Mamiya 7 - 35mm panoramic adaptor framing

[corey_wise1]

With respect to the 35mm panoramic adaptor for the Mamiya 7, is there

some sort of mask for the viewfinder or do the framelines change or

do you just give it your best guess when framing?

 

Thanks

[will_legge]

You have framing "dots" in your viewfinder. Look carefully. It is awkward at first, but gets easier with practice. The wider the lens, the better. The 150mm frame indexes are marked just on the sides of the 6x7 frame I believe.

[corey_wise1]

I appreciate your response. I havn't bought the adaptor yet, but was just wondering as there seems to be no mention of it that I could find.

[fast_primes]

With the exception of using (soon to be extinct) Kodachrome, I'd say messing with the 35mm panoramic mode was a waste of time. You may as well use regular MF film, scan, and then crop to panoramic afterward. Only if Mamiya had provided a set of specific panoramic viewfinders for each 7 lens, would it even begin to make sense.

 

Lastly, you can't simply drop off a roll of 35mm panoramas at your local lab.

[david_henderson]

Well, with the 35mm adapter you also get all of the following.

 

You get the knowledge that if you happen to come across a potentially fabulous 67 shot mid roll, you won't be able to take it without wasting whats left of your 35mm roll. Whereas if you use rollfilm and crop afterwards as suggested you can make both formats frame by frame.

 

You get a fiddly piece of kit that for me was far from a pleasure to use.

 

You get to limit your panoramic shots to 24mm high max. If you use rollfilm you can make them whatever height suits the scene you portray.

 

You get to spend quite a lot of money for something that doesn't show you in the finder what you're taking. So through the finder there is absolutely no difference/advantage vs shooting rollfilm and using the marks in the finder for approximate framing.

 

You get more frames per roll than with 120 - so less reloading. Of course you could perhaps use 220 film and get even more.

 

You get the ability to use the Mamiya 7 as a std 35mm format camera. Well great, most people have one of these anyway, and for most people that want a pretty expensive MF rangefinder, the prospect of using it as a great 67 camera with the added ability to make panoramics is more interesting than converting it to a 35mm rangefinder with the ability to make panoramics.

 

It won't surprise you to learn that the adapter I bought with my initial Mamiya 7ii outfit lasted all of three weeks before I traded it.

[jim_landecker]

I quite like it for Kodak HIE though....