Mamiya Press update

Farmyard at Evelick

I've been having a whale of a time with the Mamiya Press outfit I bought recently. It's the first rangefinder I've felt entirely comfortable with because, for the first time, I can see all the of the frame lines with my glasses on! I grew to love the Leica M2 but that took some perseverance and involved a certain amount of guesswork when it came to the edges of the frame.

Old Library, Errol

The 100mm framelines in the Mamiya - that's the standard focal length for the 6x9 format - are big and fairly bright and make framing quite easy. As usual with rangefinders, they're a bit on the tight side so there's always something on the negative beyond what you think are the boundaries of the scene in the viewfinder but it's not a big problem.

The rangefinder focusing is a piece of cake as well, being both easier and faster than on any other medium format camera I have. I handle the Mamiya just the same way I would the M2 and it's every bit as easy as the Leica in terms of use but with a better viewfinder.

When I got the outfit - a Press Universal body, 6x9 back and 100mm and 75mm lenses - I thought the wide angle would see most use. It's early days yet but for the four films I've exposed the 100mm has taken all but a few of the pics.

Dilapidated farm building, Evelick

It seems a very natural focal length. I had a quick look on Google and it turns out that it's the same angle of view as a 43mm lens on the 35mm format. Like a lot of photographers, I've always found the 40mm focal length on the 35mm format to be about right and the 100mm isn't too far away. I found this on the internet:

Studies have measured the cone of visual attention and found it to be about 55 degrees wide. On a 35mm full frame camera, a 43mm lens provides an angle of view of 55 degrees, so that focal length provides exactly the same angle of view that we humans have.

That's possibly why I've taken to it so quickly. So far, I've mostly been familiarising myself with the handling and using up some out-of-date HP5 so that I can fine tune the development in Microphen. It's working out very well so far. HP5/Microphen seems like a great combination. I can't see any difference in shadow detail between HP5 at 800 ISO in Microphen and at 400 ISO in ID11 1+1.

A good, no-nonsense outfit. The Press Universal with 100mm mounted, 75mm
and 6x9 back. It hangs from the neck on an old Nikon F strap with a Domke US
Post Office shoulder pad.

The pics here are nothing special, just shots from early films to test the camera and lenses before sending the outfit off for a service. Fortunately, it's all good with everything apparently working fine. The lenses should improve with a good cleaning, though, and I hope the viewfinder and rangefinder spot become a little clearer as well.

For various reasons mainly relating to brighter weather conditions, lots of sport on TV and Cath's long summer holiday (she's a teacher), I tend not to do too much photography during the warmer months. I'm really looking forward to autumn and winter when I'll be able to take to the hills with a hand-held Mamiya Press and a few rolls of film for some big, moody negatives.