WOohoo! Someone lent me a Mamuya 645...

Bennp2000

Bennp2000

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Paul
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As you can see I'm pretty excited:

A friend is going away for a month and as he's mainly shooting digital or large format he offered to lend me his Mamiya 645 pro tl, 35,60,80 (1.9) and 150mm lenses, of course I jumped at the chance.

Now, he was kind enough to show me over the camera and load a roll of Provia 100.

I'm expecting a few hard lessons. If there's any advice people can give me (I've only really shot digital, unless disposables count?) so I don't have to learn the basics the hard way when I get my results back from the lab?
 
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Well you now only hav 15 shots to play with so slow down and take things easy :)

Read the manual espically about loading the film as it is not to hard to get it wrong. Even when you have been shooting MF cameras for years :lol:

When you get them back post them up :thumbs:
 
First of all welcome to the best bit of TP and best of luck with the Mamiya Paul, when you get your first roll back stick them up on here.

The main thing is to take your time and enjoy it :thumbs:

There's some stunning shots on your website and the Mamiya is small and light enough to lug up a few hills, I'm sure you'll appreciate the large negative and the detail you can get out of them, I look forward to seeing some landscapes shot with that 35mm, that's wide for a MF camera.
 
thanks for the encouragement and kind comments about the site.

Unfortunately one thing I don't own (and I should), is a decent, tripod (and this thing feels heavy to me). I've only got a REALLY cheap and shaky argos version from years ago (which I bought for a video camera). Next time I'm flush it should really be top of the list, followed shortly by grads as I can't do exposure blending with this!

The person from which I borrowed I it is predominantly a landscape shooter (which explains the wide end), his site is here: http://www.adamlong.co.uk/index.html
 
Here's a tip, shoot wide open portraits on the 80mm f/1.9, sharpest lens I've ever used wide open.
 
The ultra-rare "mamuya 645"
 
Have a look at Redsnapper tripods, they usually have some bargains and they are excellent bits of kit. They advertise on here as well.

Andy
 
... and today Fujifilm announce that they're discontinuing Velvia 50 and 100f, is this a sign that I should give the MF back before I get addicted and end up buying a second freezer?
 
Bennp2000 said:
... and today Fujifilm announce that they're discontinuing Velvia 50 and 100f, is this a sign that I should give the MF back before I get addicted and end up buying a second freezer?
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50 will still be available in 120, as will normal velvia 100, so don't start the doom-mongering just yet!
 
Been a newbie I have no idea what your talking about, but I thought, I know I'll clik on the green hot link, I'm guess he hasn't lent you a pair of car brake lights:shrug:

What a strange link:shake:
 
npinks said:
Been a newbie I have no idea what your talking about, but I thought, I know I'll clik on the green hot link, I'm guess he hasn't lent you a pair of car brake lights:shrug:

What a strange link:shake:
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That's just advertising that apparently pays for the rubber bands that keep the server disks spinning. Don't tell the advertisers, but you'll quickly learn to ignore it! :naughty:
 
:thinking: well I know were to come for random impulse purchases:bonk:
 
Ok, well I'm approaching the end of my first roll but I've got a question:

I've been using my 5DmkII for metering and I end up with increments of 1/3rd of a stop. How do I deal with this on the Mamiya, I've only got options for complete stops?

Also, I live in Sheffield so I was going to use Peak for developing. Should I get that done and then beg a friend to scan any keepers as develop + scan seems reasonably expensive?
 
Bennp2000 said:
Ok, well I'm approaching the end of my first roll but I've got a question:

I've been using my 5DmkII for metering and I end up with increments of 1/3rd of a stop. How do I deal with this on the Mamiya, I've only got options for complete stops?

Also, I live in Sheffield so I was going to use Peak for developing. Should I get that done and then beg a friend to scan any keepers as develop + scan seems reasonably expensive?
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For negative film 1/3 of a stop is nothing so i wouldnt worry about it, if you are shooting velvia or other tight slide films then its best to underexpose by 1/3 than to overexpose
 
I'm not an expert in scanning slide film, i do a multipass scan and then do my exposure adjustments in lightroom
 
Bennp2000 said:
This (and the next roll I have waiting) is 100F. Do you have any control whilst scanning for exposure adjustment etc.?
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I've just sent off a roll of Velvia 100 and a roll of Provia 100F, and I'm getting them scanned by the processor despite the absurd price. I previously had (accidentally) over-exposed a roll of EliteChrome by one stop (and asked the lab to pull it back, and do a basic scan). I had a go at scanning it myself with the Plustek 7500i and SilverFast SE, and although I got more pixels, my results weren't nearly as good. It's OK for well-exposed images, but if anything is at the darker end of the dynamic range, my scanner shows it as the "annoying peppergrain effect: that Guy Tal mentions in http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GuyTalPhotographyWebJournal/~3/gEBGlpR6tgA/ (don't go there if you love Velvia!).

My idea was to use transparencies so I wouldn't have to deal with the colour cast issues of negatives, but the narrower dynamic range and scanning problems have ruled that out. So I think it's back to negative film for me. Now, where can I get some Portra to try?
 
Can I also ask how you guys meter? When there's a person as the subject do you spot meter on them with some sort of adjustment? I've been using my digital histogram and crossing my fingers.

Carrying a 5d around + this thing and then all of my other 'stuff' isn't exactly lightweight!
 
Bennp2000 said:
Carrying a 5d around + this thing and then all of my other 'stuff' isn't exactly lightweight!
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Tell me about it, my medium format is just shy of 4kg which means i always need to carry a tripod
 
@Chris: 7 day shop :) I just ordered a box of 5 x 120 Portra 160 and it got to Kenilworth in 3 days with the free postage! And it worked out about £3 a roll.


Paul, as has been mentioned with metering: Err on the side of caution (slight underexposure) with slide film when the Canon says a 1/3 stop reading. What I'd suggest, seeing as it's your first roll, is to maybe shoot 2 frames, one either side of the reading, so you can see what the kind of difference it makes? That way you can start to make educated guesses on which way to go on future rolls :)

More and more these days I use an app called "Light Meter" on my phone. It's very accurate as a reflective light meter and because you can see how the exposure looks you can tweak it accordingly, which is leading to less and less badly exposed shots for me. With 35mm I use the meter in the prism on my OM-2n. Does the job perfectly :)
 
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Plus one on the 'Light Meter' app. I've found it pretty accurate, it's free and it's always in my pocket.
 
Worth checking it with a digital camera before you rely on it. My phone or app only goes up to a certain level and it results in an over exposure if you're not careful.
 
^Have done, and is pretty much bang on well within the ranges that my film cameras that I use it with can handle :) definitely a good tip though.
 
Okie dokie, I got my first roll of Provia 100f back from Peak (process only) and just opened it up like it was Christmas day.

I quickly suspended the slides from a chair, lit the wall behind with flash to try and grab a digital preview of a couple:


Kilnsey, North Yorkshire by travelswithmyt4, on Flickr

Most of the exposure looks fairly ok to me but I think I've missed focus (one shot of my Dad would have been great) but I'm finding it hard to tell (I'm using an android tablet as a light table and an old 50mm as a loupe, I can see pixels on the screen pretty quickly!). Most were shot with the 80mm f/1.9 (lovely) and the one above using the 45mm.

A friend has offered to scan a few of these but I don't want to take the michael too much, any other good way to preview my images or anywhere affordable to scan these? I'm regretting not just paying Peak to do it.

If I ever manage to go travelling again I can't really see how I'd do it without one of these for landscape work.

Paul
 
If it's not something you'll be doing regularly, you might as well pay peak to do it

But if you do shoot it regularly then you will be able to pick up a dedicated film scanner, several on here (myself included) use an Epson V500 which scans medium format. You will be able to pick one up new for somewhere in the vicinity of £150 and it will give you good scans right out of the box

If your budget is higher, you might want to look at the V700 which can scan more 120 than the V500 (2 strips of 6x12 as opposed to 1), the V700 is understandably more expensive and will give you better results
 
Can someone tell me if the window on the film back is indicating which exposure you're on i.e. if it says 1 have I shot anything yet? 1 exposure? or am I on the 1st exposure?

Thanks.
 
Bennp2000 said:
Can someone tell me if the window on the film back is indicating which exposure you're on i.e. if it says 1 have I shot anything yet? 1 exposure? or am I on the 1st exposure?

Thanks.
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If its the same as the film back on my Mamiya RB67 it will say that you are on the first exposure ie not taken anything.
 
robhooley167 said:
If its the same as the film back on my Mamiya RB67 it will say that you are on the first exposure ie not taken anything.
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Or you could have taken 1 shot and not wound on yet?
 
RaglanSurf said:
Or you could have taken 1 shot and not wound on yet?
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It has an indicator marker that pops onto the frame number when exposed

Surely if you try to wind on and it doesn't let you then you haven't exposed anything?
 
It wasn't that, I was trying to work out how many shots I had left and whether to just fire them off before returning the camera to its rightful (and more talented) owner. Its gone now for a few months (sob).
 
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