Mamiya 7 43mm f/4 Medium Format
Mamiya 7 43mm f/4 Medium Format
USER REVIEWS
[Jul 28, 2005]
Kambiz
Expert
Strength:
lightness, sharpness in theie image.
Weakness:
Even the second hand lenses is extremely expensive. It is one of those excellent camera for those people who enjoy outdoor and taking shot from vast beautiful landscape. It is very light and their image is sharper than my own eyes. |
[Aug 28, 2003]
Andreas Genz
Expert
Strength:
mechanical quality and sharpness
Weakness:
price, viewfinder I have three lenses for the Mamiya 7: 80mm, 150mm and 43 mm . Mostly I use the 80mm (50%), next is the 43mm (35%). The optical quality of the 43mm lens is good. It shows little distortion and normal light fall off for a wide angle lens. It is very sharp.I had no problems with metering.The mechanical quality is very good. I do not like the viewfinder and the hood. Customer Service The Mamiya service in Germany is good Similar Products Used: Nikon AFD 2.8/20 |
[Oct 24, 2002]
PAQUAY Ben
Expert
Strength:
Sharpness Well built
Weakness:
Somewhat less versatile than other wide angle lens The lens is very sharp but the angle is so wide that you might choose the 50 mm for less extreme pictures. Shop it at Jessops.com, the price, £1249.5 in the UK is the cheapest ive seen compared to continental Europe Similar Products Used: Lens N 80 mm Fuji GX 617 Rollei 6003 |
[Oct 21, 2002]
plearn
Intermediate
Strength:
sharpness.
Weakness:
Don't trust the spirit level on the provided viewfinder, it's so inaccurate that I have to put my own spirit level on top of camera and it works ok. The other problem is on Depth of field scale which also way off. I 'm not sure these problems are fixable but I can't fix them in Thailand. I like this lens. Customer Service needed but could not find one here. Similar Products Used: Mamiya 6MF with 50,75 mm, Bronica Gs-1 50,110,150mm Leica M6 35mm f2 |
[Sep 07, 2001]
drwhitesmile
Intermediate
Strength:
Superlative critical sharpness, contrast, color saturation, shadow detail, and low distortion. Very solid feel, and mechanical focusing is well damped. Beautifully constructed.
Weakness:
Very noticeable light fall-off at the corners. (This inherent vignetting is without any filter, and appears on prints as well as negatives with the supplied hood attached). This is quite objectionable for a lens in the $2500+ range. Mamiya even admits that the lens exhibits this property in a separate addendum with the enclosed instructions. They recommend a "commercially available center ND filter to correct the problem." However, I have yet to find a single manufacturer who makes one. Had I known this BEFORE purchasing the system, I would have never invested thousands in the Mamiya 7II I had very high hopes for the Mamiya 43/4.5L lens based on previous reviews. One area which Mamiya even admits to is the tremendous light fall-off property of the lens. Sharpness and Contrast are excellent but when you are dealing with $3000, Hasselblad is the time tested true investment one can make. Now I have to look for an additional center ND filter, or perhaps sell it, at a loss. Customer Service N/A Similar Products Used: Only 35mm SLR lenses such as the Canon FD 20mm, and Nikon 20mm MF. |
[Jul 13, 2000]
Luan Do
Expert
Model Reviewed:
7 43mm f/4 with Optical Rangefinder
Strength:
sharp
Weakness:
expensive I rented one to test and the results were eye-popping. Others who saw the photos taken with the 43mm lens also agreed. The draw back is the external view-finder that takes time to remember that it's there for a purpose. Similar Products Used: none |
[May 09, 2000]
Michael Kozhevnikov
Intermediate
Model Reviewed:
7 43mm f/4 with Optical Rangefinder
Strength:
Sharpness and Contrast, both with capital letters!
Weakness:
no Hard to imagine anything better in the same format... Customer Service user forum at www.mamiya.com Similar Products Used: EF17-35L, EF24L (both in 35mm format) - you can not really compare any 35mm to any 6x7, but once you try this 43mm Mamiy |
[Mar 04, 2001]
Frank Dernie
Intermediate
Strength:
Low distortion sharp, flare resistant. Cheap (in UK)
Weakness:
None Better than Leica - but only due to film format. Similar Products Used: Leica 21mm |
[Mar 14, 2001]
Henrik Rundgren
Expert
Strength:
Very wide and verrry sharp
Weakness:
Price! How can you have a suggested retail price of $3000+??? For any wideangle lens??? Great lens. (Understatement) Customer Service n/a Similar Products Used: SLR wides: Zeiss 18mm and 21mm. Nikkor 20mm. |
[Aug 30, 2001]
Andrew Smallman
Expert
Strength:
Light, compact for medium format.
Weakness:
A separate viewfinder is required, and you need some experience to relate the framelines seen in the viewfinder to the image which will appear on film. A really top class very wide angle lens. Almost worth buying into the Mamiya 7 system for this lens alone. Customer Service Not required Similar Products Used: Pentax 67 lenses, including the 45mm |