OK, I know this is off-topic (but what else is new?)
Has anybody ever figured out why Mamiya lenses are so amazingly good?
Or is it just
me? Sure, one can accept that the lenses on the Mamiya 7 rangefinder
are among the
best lenses available at any cost, especially the wide-angle lenses.
But I am talking here even about the retrofocus SLR lenses for the
RB67. Specifically, I
am talking about my scratched, slightly busted 65mm C-series wide
angle lens, with an
equivalent of 32mm FOV.
Have a look at this recently scanned slide (Provia 100, Epson V700)
shot wide open (notice very shallow DOF,
blurred foreground just to prove it's taken wide open :-) in very
demanding lighting conditions. This is a
torture-test for any lens, with extremely bright highlights all over
the frame.
http://www.deviantart.com/download/141023473/Cubana_Full_Size_by_philosomatographer.jpg
I have never personally used any wide-angle lens that can perform
anywhere near this level. Not many
35mm or equiv. lenses, wide-open, will not show one bit of chromatic
aberration or coma with these bright
lights in the corners of the frame. And lets not even talk of the
M.Zuiko 17mm, the "equivalent" on
Micro four thirds, which is supposed to be 30 years newer technology
than the Mamiya. Medium format
resolution aside, the aberrations visible in an output image of
similar size should have been at
least at a similar or better level.
This may be ballsy, but I'd like to see if the Leica M Summicron 35mm
(a non-retrofocus design) can compare,
for an image of at the same output size. (sure, I know this is medium
format, but we can still compare relative
lens performance by "ignoring" capture medium size, it's the output
that counts, right?).
You should see this Mamiya lens sing at f/8, it's spectacular. Man, I
can but only imagine how good their symmetrical
65mm lens for the 7 rangefinder must be.
Every time I lust after that OM Zuiko 35mm f/2.0 lens I can't afford
right now, I am consoled by using this magical
lens (which actually cost me a lot cheaper than the Zuiko :-). Ken,
you're the lover of the Zuiko 35mm f/2.8, show
us what it can do? (relatively speaking)
Sorry for the off-topic rant, but damn, every time I use one of my
Mamiya lenses, I realise how pedestrian most lenses
for 35mm cameras are by comparison, and I can't understand why the
Mamiyas should be so much better? In fact, with the
*huge* flange to focal plane distance of the massive RB67 body (which
is actually an 8x8cm SLR camera, i.e.
even the Pentax67 lenses sit much closer to the film because its
mirror is much smaller) the Mamiya lenses
(which also cover 4x5in, by the way) should be worse. Yet, they are so
much better than most others I've seen.
Also, spectacular as the Schneider SA 90/5.6 XL is on the Linhof 617,
it needs to be stopped down to f/11 for that
level of performance. The Mamiyas are great wide open.
And so cheap in the current market...
--
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