MF-Studio-Portrait-Film

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>What to buy ?<br>

One body/One lens<br>

Please help to buy to shoot studio portraits mainly with slides in MF. I prefer 6X7<br>

thanks</p>

 

[frank.schifano]

<p>You want color or B&W? If color, do you like your colors very saturated, a bit muted, or neutral? Do you like a high contrast or a moderate contrast film. Lots of questions to answer before anyone can make a considered suggestion. There is no one "best" choice.</p>

<p>Why transparency film? There's no advantage unless you want to project them. It won't make better prints.</p>

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>I am sorry for the confusion.<br>

<strong>I need suggestion for the body and lens -not the film</strong><br>

What to buy to have the best for the money-one body, one lens.<br>

I am thinking to have an MF body and lens in my basement studio. I am an ametuer.<br>

Thanks</p>

[patrick_mont]

<p>Then the Mamiya RB67 with a 150mm lens sound just right for you. As far as the film to shoot. Portra is a really nice film for Portrait.</p>

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>Thanks Patrick.</p>

<p>Any other suggestions ? Anybody, please ?</p>

[d_purdy]

<p>The Pentax 67 is great for studio work and feels like a large 35mm camera but gives 6x7 negs. Lots of fashion and portrait photographers have used it. Including me. The lenses are great for skin tone.<br>

Dennis</p>

[frank.schifano]

<p>Either the Pentax 67 or the Mamiya RB76 would be fine. It really depends on your preferences. The Pentax 67 handles like an oversized 35 mm SLR. It works well hand held, and you must rotate the camera to frame a composition in portrait orientation. It has a focal plane shutter with a very low sync speed, 1/30 or 1/60 second, that can make using flash in anything more than very low ambient lighting conditions difficult.<br>

The Mamiya RB and RZ cameras have rotating backs, so in order to frame a portrait orientation composition only the back needs to be rotated. The camera body remains fixed, making the use of a waist level finder for both landscape and portrait oriented compositions equally easily. Leaf shutters are used in all the lenses, making flash exposures with fast film easy under a wider range of ambient lighting conditions.<br>

If I were making that decision, I'd go with the Mamiya RB or RZ cameras with a 150 or 180 mm lens. They can be unwieldy used as hand held cameras, but on a tripod and in the studio, they are far more flexible.</p>

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>Thanks everybody.<br>

Now, is there any advantage of a 6 X 6 format ? Hassy 501C/M, from lens point of view ?<br>

As I said, <strong>I want one body and one lens</strong> for portrait photography. Exclusively studio use. If I want a stellar performer of a lens what would be the recommendations? The body is always secondary-as we all know.</p>

<p>Thanks for your input.</p>

 

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>Buy a Mamiya RB or RZ - they have revolving backs and leaf shutter lenses that sync at all speeds.</p>

[chris_waller]

<p>Mamiya RB67 plus 180mm lens.</p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>Rb for tripod, Pentax if you prefer handheld. Both have good lenses.</p>

[frank.schifano]

<p>I don't think there's any advantage to the 6x6 format for what you want to do. If anything, you get much less negative area to work with if you crop the 6x6 square image down to a rectangle for printing. By contrast, you need to crop very little from the 6x7 format to achieve a square composition. While the Hasselblad is famous for its excellent lenses, I don't think you'll find the Mamiya lenses lacking in practical use.</p>

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>Totally agree with Frank.</p>

<p>Thanks everybody</p>

[randall_pukalo]

<p>If you are willing to look at 645 format, which is basically Hasselbald once you crop the 6x6, you should look at the Fuji GA645Zi. It has a 55-90mm zoom lens that is super sharp. When I first bought it, i was used to the large zoom ranges you can get in 35mm, and was disappointed with the 32-60mm equivelant zoom range. Until I realized they did that to keep this lens as sharp as primes!<br>

Anyways, this camera takes great waist level up and full body portraits, but it does not do tight facial close ups. So, depending upon what you want to do, it may not be the best choice. BUT, it is a very flexible camera, and you will find many uses fro it outside the studio. So small and light (unlike any other 645 camera) that you can pack it in your bag as a second camera. Thats what I do, and I love it.<br>

But perhaps a Contax 645 with the 80 f/2 Carl Zeiss lens is your answer for a 1 camera, 1 lens solution. You can do anything from full body to head and shoulders close up with this lens. Add a Canon 500D Close up lens ($150), and you can do facial close ups and semi-macro stuff too. The Contax body is a joy to use also.</p>

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>randall,<br>

Thanks for your suggestions.<br>

As I said, this camera will be exclusively for studio/tripod use and yes, I love tight close up of faces !<br>

Also, it has to be ONE body/ ONE lens.<br>

I am looking for the biggest negative size in MF and that is why I did not want a 6 x 6 or smaller size .<br>

I am still undecided and expecting more suggestions.<br>

Thanks again, everybody !</p>

[philip_wilson]

<p>You may also want to consider the Fuji GX 680 and 180mm F3.2 lens. It is large and the lens is quite expensive but is probably the best portrait lens I have ever used. It is clearly higher quality than the Mamiya 67 it replaced. the front movement capability of the camera is also a big advantage. I think you will be disappointed with 645 for studio use - my 5DII and mamiya 645 scanned with a Nikon 9000 scanner produce very similar results.</p>

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>Phillip,</p>

<p>Now you put me in trouble! I almost selected a Mamiya RZ 67 and an 180 lens from KEH !<br>

I have to look at what you said.<br>

I shoot with 1Ds MK II and have a few fine L lenses, including the 85 1.2 L/50 1.2L and 135 2L( mainly 85), the 3 lenses I use for my portraits. I have blown the portraits up to 40 X 60 with very good results, to me) !<br>

My quest for an MF is mainly curiosity to see with that hugh negative, how much better it could be, expecially with slides -scanned and printed or projected.</p>

[robert lee]

<blockquote>

<p>My quest for an MF is mainly curiosity to see with that hugh negative, how much better it could be ...</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The RZ and 180mm is undoubtedly a good combination. I use the RB and shoot primarily portraits as well. I'm very satisfied with the 90mm and 250mm.</p>

<p>In any case, 6x7 scan originated 40x60 prints can look noticeably better than the best of current small format digital. </p>

<p>The film matters - Kodak 160NC is a good place to start (and probably end at.) Since you'll be working with controlled lighting in the studio, the extra sensitivity from 400ISO isn't worth the relatively degraded resolution, grain, nor tonality.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that the scan output is simply a starting point, just like digital RAW and deserves to be treated just as such. Apply judicious noise reduction followed by frequency domain based sharpening. The result should look pretty similar to what you're getting out of the Canon DSLR in feel, but with noticeably more image detail.</p>

[capocheny]

<p>I concur with Phillip's suggestion on the Fuji 680II or III with the 180f3.2. The Fujinon lenses are first rate in terms of overall quality and are sharp and contrasty. Secondly, they are very well-built and will last a lifetime with care. The only drawback to the system is that they're not as readily available on the used market as the RB/RZ67s or Blads. However, they do come up every so often on the bay.<br></p><p><br></p><p>I took one out for a test-drive and ended up buying a Blad because of the weight difference between the two bodies. The Blad is quite a bit lighter. But, since you're using it in a studio setting only, weight isn't going to be a consideration.</p><p><br></p><p>Good luck on your decision.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

[lightwriting by swapan]

<p>HC<br>

Interesting !<br>

I was looking at the Fuji you and Philip suggested. A lot more money but I am tempted because of the T/S possibilities with the bellow which is not possible with the Mamiya !<br>

As this is mainly for fun- T/S will be useful for experimenting with DOF and composition!<br>

The only problem- ebay shows a seller in Taiwan- even though rating is good! I normally do not buy from ebay-especially an expensive item !<br>

Can some members with experience of buying expensive items from ebay give me their opinions, please ?<br>

Thanks again.</p>

[zack_zoll]

<p>I went with the Hasselblad over the Mamiya. However, I travel with the camera, so size and weight are big issues. I also happen to prefer the square format, as it allows me to shoot as I want, and deal with cropping issues later. Your milage will vary, if you're working in a slower-paced environment.</p>

<p>Hasselblad has better lenses than Mamiya, but the Mamiya 67s use larger negatives. Its sort of a wash. If you want big prints, go Mamiya. Otherwise, go Hassy.</p>

<p>I would buy my camera from KEH though over ebay, as very few people on this forum have anything negative to say about them. But we've all been screwed on Ebay. I would also get the RB67 over the RZ67. It sounds like you already have meters and stuff, so the extra electronics on the RZ are going to drive up price, make the camera slightly more complicated, and not really add anything to your quality.</p>

<p>For films, I have four recommendations. I use Ilford PanF+ for the broadest dynamic range, and FP4 most of the time because I like the look of it. I usually develop in Rodinol 1+50 which does bring out the grain slightly, but gives the images a wonderful look. For colour I use Fuji 160S, or Kodak Portra 160NC if I might make them black and white later. I don't like the cold look of Portra NC, but it converts to black and white very nicely.</p>