Mamiya M645 110mm 2.8 or 150mm 3.5 for portraiture.

Dear Apug members,

Share a studio space with Mamiya users with M645/Rb67
Will want to purchase M645 but was wondering any pros/cons to the following
lenses for head/shoulders portraiture...

110 2.8 I hear magical things about this optic over the standard 80mm.

150 3.5 This looks like the go to lens for portraiture, any feedback/examples would be appreciated.

210 mm f4.... would this be too long for in studio, 12-15' depth....maximum?

Many Thanks for any feedback on this...

Kind Regards,

Harlequin

For 645, I think that the 110mm is a bit short for head/shoulders portraiture. At 2m distance, the image field with the 150mm is 50cm x 70 cm. With the 110mm, you'll have to get closer to 1.5m for the same image and risk a "big nose look". For tighter head/shoulders portraits, the 210mm would be better. At 2m, the image field for the 210mm would be 40 x 50 cm. So it depends on how much space around the head/shoulders you want in your photo.

The 105-210mm zoom is a versatile portrait lens although I found it a bit heavy. The A 150mm f/2.8 lens is also really nice. I'll see if I can post an example image from that lens tonight.

For my Mamiya 645 Pro I own both the 110mm and 210mm lenses. I used to own a 150mm lens but no longer do.
My choices in longer focal lengths are strongly affected by my choices in shorter focal lengths. I shoot more with the shorter lenses - my 55mm lens is my "standard" lens, and I get a lot of use from my 45mm lens.
With 55mm being my "standard", the 110mm and 210mm lenses make sense as a progression.
I'm not sure that I would describe the 110mm as "magical". It is a lens I like though.
One thing to consider is that the 110mm is not, as far as I know, available in the latest "N" version.

We know from the countless pros shooting in the portrait studio that 8-10' subject distance provides shots with pleasing facial perspective.
100mm on 135 format is also known to be a very commonly used FL for shooting 'head and shoulders' shots from 8-10' away. 100mm = ShortFrameDimension * 4.2 (100 = 24 * 4.2)

So if you want to shoot head and shoulders shot from 8-10' away with 645, the same Angle of View would be achieved with 4.2 * 43mm, or 180mm. The shorter 150mm lens would leave you wider framing to either side of the shoulders, which you would have to crop of in printing. Moving closer with 150mm defeats the 'good subject perspective' with 20% closer distance to subject (6-8' not 8-10') and can make some portrait sitters uncomfortable with the closeness of the camera.

In fact, Bronica offered a 180mm lens simply because so many found that 150mm was too short and 200mm was too long!

Since you are in a studio and have plenty of room you could use the 150 or the 210.

Remember that the longer the lens the more compression you get. How much compression you want is of course personal preference.


http://stepheneastwood.com/tutorials/lensdistortion/strippage.htm

MattKing said:

...One thing to consider is that the 110mm is not, as far as I know, available in the latest "N" version.

Click to expand...

It is available in the 'N' version, I have one.

jjphoto said:

It is available in the 'N' version, I have one.

Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct - my apologies.