Monday, January 30, 2006

Mamiya M645 hands on review

A friend lend me his Mamiya m645(top speed 1/500) with 80/2.8,two inserts,chimney finder,lots of filters and close up rings. He wants to sell it but doesnt have the time to check its operation.

I clicked away one film,will do another then develop - the camera handles well but is bulky and heavy to be used handheld for a long time. I like it.

2/2/06 UPDATE
I shot two films with the mamiya(both kodak pan-x 15 years expired developed for 15 minutes in tetenal ultrafin liquid 1+20 at 20 degrees centigrate) they are tack sharp and I want to print them by hand- not to ruin my impression by the overpriced minilab scans of shitty quality.

Things I like about the Camera:

1)Handholdable at 1/60 with no grip and normal lens,didnt try lower
2)very sharp and contrasty lens,gresat details
3)AE possible with prism
4)15 frames on film(not 12 as in 6x6 I am familiar with)
5)great image spacing-very constant(a problem with many older mf cameras)
6)Stop Down Via auto-manual lever on lens
7)80/1.9 is available as normal lens
8)losts long on 1 battery
9)very cheaply available today,lenses also
10)bright focusing screen
11)looks sturdy-I think it wont break easily if dropped

Things I don't like about the camera:

1)no accessory shoe
2)practicly impossible to shoot vertical shots with the chimney finder
3)finder isn't sealed- seems to attract dust
4)requires battery for shutter(6V)
5)for that size\weight I would prefer 6x6 negs
6)needs changing bag to change inserts in mid roll-back is easier-but more expensive
7)no half stops on the normal lens
8)15 frames per film(not 16)

I want to test it with slides to see how the lens renders color.

4 comments:

edwardolive said...

all true

Michael Ivnitsky said...

thanks for looking!

Anonymous said...

actually you can choose intermediate apertures too on the standard lens. true they dont click, but you can put the selecter in between clicks and the diaphragm will close correctly. this procedure is explained on the camera manual too.

Michael Ivnitsky said...

aha, i dont own it now, but i learnt it from other cameras