Pete Askew
Admin
Living in the same case is another rangefinder which I have to confess I haven't used for about 2 years - battery re-installed and ready to go though.
Formerly my favourite travel camera especially when fitted with the 65 mm lens, the Mamiya 7II is a 6x7 format rangefinder camera shooting 10 frames onto 120 roll film. In the main picture is the body fitted with an 80/f1:4.0 with, from right to left, a 50/f1:4.5, 65/f1:4.0 and the 150/f1:4.5. There is the ultra wide 43 mm lens available for the camera but it's too wide for most of the photography I do and a 210 mm lens. There is also a panoramic adapter allowing you to shoot wide onto 135 film. Each lens is fitted with an electrically actuated and electronically controlled leaf shutter that is extremely quiet but, of course, if the battery goes flat the camera will not function. Aperture control is on the lens and the camera can operate in manual mode as well as aperture priority / aperture lock mode. Film advance is manual and you can double expose by pressing a button to recock the shutter without advancing the film. The rangefinder is very accurate but the 150mm lens is a challenge to focus. The lenses are, as with all Mamiya's range, superb.
One of my favourite things about these cameras is the option to mount the strap on the side so it hangs perfectly without falling forward. I only wish other manufactures did the same. It is a large camera but pretty light (there's not much in the housing after all) and below is a comparison with a Leica M6.
One of the most important aspects of rangefinder-based cameras (and other cameras without mirrors - at least in smaller formats), is that the design of lenses, especially wide angle, is not compromised by limitation on the back projection of the rear elements. This is illustrated with the 50mm lens for the Mamiya 7 and it can be seen in the image below that the rear elements (ie from the silver-coloured mount, back) extend a long way and would foul a mirror if one were present - it ends up about 1 cm from the film plane. Beside the lens is the viewfinder to help with framing of this wide angle lens.
Obviously, as the shutter is in the lens you need to have a way to allow you to change lenses mid-roll. As with the C3 this is achieved through a secondary shutter (Hassleblad use dark-slides incorporated into the backs plus a secondary curtain in the body). Under the camera is a key that you turn to wind the shutter / blind across the film to enable you to change the lens without fogging the film (it is interlocked so you can't remove the lens when it is not in place nor make and exposure when it is). A button allows it to snap back out of the way. My only criticism of this camera is that the key is made of plastic and mine cracked within weeks (still works and would be easy to get repaired but didn't see the point as I suspected it would break again). A metal one would have been more appropriate.
All-in-all a very nice camera to use. So nice in fact that I think I will!!
Formerly my favourite travel camera especially when fitted with the 65 mm lens, the Mamiya 7II is a 6x7 format rangefinder camera shooting 10 frames onto 120 roll film. In the main picture is the body fitted with an 80/f1:4.0 with, from right to left, a 50/f1:4.5, 65/f1:4.0 and the 150/f1:4.5. There is the ultra wide 43 mm lens available for the camera but it's too wide for most of the photography I do and a 210 mm lens. There is also a panoramic adapter allowing you to shoot wide onto 135 film. Each lens is fitted with an electrically actuated and electronically controlled leaf shutter that is extremely quiet but, of course, if the battery goes flat the camera will not function. Aperture control is on the lens and the camera can operate in manual mode as well as aperture priority / aperture lock mode. Film advance is manual and you can double expose by pressing a button to recock the shutter without advancing the film. The rangefinder is very accurate but the 150mm lens is a challenge to focus. The lenses are, as with all Mamiya's range, superb.
One of my favourite things about these cameras is the option to mount the strap on the side so it hangs perfectly without falling forward. I only wish other manufactures did the same. It is a large camera but pretty light (there's not much in the housing after all) and below is a comparison with a Leica M6.
One of the most important aspects of rangefinder-based cameras (and other cameras without mirrors - at least in smaller formats), is that the design of lenses, especially wide angle, is not compromised by limitation on the back projection of the rear elements. This is illustrated with the 50mm lens for the Mamiya 7 and it can be seen in the image below that the rear elements (ie from the silver-coloured mount, back) extend a long way and would foul a mirror if one were present - it ends up about 1 cm from the film plane. Beside the lens is the viewfinder to help with framing of this wide angle lens.
Obviously, as the shutter is in the lens you need to have a way to allow you to change lenses mid-roll. As with the C3 this is achieved through a secondary shutter (Hassleblad use dark-slides incorporated into the backs plus a secondary curtain in the body). Under the camera is a key that you turn to wind the shutter / blind across the film to enable you to change the lens without fogging the film (it is interlocked so you can't remove the lens when it is not in place nor make and exposure when it is). A button allows it to snap back out of the way. My only criticism of this camera is that the key is made of plastic and mine cracked within weeks (still works and would be easy to get repaired but didn't see the point as I suspected it would break again). A metal one would have been more appropriate.
All-in-all a very nice camera to use. So nice in fact that I think I will!!
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