Buying a Mamiya Press (1960)

[bruno_lessen]

<p>Hi everybody.</p>

<p>I would like to buy a Mamiya Press. I've found one one the internet.</p>

<p>First, metal model (1960) +<br>

65mm F/5.6<br />150mm F/5.6<br />90mm F/3.5<br>

For 300 EUR (about 410 USD).<br>

I cannot try the camera, but the seller says it works perfectly.</p>

<p>What do you think? I take portraits and still life.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>It would not be my first choice for portraits and still life (I would think a 6x9 Crown Graphic would be better) but if the price is right you could certainly try it.<br /> But there are two questions I'd ask first:<br /> 1. how close the lenses will focus just to make sure a tight crop of the face will fill the negative. <br /> 2. how parallax is compensated for.</p>

[tim_ludwig2]

<p>Bruno, If portraiture is your goal, I would suggest you look at one of the RB series with both 180 and 127 lenses.</p>

<p>The Mamiya Press cameras are good and fun to work with, but parallax issues on head shots and the generally cumbersome handling in comparison make other systems simpler when making portraits. Both systems would be fine for still life work.</p>

<p>If you remain interested in this camera, be sure that you check all lenses for fungus. I have encountered three of theses<br /> in kit form that had really heavy amounts of fungus on all lenses internally. Of course, I have also seen a few that were absolutely fine. Just be sure to check it out.</p>

<p>Tim</p>

[AJG]

<p>Does that price include film backs? Without at least one you can't make photographs. Also, the 150 mm lens won't focus that close, so it definitely won't fill the frame with a face. That said, I got a lot of use out of my Mamiya Universal with 65, 100 and 150 lenses and always had good results from it.</p>

[jim_peterson2]

<p>I just sold my <a href="http://chemicalcameras.wordpress.com/mamiya-press-super-23/">Mamiya Press Super 23</a> a few weeks ago. I enjoyed it a lot, but it certainly does take some getting used to. I found that the 100/3.5 lens had rather nice bokeh. It's a wonderful piece of photographic history that will still produce lovely photos, but as the name suggests, it was designed more for hand held work. The various film back options make it quite versatile in its own right in terms of frame sizes.</p>

[bruno_lessen]

<p>Thank you all.<br>

Yes, Andrew, it includes one 66-645 back. The lenses seem to be fungus free. I think I'll buy it.</p>