussing on the lens can help. This is because the pivot for the swing is one edge of the rear panel. Everything moves away from the lens, just one edge more than the other. To compensate, one edge has to move in somewhat, while the other moves out. Eureka, just whip a bit off the back, and have a spacer keep the required lens to film distance for normal rangefinder shooting. Sounds too easy doesn't it. Well in practice there are some traps to doing it, and suggest you don't rush out to the workshop until I can write up some instructions, along with some images to demonstrate the effect. The negs look OK with a loupe but scanning far too dense to publish, so will redo the test in a week or so in a more controlled manner. As a caveat I should point out that focussing was a problem with a 50/5.6 but easy with a 100/2.8. Also the whole system is a little clumsy having to steady the weight of finder with the locking screws loose, and not moving when tightening them.

[timberwolf1]

I used them for years. I took a group shot of about 60 kids, with about 7 rows of kids. I

used the Normal lens f3.5. I like the precision lock. It is firm. By moving the top of the

back only about 1/8", as I recall, I was able to get the whole group sharp from near to far.

I then used roll film processing and prints to get a low price. I used a 20x magnifier to

confirm my focus. The helical focusing was precise here.

 

Helical focusing is quite an advantage!