Mamiya 645 Leaf Shutter Lenses help, please.

[tkamiya]

I wonder if someone can help me with Mamiya 645 Leaf Shutter lenses. I am considering getting a 150mm f/3.8 LS lens.

I have a Mamiya 645Pro (non-TL) with AE finder-N and Winder-N. I understand those leaf shutter lenses were made to work with Pro models. First of all, since these lenses have shutter in them, how do they work in conjunction with the focal plane shutter in the body? Additionally, how do they work in a hybrid system like mine where body is a Pro version but finder and winder are Super version?

I have not been able to find any manuals for these lenses. Seem there are very little discussions about these lenses on forums as well. I read somewhere, I'd 'twist' the lens to cock it. How does that work with automation with the body??

 

[hsteeves]

for automation with the Pro body, you need the Pro winder. It has an electronic connection to hook up with the LS lenses. If you go this route, you will need to find a lens with the electronic coupler - which are hard to come by. While the 55 and 80 used one length, the 150 used a longer one.

 

[tkamiya]

Can you please elaborate on electronic coupler part? Is this something besides the lens itself and the winder that I must purchase? Is this a piece of wiring harness or something else?

 

[MattKing]

As far as I'm aware, the Winder N doesn't include the capacity to auto-cock the leaf shutter lenses.

One of the winders designed for the Pro bodies has this facility (the WG401). As hsteeves indicates above, you need the electronic coupler cable between the winder and the leaf shutter to make this work. It is indeed a cable, but I haven't actually used one, just seen it used by someone else, and in pictures.

I've only actually used one of the Mamiya leaf shutters manually. To do that, you set your focal plane shutter speed to 1/8 or shorter, manually set the shutter speed and aperture on the lens, and manually cock the shutter on the lens before each photo.

Mike Butkus has instructions for the older 70mm lens on his website here: http://www.cameramanuals.org/mamiya_pdf/mamiya_m645_70mm_lens.pdf

The newer lenses work manually in the same way.

Hope this helps.

 

[tkamiya]

Thank you both!

I'm looking for a solution to using my MF gear in daylight with fill-in flash. This might work for me.

 

[mweintraub]

Did you pick up a leaf lens? If so, have you tried it?

I just got mine in the mail and can't wait to try some flash stuff outside also.