Mamiya 645: 35mm lens, How is it????

[john_rogers3]

i am very interested in hearing user comments on the 35mm lens for

mamiya 645, specifically how it handles shooting close to subject,

and how it treats vertical elements such as light poles, shoooting

close to a door way, etc. do the vertical lines curve inward from

bottom to top. also if shooting say a large gp of people, is there

noticeable distortion on the people at the far left and right of the

picture, ie is there noticeable end to end distortion, and how much.

I understand the 45mm is very nice, i was interested in shooting a bit

wider, and am interested in what to expect. My fisheye has all the

distortion i want on vertical lines, so i'm looking for a wide angle

lens like a 35mm meduim format wilth the leasst amt of distortion. I

understand that to get extremely low distortion, one has to use a

special camera body that is very shallow so the lens to film plane is

at a minimum, bodies like hassey SWC or mamiya 7 were specifically

built to accomodate low distortion wide angle lenses. the 645 is not

in this category, but i am curious as to how much distortion the 35mm

lens has. the prospect of using a distortion free wide angle lens

with a MF system is very exciting to me personally. I want the depth

of field and lack of distortion.

thanks in advance,

[moses_sparks]

John,

 

I used to own the latest "N" version of the 35mm which I used with the 645 Pro TL camera, and I really liked it. I found the distortion very minimal when I kept all the planes parallel.

 

I used this lens for architectural interiors and large groups of people, and in both cases it did a very good job.

 

If you move in very close to the subject and shoot at extreme angles it will introduce perspective distortion of course, but it is well corrected for it's focal length.

 

I have read widely varying reports of the optical performance of the 35mm, but I think that has a lot to do with the "vintage" of the lens. The older "C" versions do not seem to do as well as the newer "N" versions, and that holds true for several lenses in the 645 line.

 

I ultimately sold my 645 system, but it was because I found the format not to my taste, not due to any shortcomings in the lenses. The 35mm was one of my favorites.

[des_hill]

I used the M645 35mm lens, for several years, mostly for architectural interiors. Linear distortion (straight lines at the edge of the frame) was quite well controlled, though, say a car wheel, at the edge of the frame did look slightly egg shaped. Sharpness was OK, though not outstanding. The 45mm was probably better in that respect. A couple of years ago I got the M7 with a 43mm lens which is far far better, from the sharpness and distortion aspect, and has a slightly wider angle of view. The viewfinder, not being a reflex, is very nuch more difficult to use with confidence, if precisely framing an interior say, I use a seperate spirit level to get things spot on, which I did as well with the M645 anyway. The bubble in the 43mm's viewfinder is quite useless. For photography 'in the field' the M7 is superior in my veiw.

[mark_tupper]

all wide angles have perspective distortion...thats why we love em!

barrel and pincushion thats why we hate them !

of the first the mamiya 35mm is the same as any other 90 degree lens

......laws of physics! b and p not a problem....do what I did...buy it

use it love it!....an exceedingly fine lens (latest version)

tups@marktupper.co.uk