Mamiya Cameras???

rickp

I just watched the show called "From the Edge with Peter Lik" and I noticed he's shooting a Mamayia Camera.

I've never heard of that brand, are they really high end systems?

R.

ziggy53

Apparently he uses many cameras, from a Mamiya 645AFD with digital backs, to a Linhof 6x17. Hard telling what else.

JimKarczewski

His main digital body is a mamiya 645af. However, I don't know if he shoots his panos with that as you need a pano head and from what I've seen on his show (and clips online) he doesn't use one. That or he's just cropping in a pano format. It's REALLY hard to tell what back he's using. Knowing him and what he charges (he is a multi-millionaire thanks to his work) he can shoot with the Phase One 80MP back which is $45k and still have enough pixels to crop to a monster panorama format.

ziggy53

JimKarczewski wrote: »

His main digital body is a mamiya 645af. However, I don't know if he shoots his panos with that as you need a pano head and from what I've seen on his show (and clips online) he doesn't use one. That or he's just cropping in a pano format. It's REALLY hard to tell what back he's using. Knowing him and what he charges (he is a multi-millionaire thanks to his work) he can shoot with the Phase One 80MP back which is $45k and still have enough pixels to crop to a monster panorama format.

On his website it is confirmed that he recently got back from a shoot using the Linhof 6x17.

Harryb

My first SLR camera was a Mamiya. I bought it in Vietnam in 1968.

Warped

rickp wrote: »

I just watched the show called "From the Edge with Peter Lik" and I noticed he's shooting a Mamayia Camera.

I've never heard of that brand, are they really high end systems?

R.

Mamiya have been around for a very long time and specialise in larger format equipment. Mamiya are now owned by (or they bought??) Phase One.

If you've not heard of Mamiya I'll assume you've not heard much about Medium or Large format film (apologies if you have) - so a brief history lesson.

Medium format film is larger then 35mm film, so better for large prints and specialist magazine and print work. Whilst 35mm film was in a roll inserted into the camera, MF film was inserted into a "back" and these backs were removable. Using MF gear you could set up and put on a polariod back and take a test shot, change the back to one loaded with colour film and shoot a few frames, change to a back loaded with B&W film and shoot a few shots, change clothing and lighting and back to the polariod for a test.....etc.

Large format was typically one shot per plate inserted into the back, I've yet to see a commercially available large format digital back, but then again I've not really looked.

Once digital came around, people started producing Digital backs to fit the MF film gear. So now we've got the likes of Mamiya with a Phase One back, or Hasselblad, or Leaf Aptus ....etc all with 40 Megapixel or more sensors ('Blads have a 60 Mpixel back and Phase One have an 80 Mpixel back) using pro-level glass producing large images with amazing sharpness and clarity that 35mm equivalent gear just can't match.

It is a specialised/niche area and is more expensive than SLRs from the smaller format. I've seen and know people who struggle to see past Canon and Nikon and recognise that others like Sony, Pentax, Olympus ...etc exist - so it's all too easy for Medium and Large Format gear and brands like Mamiya, Hasselblad and the like to fly under the radar.

rickp

Warped,
No, never really heard of it, so thanks for the lesson. That sounds like interesting gear to get a chance to work with.


R.

Tim Snow

One of my favorite cameras was my old Mamiya C330 Pro which was made before I was born! I used to love it, and shot a lot with it. I only had one lens which was the gorgeous 65mm f/3.5
Shooting 2 1/4 or 4x5 was a ton of fun!
As for Panos, he could be stitching frames. I do it all the time.

Sublimation Kid

Hi Everybody,
This is my 1st posting so new to this forum, I have used a Mamiya RZ67 for many years, mainly studio work due to weight.These are beautifully made cameras and are a joy to use. Since the digital takeover, cameras like these have become very cheap, compared to what they used to cost. I came from a film background so using these type of cameras was not a problem. When you consider a 35mm negative is about equivalent to 20,000 pixel quality in resolution, the 6x7 mamiya is 4 times bigger than that. Downside is dust on films and water marks , something digital users don't have to worry about. Just to bring you up todate I do use digital cameras, but they are only up to 24.5 million pixels, but so easy and fast to use in comparison.