I am contemplating buying a Mamiya 7 II: its lightweight design and rangefinder design makes it a kind of medium format Leica. However its longest lens is 150mm (= 72mm in 35mm) which makes is less than ideal for portraiture (normal recommendations are 85-105 in 35 mm). Does anybody have experience of using the camera for portrait work and is it really as handholdable as the ads suggest? (The recent review in Amateur Photographer suggests a tripod is recommended if not essential). Is there any prospect that Mamiya might produce a longer lens or is this limited by its rangefinder design? Any information would be appreciated. Regards

-- Brendan Kenny (Brendan@woodpath.freeserve.co.uk), May 31, 1999

Answers

The Mamiya 7, which is wonderful for many applications, is not the best choice for portrait work. The rangefinder design limits the distance at which it can close-focus. Of course, it's fine for environmental portraiture using the 80mm standard lens, but so is almost any medium-format camera, including the venerable Rolleiflex.

If you wish to specialize in medium-format portraiture, your choices are the heavier and very expensive SLR designs, or the older but still wonderfully inexpensive and versatile TLR designs, especially the Mamiya C330f, which was built like a tank and has lenses available in lengths of 55, 65, 80, 105, 135, 180 and 250. The 2-3/4 inches of internal bellows allows the sort of precise close-focusing you need to fill the frame with a head shot, and the TLR design allows you to observe the subject at the instant the shutter releases (no mirror black-out).

A clean, used C330f body will cost you in the neighborhood of $400- $450 from a private party, a bit more from a dealer. The 135 in the latest, "black" version is about $550 new or half that in clean, used condition. The superb 180 Super runs about $700 new and sells for about $400 in clean, used condition.

Thus, you can put together a great MF portrait package for a fraction of the price of the Mamiya 7. I have both cameras, and to tell you the truth, I still take 95% of the portraits I do with my Nikon and the 105 f2.8 Micro (great for children with perfect skin), the wonderful 180 f2.8 (for adults who will hold still), or the 80-200 f2.8 zoom, which is the most convenient of all. Except with the 105 for small children, I always work on a tripod.

For a more complete discussion of the Mamiya 7, drop in at the forums on Mamiya America Corporation's own website, where the 7's attributes and limitations have been discussed at length.

-- Mark Hubbard (mhubbard@internews.org), May 31, 1999.