6x12 camera uses Mamiya Press lenses

[JohnSiskin]

The last camera build I started before I left Indiana was designed to use the lenses from the Mamiya Press in front of 4X5 film. As you can see from the picture of my living room here in New Mexico the lens really doesn’t cover the area of 4X5 film well at all. So, while the actual camera build was good, I didn’t use the camera. Of course it’s also true that I rarely use 4x5 film, which might have something to do with it. So I recently bought a 6x12cm Horseman film back from Used Photo Pro (I get a lot of stuff from them). After some consideration I decided to modify the camera to use the 6x12 back. This was a little tricky because the back wasn’t standard Graflok, so I had to modify an old back from a Speed Graphic. I think it worked well! You can see a shot I did yesterday from White Rock Overlook. I used the Mamiya 50mm f6.3, which makes a SUPER-wide panorama on 6x12 film. The back uses standard 120 film and makes 6 pictures on a roll. Anyway, a very successful build, and a camera I will probably use a lot with either the 50mm lens or the 65mm. You can see a little fall off in the corners in the shot at White Rock, but I like the effect here, and it would be easy to crop out. By the way, since I mentioned Used Photo Pro, there is a link on the picture pages on my blog to Used Photo Pro. If you use it I might get a couple of bucks. Anyway here’s the into to my picture pages: https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=4720. I’ll be posting more from this camera soon. Thanks for your attention

 

[reddesert]

Nice work! Did you have to do a lot of adjusting to get the film plane in the right place?

You will likely find that the 75mm and 127mm Mamiya Press lenses would cover 6x12 completely, as they were designed to allow covering 3.25x4.25" Polaroid packfilm (they might get close-if-not-quite to covering 4x5 as well). The 150mm will probably cover as well if the lens mount doesn't vignette it. I realize that this kind of camera is more often used with wide angles, but the interchangeable lens mount offers options.

 

[JohnSiskin]

Nice work! Did you have to do a lot of adjusting to get the film plane in the right place?

You will likely find that the 75mm and 127mm Mamiya Press lenses would cover 6x12 completely, as they were designed to allow covering 3.25x4.25" Polaroid packfilm (they might get close-if-not-quite to covering 4x5 as well). The 150mm will probably cover as well if the lens mount doesn't vignette it. I realize that this kind of camera is more often used with wide angles, but the interchangeable lens mount offers options.

When I originally built the camera I had to be careful to get the distance right. I use 4 pieces of all thread bolted into the front and rear boards of the camera. I adjust distance with these on a ground glass. Then I build the sides of the camera. I've used this method for several cameras. Unfortunately the Polaroid version of the camera uses a different lens mount than the film version, so these lenses won't fit onto this camera. I did test the 150 and it worked quite well. I was primarily using it to test focus, since it's got more magnification and less depth of field. Thanks!!

 

[reddesert]

When I originally built the camera I had to be careful to get the distance right. I use 4 pieces of all thread bolted into the front and rear boards of the camera. I adjust distance with these on a ground glass. Then I build the sides of the camera. I've used this method for several cameras. Unfortunately the Polaroid version of the camera uses a different lens mount than the film version, so these lenses won't fit onto this camera. I did test the 150 and it worked quite well. I was primarily using it to test focus, since it's got more magnification and less depth of field. Thanks!!

That's a nice way of doing it - fixing it before building the sides. I have a Mamiya Universal body that someone routed out to adapt 4x5 holders to - an interesting hack, but they didn't get the rear spacing quite right, so I have to re-space it.

You are right that the Polaroid-branded camera had a different mount, but good news though, both the 75mm and the 127mm do exist in Mamiya Press/Super 23/Universal lens mount. The Universal had a Polaroid packfilm back available so it made sense to have these lenses in Mamiya mount. I have had both, so they really exist. The Polaroid bayonet mount has 4 claws and the Mamiya has 3, so it is possible to tell the difference given detailed pictures of the lens.

 

[JohnSiskin]

I'll look for those lenses. Thanks!!

 

[Axelwik]

Here's one that I built awhile back. The Nikkor SW 75mm f4.5 easily covers 4x5 with Grafmatic backs, as well as 6x12 with a Horseman back. The helicoid was from a Chinese seller and the back is from a Sinar. I use this one almost as much as my view cameras, and it's resulted in some very nice photos.

image0 (2) by Marco Wikstrom, on Flickr

image1 (1) by Marco Wikstrom, on Flickr

 

[JohnSiskin]

Wow! really nice! The fgrp and the viewfinder are nice items! Do you hand hold it a lot?

 

[Axelwik]

Wow! really nice! The fgrp and the viewfinder are nice items! Do you hand hold it a lot?

Thanks. I sometimes hand hold it, but mostly a monopod or tripod.

 

[JohnSiskin]

Nice!