Mamiya 180mm F4.5 K/l L-a

Rob MacKillop

Rob MacKillop

Edinburgh Correspondent
This beautiful baby arrived today from Ffordes. Her little brother, the macro 140mm, should arrive tomorrow...




She is reputed to be a good portrait lens. There is a 150mm "soft focus" lens which people have used for portraits, but that seems to have fallen out of fashion after Dallas finished...

In situ:




But, as I'm not applying for a job at DPReview...here are some more realistic shots:







 
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Despite the last three shots, the reason for the acquisition of two more lenses to place alongside the 90mm K/L I've had since buying the RB67 Pro SD, is to start concentrating more on 'straight' film work. I'm determined to improve my exposure calculation, and composition. I may make minor adjustments in Elements...we shall see.

So, in this 180mm lens we have - from bottom up -




Aperture - up to 45 (never been that far before)

Shutter Speed - Bulb is lurking on the far right edge in the picture

Distance to subject - determined from a graph on the side of the camera, for accurate focus

DOF indicator

One thing I don't understand - I've read this is a 85mm equivalent. Why? Almost exactly half.

Also can't find out what the L-A stands for - see top of picture

The view through the viewfinder is stunning. I took two shots on the end of a roll, and hope to get that back on Saturday. However, it might take me a couple of rolls to really get to grips with it.
 
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Nice!

So this gives you a great portrait and medium tele lens - with MF, even shooting at f/8 would give you lovely shallow DOF and lots of bokeh

Should be a lot of fun

What are you using for a meter?
 
Lovely images, Rob. The non-DP Review ones especially! In particular the first of those three. :D

"L-A"...Hmmm. I'm thinking the A is for automatic, as in automatic stop down when you trip the shutter. L may be for quite the opposite,...? Och,...I'm havering! I'm sure it's something else.

"85mm equivalent"...maybe means that's what it would be equivalent to in a 35mm camera,...?

Lovely camera. I have a friend who has her dad's RB67 and lenses and backs. (It is she from whom I recently purchased the Oly OM-2N that I love so dearly.) I wonder if I should make her an offer on speculation?
 
@Chris Dodkin - I currently use an iPhone app - FotoMeterPro

This guy compares it against a Sekonic


I've noticed that every light meter I've used gives a slightly different reading. I guess the answer is to use the same one all the time, so you get used to it and can adjust accordingly. But that takes time and experience. But the FotoMeterPro is easy to use. I just set the ISO and aperture, then read the shutter speed. I can choose different apertures for different shutter speeds.
 
@Brian Moore - I'd say ask her soon. I love this camera, despite its bulk. It's not necessary to use a tripod, but it certainly helps! But you seem to have a whole collection of "go anywhere" pods to help out.

And the revolving back is fun!
 
Thanks, Pete. I have enough to keep me going for a while. The macro arrived 20 minutes ago. It looks great, but I can't get it to lock onto the camera. So I'm about to look online for help.
 
Pete Askew said:
I'm guess that the A is for Apochromat and the L is for low dispersion glass. The K/L tells you which bodies it will work on.
Click to expand...

Actually, "L-A" denotes a floating element in Mamiya-speak as I recall. I believe the only APO RB/RZ lenses made were long focal lengths (210mm and above). I used an RB many, many years ago - always loved that camera.

The 85mm equivalent refers to the 35mm FOV. 6x7/6x6 is approx a .5X FOV crop factor compared to 35mm.

f/45 is around the diffraction limit for 6x7, so go crazy. As you probably already know, the DOF at apertures you are used to on 35mm have no DOF on MF. Tripods are your friends because you will have pretty slow shutter speeds to get workable DOF.
 
Hey Rob;

How's you getting on with the RB67 kit? I owned a new one many (many) years ago, beautiful kit, solid as a tank. Excellent professional medium format. The movable 120 back is handy.

I'd love to pick up the likes of a Pentax 67 at some stage, or a Blad 500 CM, so many great cameras --- so little money.
 
Great. It's my favourite camera (of the ones I've had) and would use it all the time if it weren't so heavy. I do take it outside occasionally, but not as often as I'd like. I don't have a car, so I either have to walk with it or get a bus, and either way is awkward. But the results are great, I think, and nothing like my digital shots.

I have three lenses for it now: 90mm K/L, 180mm K/L and the Macro-C 140mm, for which I have the No.1 extension tube. For true macro I'd need to get the No.2 extension tube as well. Some say the K/L lenses have better coatings, but others argue there is no difference, other than the K/L lenses are purpose built for the Pro SD body, while the C lenses require an adapter ring. I wouldn't mind the 65mm as well, for landscapes. One day.

You can probably tell, I love it! The Pentax and Blad are certainly more manageable. I've read quite a few comments that the Pentax is not in the same league as the Mamiya and the Blad, but you know what these photography forums are like!
 
Yes 'medium format' is very addictive !!

I've vivid memories of shooting a close friends wedding around the mid 1980's with a Mamiya C330S and used the Mamiya 180 lens for the odd portrait shot on the day with Fuji 160asa NPS film, stunning results, clarity and colours to die for. I used a Pro lab for developing & printing.

I used a Minolta Autometer 3 to record light, so accurate. wOw it brings back floods of great memories even typing this now.

Hmm quite tempted to find a mint/used C330S TLR.
 
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