Medium format lens and a 35 mm camera.
I received a phone call the other day from a retired gentleman who was looking
at his Mamiya 6x45 medium format film camera system and wondering where to go
next.
During the course of our conversation, it came out that he
had been very keen, but had not done any serious photography for 10 years.
However, now, with some spare time on his hands, he was looking at getting back
into it, and of course a 6x45 film camera just isn’t practical these days.
He was interested in going digital, but wondered where he
could go to learn how to use these new-fangled digital things. He had his eye on
a Canon D5, and also wondered if he could use his Mamiya prime lenses on the
Canon. That of course was a difficult question to answer, as it would need
adaptors, and more than likely, the Auto-Focus system would not work (but the
manual focus should) and the aperture might need to be manually selected.
As far as adaptors were concerned, after a brief internet
search it was apparent that there were many, including shift-lens adaptors, a
useful piece of equipment to have. Most of these were available through eBay, so
that would be a good cheap source.
The internet posts confirmed that you must go to manual
focusing when using the Mamiya lenses on the Canon body, and aperture priority
may need to be used.
There was some discussion as to whether the medium format
Mamiya lenses were as good as the new 35 mm lenses for the digitals, and the
jury seemed to be split on that.
However, one poster got it right when he said it was just a
joy to use the big manual controls, and forget the modern plastic AF lenses and
just slow down and enjoy the basic mechanics and rituals of manual photography.
Also there is no vignetting that there can be with 35 mm lenses, and no color
fringing either.
When you look at the situation of using the medium format
lenses on the 35 D body, it seems like a win-win situation all round. Now while
our reader was using his Mamiya 6x45, to check exposure and sharpness he would
have had to use a Polaroid back to get an ‘instant’ (one minute) check on the
variables. Exposure not quite right? Another Polaroid, and so it would go on,
until it became quite expensive and time consuming. I also found it very
difficult to judge sharpness on a Polaroid, as the images were always slightly
fuzzy.
Now with the technology that comes with a digital body, you
truly do get an instant check on exposure, and by enlarging the image on the LCD
you can soon see if the focus is correct.
When I look at the reader’s situation, he has the experience
of how to use a medium format camera, so understands exposure variables. He has
plenty of ability to be able to handle the Canon D5, and all he has to do is set
the camera body on ‘manual’ and not worry about the drop-down menus at all. The
Owner’s Manual will show anyone how to set the camera body on manual, and he can
actually leave it on that setting if he wishes.
However, I am sure that his natural curiosity will be enough
to get him experimenting with the different settings, and since he has more than
a basic grounding, he should just go for it! He has many interesting weekends
coming up.
He will also discover that digital photography is so much
cheaper than film, especially when coming from using medium format with 12 shots
on a roll for a 6x6 or 15 for a 6x45. Then there is the delay in processing,
getting proof sheets and then cropping and printing. Digital wins all the time.
The sharpness in today’s digital camera sensors is also
superb, and I always come back to the fact that you get an instant review. If
you don’t like the image, just delete and take it again.
