Mamiya 6 Rangefinder 6x6 Camera & Lenses
by Hamish Reid, 1995
Introduction
This is a new version of my earlier review of the Mamiya 6 that first
appeaared in The Medium Format Digest ;
this version reflects a year or two's more experience with the camera, and adds a
few points here and there....
Summary: Great Camera -- Shame About The Price....
Optical quality is excellent, and the camera itself has proved to be very
sturdy and easy to use within the inherent limitations of the rangefinder design
(see below). In short, this camera has pretty much replaced my 35mm for
everything but pure snapshots; it's also replaced my 6x7 for everything but
tripod-mounted stuff and work where the extra image size of the 6x7 is
significant (nothing will ever replace my 4x5...).
The only real problem is the price, which is extortionate: it's still somewhat
cheaper than a Hasselblad, though (which is not a particularly relevant
comparison, but never mind...). It's also cheaper than the new Mamiya 7, at least
as far as I can tell.
The 6MF ("Multi Format") body is to all intents and purposes identical to the
6 reviewed here except for the multi-format features (more on these later) and a
couple of minor cosmetic changes. Note that Mamiya currently make and sell both
the 6 and the 6MF - enough potential customers complained about the 6MF's
"features" that the plain old 6 was resurected unchanged.
Background & Motivation for Buying
I thought long and hard about the Fuji 6x7 and 6x9 alternatives, but in the
end I wanted one body and the ability to have all three of my most-used lens
lengths available in the one package (
the equivalent of the 35mm's
28mm, 50mm, and 80 to 100mm lenses). The Fuji models don't have the longer
lens.
What made me decide on the Mamiya 6 was mostly the interchangeable lenses and
the positive comments from people who had them or who'd used them.
Technical Details
Equipment reviewed:
- Mamiya 6 body
- Mamiya 6MF 50mm/f4 lens
- Mamiya 6MF 75mm/f3.5 lens
The Mamiya 6 body has a collapsing lens mount to make the body / lens profile
slightly narrower (by about 2 or 3 cm) when stowed. The body has an internal
darkslide that is conveniently activated from outside with a built-in little
turnkey thing; this is essential for changing lenses, but also makes me feel
better about possible light leaks through the lens shutters. The body and lenses
have a bunch of interlocks that stop you from taking the lens off without the
dark slide actuated, or from taking a photo with the slide actuated or the lens
mount collapsed, etc. There's also a self-timer with about a ten second fuse, and
all the usual flash support (hot shoe and sync sockets).
The lenses have built-in leaf shutters controlled from the body; available
speeds range from T and B through 4 seconds to 1/500. The 50 and 75mm lenses have
coverage well in excess of the necessary 56x56mm; the 150mm model appears to
cover slightly more than needed. The lens mount is a simple and rather sturdy
bayonet system.
The exposure metering system has manual, locked, and aperture-priority modes
(the locked mode is a simple "remembered" mode). The system includes a +2, +1,
-1, and -2 stop compensation switch, and works with film settings from ISO 15 to
ISO 3200. The exposure system is not through-the-lens: the meter is next
to the viewfinder and has a constant field of view (about 35 degrees).
Useability
This is a really useable camera. The camera feels good and well-balanced when
held; it's quiet, it's light, and it's relatively unobtrusive; and it looks and
handles like a big 35mm camera (in fact, it's lighter than an F4 and isn't much
larger). Changing lenses is a breeze; changing film is similarly foolproof and
easy. The various interlocks are useful (but when are they going to invent an
interlock to stop you taking a photo with the lens cap on? This is embarrasingly
easy to do with a rangefinder).
The light meter is generally fairly accurate if you are aware of its
limitations (i.e. its angle of view is the same for all lenses regardless of lens
length), and the aperture priority auto exposure mode is simple and
straightforward to use (but then I almost never use it).
Reliability & Toughness
This camera has been dragged around in my backpack and truck quite a bit in
the years I've had it; it's crossed several deserts, it's been up to the 11,000
foot level in the California Sierras, it's been snowed on, accidentally dropped
onto the surface of a frozen lake from about 5 metres up (Black Lake above Big
Pine Canyon for those of you who know California's Owens Valley area), it's been
in downtown Oakland and Berkeley, it's survived being taken to Australia, etc.
etc. Overall, it's survived very well. The body seems to be tough enough for most
abuse: the optics, settings, and mechanics have been unaffected by the abuse and
use.
Optical Quality
I haven't done any scientific tests on this yet (nor will I, probably), but
I've taken many hand-held shots at varying speeds and apertures over the last few
months, and I have to say they look sharp even at 20x24. My general
impression is that the 50mm and 75mm lenses are truly well-designed and built,
the 50mm design not needing the usual SLR retro-focus compromise. Both lenses are
of course sharpest at about f8-f11, but they keep good sharpness even at f22 (in
my opinion, of course). Film flatness appears to be reasonable (or at least not a
problem), but again I haven't really tested this properly.
The lack of mirror shake seems to allow for sharp photos down to at least 1/30
- luckily enough, since this was one of the main reasons for buying the damn
thing in the first place. Hand-held landscapes generally look about as sharp and
grain-free as those from my 6x7 (or at least they're comparable); action shots on
the streets look very good indeed compared to the 35mm.
The Viewfinder, Focusing & Framing, Etc.
Here's where I had most learning to do - unlike the SLRs or the view camera,
what you see in the viewfinder is not always quite what you get
(understatement!). I kept taking photos of buildings from street level, not quite
certain of whether the viewfinder's distortion (when pointed up at large angles)
matched the real lens's (it doesn't, of course, and it's difficult to get
framing right in these circumstances).
Nothing here, though, is a Mamiya-specific problem - in general, the
viewfinder is bright and easy to use, and not the source of any real problems. Be
aware, though, that the three lenses use the same basic screen / view, so that
with the 150mm lens the real view cropped off for the lens in the screen is quite
small.
The 6's view finder has a coupled parallax error reduction system which
actually appears to work quite well. The actual framing when pointed at level
subjects is pretty accurate; focusing is similarly easy (at least I haven't had
any problems yet).
Multi-Format Features
It's unclear quite why Mamiya bothered with this.... The 6x4.5 feature sounds
great until you realise that it's a simple cropping scheme, i.e. you still only
get 12 horizontally-oriented 645 frames per 120 roll (as opposed to the
usual 15 or so shots from true 6x4.5 on 120 film). What's the point? The
panoramic 35mm equivalent (ie. 55mm wide horizontal orientation images on 35mm
film) sounds more interesting and indeed useful, but it costs extra. This all
comes at the cost of a more complex set of lines and markings in the viewfinder,
of course.
As noted above, Mamiya has reintroduced the plain old 6 in response to
comments very similar to the above, so it's now possible to get a 6 rather than
the 6MF.
Limitations
Firstly, the Mamiya 6 is not a system in the same sense that a Hasselblad (or,
for that matter, the Pentax 67) is: there's a limited set of lenses available
(50/75/150mm), there's no interchangeable back, no motor-driven remote winders,
and none of the other gubbins of that sort like mutar shifts or interesting
converters. To many of us this is a feature, of course....
Secondly, it's a pure rangefinder, with many of the limitations that implies:
what you see in the viewfinder is not necessarily what you get. More subtly, the
6's constant-view viewfinder gives you more than what's going to end up on
the film; it's sometimes difficult to ignore the surroundings and to really see
or visualize what's going to end up on the film, and how it'll look without the
surroundings. This is obviously more of a problem for the 150mm and 75mm
lenses.
Also, despite the availability of a truly baroque-looking attachment designed
to help with this, you also really shouldn't use this camera for extreme close-up
or macro photography.
The camera is not in any sense purely manual - if the battery goes, so does
the camera (on the other hand, it's a mechanically-simple camera which doesn't
seem to have too many things to break).
Another potential problem is the metering system. While I almost never use it
(I either estimate it or use my hand-held meter), it is obviously fairly limited
compared to modern TTL systems - there's no matrix metering, no spot metering,
etc., and, of course, what it sees is not necessarily anything like what you
get....
One limitation that I know of only second-hand is that you can't focus the
150mm lens close enough for full-face portraits. Similarly (and I experienced
this first-hand), the 75mm won't focus quite close enough for full-face work.
This is a real shame....
[Editor's Note: the Mamiya 6 has been discontinued in favor of the Mamiya
7, a 6x7 camera. I'm personally a big fan of the 6x6 format and I think it is
rather a shame. You may be able to buy this camera used from
Adorama For additional retailer
information, see
our recommended retailers
page and
the user recommendations section.]
Review Copyright © 1994, 1995 Hamish Reid. All Rights Reserved.
Article created 1995
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