Mamiya 7II Panoramic Adapter

[paul_mueller2]

I've searched this site and others for the answer to these questions.

I've also become familiar with various negative and positive reviews

of the panoramic adapter for the Mamiya 7II. Can someone answers these

questions?

 

1. Can I use the adapter with the 50mm lens? (it is my only lens for

this camera. I'm not interested in knowing if its the 'best' lens to

use with the panoramic kit. I only want to know if it will work)

 

2. Does the kit provide a viewfinder so that I can see the panoramic

framing? Or do I have to guess at the masking?

 

3. If the answer to question #2 is YES. Will this viewfinder work with

the 50mm lens?

 

Thanks for taking the time to help me with this!

[eric_brody]

1. It will work.

2. There's no finder in the kit.

 

I have an M7II and the 50mm lens. I do not own the panoramic adapter but...

 

Most importantly, do you really want it? All it is is a mask for the film chamber and a way to use 35mm film. The only advantage I can think of is the use of a film available only in 35mm. Otherwise, just crop the 6x7 standard negative as you see fit and avoid all the hassle.

 

Good luck.

 

Eric

[paul_mueller2]

Thanks Eric.

 

I've discovered (by the novel method of looking over my mamiya lens owner's manual) that the viewfinder for the 50mm lens does indeed have guidelines for the 35mm panoramic kit. So it looks like I wouldn't have to guess after all - good news for me.

 

But your question "why bother" is still a good one.

 

I guess I'd have to weigh this as a possible advantage to using the kit:

 

longer cheaper 35mm film yields more panoramic images per roll (assuming the kit accomodates 36 exposure rolls)

 

Against these disadvantages to using the kit:

 

The initial investment to buy the thing.

The possibility that the film is not held flat.

The likelihood (based on other reviews) that I'll find the kit cumbersome to use.

 

Thanks again for your input.

 

Paul

[lee hamiel]

I could be wrong but I believe the M7 only accepts 120 or 220 film - I have an M6 & these are the only options.

[lee hamiel]

I also agree with Eric regarding simply cropping to panoramic mode - + you may prefer a different comp!

[david_henderson]

The entire purpose of the adapter being discussed here is to enable the Mamiya 7 to accept 35mm film. As others have indicated it works with the 50mm lens and there is no viewfinder or template to help you frame the panorama, though there are a couple of small marks in the viewfinder(s) which help somewhat.

 

Quite why anyone would want to buy a medium format camera and then put 35mm through it defeats me though. Bear in mind that once you put a roll of 35mm film in the camera you lose the ability to make 67 frames until you remove that roll; if you cut your panoramas out of 120 film you can change between full frame and panoramas shot by shot.

[paul_mueller2]

I can see the practical sense to cropping 67 negs to create panoramics. However, part of the photographic process that I personally enjoy is to select my framing 'in camera' as oppossed to doing it at some later point. I have no desire to debate this on tired purist grounds. As a matter of fact, I have no purists grounds. I simply enjoy it and am hoping not to have to decide to give up that part of the fun. There are many ways to be a photographer and I consider any way to be valid by virtue that someone chooses it. Thanks to all who have contributed input to my question. I greatly appreciate your time.

 

Happy photographing!

 

Paul

[john_stockdale2]

And consider the number of posts around the internet, including Mamiya's own site, in which people have reported that it didn't work very well, apparently due to film plane inaccuracy/instability.

 

These things are often available on the auction site, and they are always "mint", suggesting that hardly anyone liked using them much.

[Aoresteen]

A good reason to use the pano kit is to use a 35mm film that is not available in 120. Kodak Infarred and Kodachrome 64 are about the only ones I can think of right now.

 

If Kodachrome 25 was still around that would be an even better reason to use the 35mm adapter.

 

The other reason is for when you send out for prints the lab will print the pano exacly like the frame is. Telling a lab to crop a 120 frame to 24x65mm can lead to errors.

[ilkka]

One reason that might make it useful is as an emergency backup. If you for example travel with both the M7 and a 35 mm film camera and you either run out of 120 film or your 35 camera breaks you would have a way of using your existing film on the M7. But I agree, it is not that convenient in normal use. In this respect the XPan is much better since you can vary image size in mid roll. The great benefit of cropping from the 67 negative is that you don't have to crop in the middle. You can level the camera and crop 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up or down to get the same effect as with a rising or falling front.

[Giovanni Cappai]

I use the adaptor regularly. The adaptor forces me to "see" panoramic subjects, that without it I would have passed. In practice the thinks that bother me are:

1. Somehow stiffer wind (even worst than 220, especially near the end of film)

2. Weird position of camera on a table or bag with the rewind knob at the bottom

3. Difficult extraction of the adaptor?s take up spool.

[nathaniel_pearson]

One more question about the adapter kit: can it be used on the Mamiya 6MF? I know

that there is a separate one made for the 6MF, but it's hard to find, and if the only

difference is that the 7 model has a wider mask, I can live with it. Does anyone know?