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The 67: Mamiya v. Pentax

I had a little conundrum last week, believe it or not, when I had to choose one medium format camera to bring on vacation. I was feeling the 67 for...

I had a little conundrum last week, believe it or not, when I had to choose one medium format camera to bring on vacation. I was feeling the 67 format, and wanted something that would truly reflect the beauty of, say, afternoon light in Florence.

Hmm, I thought. I probably want something with low depth-of-field capacity. And nothing too sharp.

But o dear, my Pentax67 is a beast! Heavy like you wouldn’t believe!

I brought it anyway.

pent.jpg

And most of my pictures look like this:

it4.jpg

I shot F/16ish most of the time, in bright sunlight. I am a dorkus. Sometimes planning does you no good, buddies.

Anyhoo, so then I come home and am straight off to a wedding in the idyllic Connecticut countryside. This time I wasn’t lugging that medieval wood-handled thing. The Mamiya II was my friend.

mam.jpg

The wedding was at 5:30pm, cocktails at 6. I had no choice but to shoot f/4, as far open as that thing gets. And somehow, I ended up with the picture I thought I would have taken with the clunker up top.

Things are sometimes bass-ackwards.

mam7)2.jpg

This is Jessica Dimmock*, of Jessica Dimmock fame. The wedding was lousy with photographers. Jess was shooting with the G9 she won at NYPF.

*Neither Jessica nor I condone the use of nicotine. Though sometimes it makes for a kickass photograph.


OH RIGHT- the point of this post: why aren’t there any lenses for the Mamiya II that go lower than f/4?

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