Mamiya 645 and 67 lenses?

[Jim Blodgett]

I'm not much of a gear head. I have been shooting 35mm with a K1000 and 120 with Yashicas for about 20 years. I have a Mamiya 645 1000s I have been shooting with lately and am thinking seriously about investing in a wide angle and telephoto lens. I'm thinking if I get the right lenses I might be able to use the same lenses on a Mamiya 67 body when I get the itch to go to larger negative.

So here's my question - are these Mamiya's designed to allow me to do that? To have one set of lenses and use them on either the 645 or 67 bodies? Are there certain lenses that will, and certain lenses that won't? Or certain bodies maybe?

Thanks, I have learned a ton reading here the past few months but can't seem to find a thread about this.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My experience with Hasselblad and Mamiya is that with 80mm as normal, the 60mm lens is too close, use a 50mm for wide angle instead. While the 150mm or 180mm lens is good for portraits, you will be better served with a 250mm lens for telephoto work.

 

[Paul Howell]

While there are adapters available to shoot 645 lens on 67 body, and for 67 to 645, issue is that what is wide on a 67 will be not as wide when on 645, but you will benefit as that a long lens on a 67 will even longer on a 645. Other question is will a 645 lens cover a 67 negative? Also not sure if Mamiya made adaptors or if you go 3rd party and if these adapters allows for focus to infinity. Meaning I'm not sure if the flange to film distance is same on the 645 is it on the 67?

 

[MattKing]

The Mamiya 645 lenses probably wouldn't cover the 6x7 frame - they may not even illuminate it.
The Mamiya 6x7 lenses are also relatively large and heavy, and have built in leaf shutters and interlocks that might not be simple to adapt.
I've not seen any adapters that would allow the 6x7 lenses to work on the 645 bodies, but I am prepared to be surprised.
All that being said, one of the biggest strengths in both systems is how well the lenses and the other parts of each system are designed to work together. I own a camera and lenses in each system, and frankly I don't think I'd enjoy inter-changing them.
Although it might be fun to mount the Mamiya 645 Pro body on the RB67 180mm lens - given their relative sizes, it wouldn't work the other way.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Just buy Mamiya's 645 lenses. They'll be far easier to use on your 645 camera, and they're dirt cheap used now.

The 645 cameras were made for decades. Get the N series lenses, they were the last manual focus M645 lenses and are the best of them.

The 55mm f2.8N and 150mm f3.5N are both extremely good lenses that you can get for almost nothing. They give you the 645 equivalent of 35mm and 90mm lenses on 35mm film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

While there are adapters available to shoot 645 lens on 67 body, and for 67 to 645, issue is that what is wide on a 67 will be not as wide when on 645, but you will benefit as that a long lens on a 67 will even longer on a 645. Other question is will a 645 lens cover a 67 negative? Also not sure if Mamiya made adaptors or if you go 3rd party and if these adapters allows for focus to infinity. Meaning I'm not sure if the flange to film distance is same on the 645 is it on the 67?

Why would you even think of entering such a quagmire?

 

[btaylor]

Why would you even think of entering such a quagmire?

Yes. Get what you want for your 645 now. If and when you go for the RZ or RB later, deal with it then and buy the appropriate lenses. I have an RZ and I find it hard to believe how good and how cheap the lenses are now.

 

[narsuitus]

I have been shooting 35mm with a K1000 and 120 with Yashicas for about 20 years. I have a Mamiya 645 1000s I have been shooting with lately and am thinking seriously about investing in a wide angle and telephoto lens.

I had been shooting 35mm and Mamiya TLR for years. On my TLR, I used a 55/80/180 for my wide/normal/telephoto lenses.

When I got the itch to go to a larger negative, I used a 50/90/180 for my RB67 wide/normal/telephoto lens kit.

If I were in your position, I would keep the Mamiya 645 and also get an RB67 with a normal lens. I would use the RB67 for a while then decide if I wanted to invest in a wide angle and telephoto for the 645 or the RB67.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

My experience with Hasselblad and Mamiya is that with 80mm as normal, the 60mm lens is too close, use a 50mm for wide angle instead. While the 150mm or 180mm lens is good for portraits, you will be better served with a 250mm lens for telephoto work.

I spent a long time agonizing whether it was worth me keeping around a 50, 60 and 80 for Hasselblad and I decided to keep them all because the 50/80/150 fit very well together. But when I only want one lens I strongly prefer the 60 to the 80. Although I rarely want to carry 60 and 80 at the same time, both totally have a place in my system.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Some like the 60mm and 100mm combination, but I find it too long for most of the time. That said the 30mm Fisheye, SWC [38mm] and the 100mm are my favorite lenses, but the 80mm get most of the work.

 

[John Koehrer]

The 645 uses a FP shutter if the rb lens is stopped down manually there should be no problem except for HOW WOULD YOU FOCUS?

There's no focusing helicoid on the rb lens but believe I've seen an adapter with a helicoid.

Like everybody else above, use the right series of lens.

 

[MattKing]

It would be interesting if one could adapt the RB 75mm shift lens to the 645.
But it wouldn't be easy, or cheap.
As I understand it, Pentax designed the Pentax 645 series of cameras with the idea of using Pentax 67 lenses on them.
But both systems use focal plane shutters, so that would have been much simpler.

 

[abruzzi]

But both systems use focal plane shutters, so that would have been much simpler.

And both used focusing helicoids in the lens for focusing. I think the biggest issue the OP would have is the RB and RZ lenses don’t have focusing helicoids since they focus with a bellows. Any adapter is going to need to improvise a way to focus.

In the Pentax case it’s just like any 35mm SLR lens mount adapter, you just need the body to have a shorter flange focal distance than the lens, then you need the proper length tube with the right mounts on either side. Maybe add linkage for auto aperture.

 

[Jim Blodgett]

Thanks for taking time to answer, everyone. I didn't realize the 645 and 67 were fundamentally different. I have never touched a 67 and just assumed they focused the same way the 645s do.

You all saved me a ton of time and frustration. Thanks for that.

 

[Neil Grant]

It would be interesting if one could adapt the RB 75mm shift lens to the 645.
But it wouldn't be easy, or cheap.
...a more likely candidate would be the Penatx 6x7, 75mm shift. This already has helicoid focusing. But is a 'shift-standard' very useful anyway??
Just get a 50mm f/4 Mamiya-Sekor shift for the M 645. Much more useful.