I had the Mamiya RB67 and Pentax 67 on my medium-format wanted list for many years now, but I simply could not justify the price tag or bare the unfortunate realization that either camera would sit lonely and unused on a shelf. That all changed December 2022 when I decided to grab a non-working RB67 as a Christmas present for my eldest brother. Sure, you must be thinking jeez this guy is incredibly cheap if he gives people broken Christmas presents but boy you would be wrong.
The Ligero69 is a 3D printed camera that lets you use Mamiya Press lenses and backs
One of the great things about the proliferation of 3D printers is the amount of cool stuff people are coming up with – especially when it comes to cameras. We’ve shown you a few before, several times, but this pair is particularly interesting. They’re designed for use with Mamiya Press lenses and backs. There’s the Ligero69, which lets you use a Mamiya Press roll film back and the LigeroPress for use with a Mamiya Press Polaroid back.
Designed by Thingiverse user SPRKPLG (aka “Mario M”), the two cameras are designed to be compact and lightweight, while allowing you to shoot with any Mamiya Press, Super 23 and Universal Press compatible lenses. And best of all, both cameras are open source, released under the Creative Commons license.
Does size really matter? Why some pros switched from DSLRs to medium format
Digital medium format cameras hit the market in 1992, with Leaf’s release of the DCB. At the time, this 4mp back launched what would be a tremendous resurgence of medium format photography, primarily within commercial and portrait markets. But why? These systems cost anywhere from 4-10 times what flagship DSLRs cost. Are they really that much better?
Phase One Buys Out Mamiya, Obtains Critical Mass in the Medium Format Market
Today seems to be about buyouts. Just a few hours ago we shared a report that said Nikon has acquired Samsung’s NX camera technology.
Now, Phase One has announced it’s bought out Mamiya Digital Imaging, giving Phase One full control of all Mamiya assets, including camera and lens production facilities.[Read More…]
I switched from Canon to Nikon To Medium format to Canon Again
I love Canon cameras, I really do and it was with great regret that I moved away from Canon last year after being an EOS system user my entire life. I started when I was 5 years old on my fathers EOS 300 film cameras and have then enjoyed every camera up to and including the 5D MK3, but there was a problem.
I’m sure it wasn’t just me, I’m sure a lot of other pros felt like Canon wasn’t listening. The fact that it felt like I had been abandoned by the system I’d bought ito throughout my career hadn’t come at a great time – I was at a crossroads in my career and wanted to make the jump into medium format, I couldn’t then still have my Canon cameras as they weren’t a viable backup with the vast difference in resolution – to me the only option looked to me to jump over to Nikon and use their D800 bodies as backups for my Mamiya Leaf & Credo system that I had bought into. I wasn’t the only people thinking about the switch, it was a conversation that was becoming more and more common when I caught up with other photographers, there seemed to be a general feeling of frustration at Canon.
The Wonderful Tilt-Shift Effect You Get When Coupling A Mamiya Lens With A DSLR
Photographer and editor Chris Rutter constructed a fairly simple, yet powerful tilt shift camera by combining a Mamiya 45mm lens with a Canon 600D body.
I think that using a Mamiya lens is a stroke of genius for doing DIY tilt-shift lenses, mainly for two reasons: for one those lenses can be found on eBay for around 50-150 US Dollars and they provide superior quality for the price.
The second reason has to do with the optic qualities of large format lenses. A large format lens has to cover a large piece of film (or a large piece of sensor), as a result it casts a large image onto the film plane. This allows light to hit the sensor even if the image is tilted or shifted. But it gets better, the Flange Focal Distance – the distance a lens requires from its rear end to the film plane – is larger for medium format cameras so using a Mamiya lens allows having some bellows between the lens and body while still allowing non-macro photographs to be taken.[Read More…]
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