Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> I've always heard that the Mamiya 7 lenses are blazingly sharp, but >what about the other characteristics? I'm interested in how the bokeh, >transition from focus to out of focus, and color perform on these >lenses. Are the first two less of a problem because the lenses are so >slow? Inquiring minds want to know... > >Isaac I think they look like modern Leica glass like the 35 ASPH Summicron, etc. in terms of the overall rendering. I don't own one, I rent one fairly often, as needed. The 65 is just spectacular. So is the 80. I did a group picture of 700 people using the Mamiya 7 and a 65 - all of them fit on the 6X7 area and all were totally recognizable! Never seen such a negative. Actually I pieced 3 negs together so there were probably only 500 on the center negative - anyway it was pretty amazing. I've not used the 43 but I'd like to. I hear it is spectacular as well. Some day I might own a 7 and the 43 and 65. For now I can rent far cheaper. For me its a special use camera. Its a bit sketchy using these cameras as if they are big Leicas. I find the focus at close range (which is not very close, thats another issue) to be just barely good enough for wide open up close work giving far more mis-focus shots than a 35mm camera. Its just the nature of the beast. Stop them down a bit and don't push the close shooting. For a travel/scenic camera for maximum walk-around quality this could be the champ. Henry