Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I owned a Mamiya 6 system with 75mm and 50mm lenses. I wanted to like them, but I found that I was not getting better photographs from them than my Leica. The Mamiya lenses are good, sharp, but are much, much more prone to flare than modern Leica glass. In addition to that, having to use faster film (ISO400 vs ISO100) for equivalent handholdability negated much of the gain from the increased negative area. Also, the parallax correction of the viewfinder is no where near as accurate as my Leica, and I often end up leaving so much space around the subject, that I might as well have shot with my Leica. On a tripod, on the other hand, Mamiya 6 produced great negatives. I have landscape photographs with Technical Pan, which are essentially grainless at 16x20, with tons and tons of details. However, I found that if I wanted light weight, I do very well with my Leica, and if I want big negs, I would use my Toyo 4x5. For a camera mounted on a tripod, I might as well have an SLR, and I now lust after Rollei SL66. The prices in the U.S. and Europe are greatly over-inflated compared to the prices in Japan, as Bill Lawlor pointed out. I made a very handsome profit when I sold my Mamiya 6 kit on eBay.