which lenses to start with?

[alain_pilon]

AS seen in another thread, I am getting a medium format camera (yeh!) and it will be a Mamiya 67 pro-s. I have started to look around for

info and prices. So my question is: which lenses should I get? I am going toward landscape and portrait. So in 35mm terms, that would be

something around 25mm and 50-85mm.

 

I see a lot of lenses that look similar but I dont know which are the ones to look for since there seem to be a big difference in pricing from

the cheapest to the most expensive.

 

Thanks.

[Gary Naka]

Think about a set of lenses.

Example, a couple of the old 35mm sets were

- 2 lens: 35mm, 85 or 105mm

- 3 lens: 28mm, 50mm, 135mm

 

In landscape I normally go WIDE (24mm for 35mm film), but there have been cases where I pull out my tele.

Simiarly for portrait. People talk about the 85mm (for 35mm film), but in reality it depends on what kind of portrait you shoot; group, full length, 3/4, head and shoulder, tight on the head. Each requires a different setup of distance and/or lens.

So you have to really think about how YOU shoot.

 

In my case, because I am still a "generalist" I went with one of the standard 3 lens sets for a 6x6 camera; 50/80/150. If I start to specialize, then I may have to add a lens or change one of the lenses in the set. Indeed I was vacilating between the 150 and 180.

 

I talked to one guy and he said for the longer lenses the size and weight start to become a factor. He shoots a 150 specifically because in his mind the added bulk of the 180 was not worth it...to him. And that was a reason that I went with a 50 rather than a 40 for my wide lens.

 

BTW, the 25mm for 35mm film will be hard/expensive to duplicate in MF.

[ronald_moravec1]

65 wide 110 normal 180 portrait 180 soft focus if you love it or both 180`s

[golden]

I like the 65 for landscapes, 150sf and 180 for portraits, i use my 90 or 127 as my normal. good luck

[golden]

i think 50 is the widest you can go on the pro s, 360 is the longest, (i may be wrong), these cameras are heavy especially with a prism on top,(cds metered prism), ive read threads where guys say, "im young, weight is not a problem" I thought the same thing, im not too old, and 6'6 255lbs, and hiking with this beast after a while begins to get ya. : )) but the results are well worth it, great images and bigger biceps (you can do curls as you walk)

[william_markey]

I use the 180mm for portraits on my RB67 and cannot say enough goog things about it. It blurs out the background so beautifully! Just THE perfect portrait lens, in my opinion. I use it for 99% of my work with the RB67--virtually never use my 90mm (not because it is bad, it's just that the 180mm is that good!). Do not have the 65mm, but it is superb too from what I hear.

[cole_cyccone]

I used the 50mm for landscapes (dont bother with the fle version) and a 127mm for everything else. Its about a 60mm in

135 terms.