Mamiya Press Pan

cayenne · Oct 1, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
I've considered how I might install a film cutter in the RB67 220 back I'm slowly converting to permanent 35mm use (slowly because my spare time is both sparse and poorly managed). Being able to cut the film between the supply cassette and counter drive roller would allow winding the film on through into the takeup cassette, then moving the previous supply cassette (with protruding tail) to the takeup side to reload in daylight. A supply of precut cine leaders and a pair of scissors (to cut off the leader trim on commercially rolled 35mm) would be all you'd need to literally shoot all day.

Very interesting!!

Please keep us updated as you progress on this mod you have with the back!!! It could have a lot of applications!!

C

Donald Qualls · Oct 1, 2021

The easy first part is to use tape or glue to lock the main part of the counter driver roller to the rubber coated collar at the mechanism end, so (the base side of) the film can drive the counter and give accurate frame spacing. I've used electrical tape, but it doesn't stay in place well so I'll probably try a drop of gel super glue (since this is intended to be a permanent conversion anyway). Gel so it doesn't run into the bearings and gears and gives me time to wipe off excess before forcing cure with accelerator.

cayenne · Oct 1, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
The easy first part is to use tape or glue to lock the main part of the counter driver roller to the rubber coated collar at the mechanism end, so (the base side of) the film can drive the counter and give accurate frame spacing. I've used electrical tape, but it doesn't stay in place well so I'll probably try a drop of gel super glue (since this is intended to be a permanent conversion anyway). Gel so it doesn't run into the bearings and gears and gives me time to wipe off excess before forcing cure with accelerator.

Too cool.
If you get it going, please post pics of your mods!!

I think a lot of us would be quite interested!!

C

Donald Qualls · Oct 1, 2021

I hope to remember to document the conversion with photos; assuming that occurs, I'll make a thread in the Camera Building & Repair section.

cayenne · Oct 5, 2021

Just a quick update.

It appears my PressPan is in shipment now...should get it around Oct 14th..

Fingers crossed.

cayenne

cayenne · Oct 15, 2021

Well, I got my PressPan in the mail middle of this week.
@Jeremy Mudd - So far, I haven't had to do any trimming like you described when you said you were mounting your lens?

Anyway, I've mounted my lens, and loaded a roll, trying to get the routine down...light meter reading, laser distance measurement, set lens focus distance, set viewfinder parallax distance to match...frame up, keep level, cock lens and shoot....then double stroke the film advance.

I'm also somehow in there trying to make notes, I don't have a note pad so using the one in my phone to try to record what all I did.

I'm trying at first just test shots, like framing my whole house to see how the viewfinder matches with what I"m actually catching in frame.....first ones I was thinking "cool I did it all"...then realized on none of the closer up shots had I set the parallax on the viewfinder...UGH.

OH Well....I'll be running a few rolls of film through it this weekend...will try to make mental notes and written ones when I can think of it.

Hoping it all works, no leaks, etc....

Will update after I get some film through it and developed and back for scanning.

cayenne

Jeremy Mudd · Oct 16, 2021

cayenne said:
Well, I got my PressPan in the mail middle of this week.
@Jeremy Mudd - So far, I haven't had to do any trimming like you described when you said you were mounting your lens?

Anyway, I've mounted my lens, and loaded a roll, trying to get the routine down...light meter reading, laser distance measurement, set lens focus distance, set viewfinder parallax distance to match...frame up, keep level, cock lens and shoot....then double stroke the film advance.

I'm also somehow in there trying to make notes, I don't have a note pad so using the one in my phone to try to record what all I did.

I'm trying at first just test shots, like framing my whole house to see how the viewfinder matches with what I"m actually catching in frame.....first ones I was thinking "cool I did it all"...then realized on none of the closer up shots had I set the parallax on the viewfinder...UGH.

OH Well....I'll be running a few rolls of film through it this weekend...will try to make mental notes and written ones when I can think of it.

Hoping it all works, no leaks, etc....

Will update after I get some film through it and developed and back for scanning.

cayenne

I didn't need to do any plastic trimming to mount the lens - I did have to do that on the Goodman Zone so I could see where you could mix those two up. Where I did have to trim plastic on the Press Pan is in the film gate area. Note the image I posted earlier in the discussion. Good luck!

Jeremy Mudd · Oct 28, 2021

I am working on a review now of three different cameras/ways to shoot 35mm panoramas (not including the Xpan).

1. RB67 Pro SD with 220 back, 35mm adapters, and custom mask in the viewfinder
2. PressPan
3. Sprocket Rocket

Shooting the same exact scenes/subjects with the three different cameras on the same roll film stock. Should make for an interesting comparison.

I'll post a link when done, probably in the next week or so.

Jeremy

cayenne · Oct 28, 2021

Jeremy Mudd said:
I am working on a review now of three different cameras/ways to shoot 35mm panoramas (not including the Xpan).

1. RB67 Pro SD with 220 back, 35mm adapters, and custom mask in the viewfinder
2. PressPan
3. Sprocket Rocket

Shooting the same exact scenes/subjects with the three different cameras on the same roll film stock. Should make for an interesting comparison.

I'll post a link when done, probably in the next week or so.

Jeremy

VERY cool!!

Looking forward to seeing this. Would you possibly also add in the Goodman Zone camera shooting 35mm pano too?

Anyway, looking forward to your post!!

cayenne

Donald Qualls · Oct 28, 2021

Jeremy Mudd said:
1. RB67 Pro SD with 220 back, 35mm adapters, and custom mask in the viewfinder

I'm working on this setup as well, though I don't have those other options. I've gotten a .46x auxiliary lens in 77mm thread, and plan to test it soon on my 50 mm and 90 mm lenses; on a 90 mm it should approximate a 40 mm; on 50 mm I expect a lot of vignetting, but it it's acceptable (due to the narrow film avoiding the corners of the frame) it would be about like a 28 mm rectilinear (as opposed to the incredibly expensive 37 mm fisheye that's the widest Sekor for this system). With a 24x67 image area, that's around 117 degrees corner to corner, if it works.

Jeremy Mudd · Oct 28, 2021

cayenne said:
VERY cool!!

Looking forward to seeing this. Would you possibly also add in the Goodman Zone camera shooting 35mm pano too?

Anyway, looking forward to your post!!

cayenne

Thanks!

OK, well in an ideal world where I had two Mamiya Press 50mm lenses, I would include the Zone. Unfortunately I only have one, and switching the lens out to a different boty in a dark bag in between shots doesn't sound appealing, especially because it involved allen screws. The Presspan doesn't have a curtain to protect the film when removing the lens, and my Zone has the darkslide slot sealed up since its not needed due to the way the back is attached to the unit.

I thought for a moment about just shooting the zone in pinhole mode with the 35mm film in it, but it wouldn't be that fair of a comparison without a real lens in it.

Maybe another day!

Jeremy

cayenne · Oct 29, 2021

Jeremy Mudd said:
Thanks!

OK, well in an ideal world where I had two Mamiya Press 50mm lenses, I would include the Zone. Unfortunately I only have one, and switching the lens out to a different boty in a dark bag in between shots doesn't sound appealing, especially because it involved allen screws. The Presspan doesn't have a curtain to protect the film when removing the lens, and my Zone has the darkslide slot sealed up since its not needed due to the way the back is attached to the unit.

I thought for a moment about just shooting the zone in pinhole mode with the 35mm film in it, but it wouldn't be that fair of a comparison without a real lens in it.

Maybe another day!

Jeremy

D'oh!!

LOL..sorry, I forgot about having to switch the Mamiya lens back and forth!!

Alright, well, again, VERY much looking forward to your findings!!

I just got my first test roll back out of the PressPan I got. I shot a 36 roll of Ilford HP5. I'm needing to get my camera scanning set up finished, but just by eyeballing the negatives, so far, it appears to be pretty good...fairly sharp images.

The composition appears to be a bit lower that what I shot, but I can experiment and compensate by just setting the parallax on the view finder to always be down a bit I think.....I don't see any light leaks, but again, this is just eyeballing it with my very nearsighted eyeballs.

Anyway, hope to scan them soon, but now that I know I have to compensate for the viewfinder a bit, I can shoot a bit more accurately this weekend while out and about.

C

Jeremy Mudd · Oct 29, 2021

cayenne said:
D'oh!!

The composition appears to be a bit lower that what I shot, but I can experiment and compensate by just setting the parallax on the view finder to always be down a bit I think.....I don't see any light leaks, but again, this is just eyeballing it with my very nearsighted eyeballs.

So as you know I've been down that slippery slope with that camera. The only issue with trying to correct with the viewfinder is that even the smallest bit of adjustment down, off of the infinity mark, could mean several feet worth of height change the further away you are. Meaning a scene 30 feet away might be OK-ish, but 50-60 feet away might mean you are shooting a composition higher than what you think. You'll have to mess around and get a feel for it. I think for me a lot of it really was due to looking in the viewfinder with my glasses on when composing, and sticking my eyeball right against it instead helped. It's still a bit off, but not as bad as it was. With my glasses on I must have been in the habit of looking upwards and having parallax in the very thing designed to combat parallax!

Jeremy

Jeremy Mudd · Oct 31, 2021

My thoughts on the PressPan here:

https://www.jeremymuddphoto.com/blog/2021/10/28/35mm-panoramic-cameras-out-in-the-wild-a-field-test

Jeremy

Dan Fromm · Oct 31, 2021

Jeremy Mudd said:
My thoughts on the PressPan here:

https://www.jeremymuddphoto.com/blog/2021/10/28/35mm-panoramic-cameras-out-in-the-wild-a-field-test

Jeremy

Interesting. I'm sorry y'r PressPan is such an expensive disappointment, am a little surprised that the 50/6.3 Mamiya didn't perform better. Any ideas why the lens wasn't outstanding, including that it is overrated?

I still like my solution, explained in post #7 above. Cheap, cheerful, versatile and with through the lens focusing. But tastes differ and clearly shooting 120 film isn't for everyone.

Jeremy Mudd · Nov 2, 2021

Dan Fromm said:
Interesting. I'm sorry y'r PressPan is such an expensive disappointment, am a little surprised that the 50/6.3 Mamiya didn't perform better. Any ideas why the lens wasn't outstanding, including that it is overrated?

I still like my solution, explained in post #7 above. Cheap, cheerful, versatile and with through the lens focusing. But tastes differ and clearly shooting 120 film isn't for everyone.

I think its less about the lens, and more about the engineering/construction of the PressPan. I have the suspicion that the lens mount isn't flat to the film plane and/or the distance to it isn't optimal. I've been shooting RB67 lenses for years and would assume that lens is just as good or better.

I understand your solution in #7, its just not for me. It does look like it offers a lot of versatility though.

I prefer to composed and shoot in a panoramic ratio versus cropping. If I want to shoot 120 then I'd just grab my GX617 and use it.

I've removed the 50mm lens and viewfinder from the PressPan and packed it back in a box. The lens and viewfinder now reside back on the Goodman Zone body. I'm going back out to shoot it in the next few days to capture some Autumn panos and re-evaluate it. I'm torn about even trying to sell the PressPan body to someone now, unless they understand its issues up front and are willing to take a cheap chance at liking it.

Jeremy

Jeremy Mudd · Dec 10, 2021

I've sold the PressPan at a loss and its on its way to its new owner.

My hope is that they can get it up and working and solve the issues. Would be great to see someone else enjoy it.

Jeremy

Jeremy Mudd · Jan 7, 2023

cayenne said:
D'oh!!

LOL..sorry, I forgot about having to switch the Mamiya lens back and forth!!

Alright, well, again, VERY much looking forward to your findings!!

I just got my first test roll back out of the PressPan I got. I shot a 36 roll of Ilford HP5. I'm needing to get my camera scanning set up finished, but just by eyeballing the negatives, so far, it appears to be pretty good...fairly sharp images.

The composition appears to be a bit lower that what I shot, but I can experiment and compensate by just setting the parallax on the view finder to always be down a bit I think.....I don't see any light leaks, but again, this is just eyeballing it with my very nearsighted eyeballs.

Anyway, hope to scan them soon, but now that I know I have to compensate for the viewfinder a bit, I can shoot a bit more accurately this weekend while out and about.

C

I'm curious to hear how you're getting on with your PressPan now that you've had it for awhile.

I've had a few folks lately email me about my opinions about it after either reading about here or on my website.

Wondering if you are having similar issues l or if I was just the sole unlucky one.

Jeremy

cayenne · Feb 3, 2023

Jeremy Mudd said:
I'm curious to hear how you're getting on with your PressPan now that you've had it for awhile.

I've had a few folks lately email me about my opinions about it after either reading about here or on my website.

Wondering if you are having similar issues l or if I was just the sole unlucky one.

Jeremy

Hello Jeremy!!

Sorry so long on reply.....

As for the PressPan. Sadly I've not put that many rolls of film through it yet. Life and other projects came up.

HOWEVER, I'm about to finish a roll of Cinestyle 800 in it, part of which was used to try to shoot some roadside car light trails...with multiple exposers.....will be interested in seeing that.

That being said...I just went back and reviews a couple rolls of negatives I've not scanned in yet...and the actually look VERY VERY good!! Exposure looks great and I can see what appears to be great detail and sharpness.

I will need to shoot more and get myself used to better figuring where the image is with reference to the viewfinder....I did shoot things a little down further than I wanted it framed, especially if it was close up.

My only problem seems to be that my Mamiya Press lens, is a little 'gummy'...in that I've had the shutter kind of sticking it after cocking it and pushing the button...I think the button reset is a little sticky or something....

Anyone know who does Mamiya Press lens CLAs?

Anyway, I do plan to bring this out a bit more here soon, the pano aspect will be great for Mardi Gras parade shots down here which is this month....

I can't remember exactly what you said your problems you had with the camera? I believe you ended up selling yours?

Anyway, from my usage so far, which is lighter than I'd like to admit....it seems to be working just fine. Just gotta remember to double stroke the winder AND...wind so as not to inadvertently double expose.

cayenne

Donald Qualls · Feb 3, 2023

cayenne said:
Anyone know who does Mamiya Press lens CLAs?

I'd suggest starting with a PM to our user @Mamiya_Repair -- he works on RB67 lenses with their shutters, so might also work on the leaf shutter lenses for that Mamiya Press. Parts may be the issue, if it's likely to need them, but he's likely to know how much of an issue and might have some parts.

cayenne · Feb 3, 2023

Donald Qualls said:
I'd suggest starting with a PM to our user @Mamiya_Repair -- he works on RB67 lenses with their shutters, so might also work on the leaf shutter lenses for that Mamiya Press. Parts may be the issue, if it's likely to need them, but he's likely to know how much of an issue and might have some parts.

Thank you VERY much for the info !!!

I just took it out to shoot while walking my pup....it seemed to mostly shoot ok, but trigger did kinda stick shut once, had to cock it a couple times and then it popped out.

C

Donald Qualls · Feb 3, 2023

cayenne said:
had to cock it a couple times and then it popped out.

If it works well otherwise, a cleaning is likely to fix it up. Drop him a PM, in my experience he's happy to tell you what you need to know.

Jeremy Mudd · Feb 3, 2023

cayenne said:
Hello Jeremy!!

Sorry so long on reply.....

As for the PressPan. Sadly I've not put that many rolls of film through it yet. Life and other projects came up.

HOWEVER, I'm about to finish a roll of Cinestyle 800 in it, part of which was used to try to shoot some roadside car light trails...with multiple exposers.....will be interested in seeing that.

That being said...I just went back and reviews a couple rolls of negatives I've not scanned in yet...and the actually look VERY VERY good!! Exposure looks great and I can see what appears to be great detail and sharpness.

I will need to shoot more and get myself used to better figuring where the image is with reference to the viewfinder....I did shoot things a little down further than I wanted it framed, especially if it was close up.

My only problem seems to be that my Mamiya Press lens, is a little 'gummy'...in that I've had the shutter kind of sticking it after cocking it and pushing the button...I think the button reset is a little sticky or something....

Anyone know who does Mamiya Press lens CLAs?

Anyway, I do plan to bring this out a bit more here soon, the pano aspect will be great for Mardi Gras parade shots down here which is this month....

I can't remember exactly what you said your problems you had with the camera? I believe you ended up selling yours?

Anyway, from my usage so far, which is lighter than I'd like to admit....it seems to be working just fine. Just gotta remember to double stroke the winder AND...wind so as not to inadvertently double expose.

cayenne

No worries.

Good to know. I'll be curious as to what you think once you've actually scanned in the negs and had a good critical look at them.

I did have multiple issues and ended up selling the body for half of what I paid to someone who was well-informed of its issues and willing to take a chance on it. I kept the 50mm press lens and finder for the Goodman Zone that I had, but sold that back in December when I decided that cameras that I wasn't shooting much had to go lead their lives with people who would use and appreciate them.

Exposure never really was much of a problem for me with the PressPan as that Mamiya lens was great.

Where I had issues were random light leaks from possibly the lens mount, some weird little halos around the outside corners of each frame that looked like maybe reflections (?), parallax (that didn't exist with the same lens mounted on the Zone, so I think there was something going on with the lens mount), and most importantly - sharp images were few and far between with that camera. I think that was my biggest problem with it. Oh and there was the fact that the donor body that was used to make it developed a problem with the winder where it overlapped frames on occasion even with the double-stroke done correctly.

The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth. Between the long wait and bad communication, and the eventual product that just didn't live up to my standards. Well, anyone's standards if they wanted a good image as the result of using it.

There was one for sale on Facebook last month and the guy was asking something crazy like $1500 for it as a total package with the Press lens and the images that he showed that he took with it as examples were NOT sharp, so that made me think it wasn't just me. Everyone commenting on it in his for-sale post were fawning all over it like it was the coolest thing, and one of them did their google research on it and found my blog post about it on my website and asked me my opinion of the system. I didn't want to ruin someone's potential sale but also didn't want someone else to buy a lemon, so I was cautious about making certain he understood that the problems were with MY copy and that maybe others were OK.

Jeremy

Chuck1 · Jan 25, 2024

Just wondering, and yes it seems stupid
But would the dora goodman 6x7 cameras work with any graflock roll back(horseman or graflex)
And no 6x9 on the camera designated 6x7?
Thanks

reddesert · Jan 25, 2024

Chuck1 said:
Just wondering, and yes it seems stupid
But would the dora goodman 6x7 cameras work with any graflock roll back(horseman or graflex)
And no 6x9 on the camera designated 6x7?
Thanks

You might get better answers if you added to a thread about the Goodman cameras or started a new one, vs tacking this question onto threads that are not about Goodman.

I'll remark that although RB67, Graphic 2x3, and Horseman backs all use the Graflok-type sliders to hold the back on, they're not all guaranteed to be the same dimensions in the interface to the body. I think the RB67 and Graphic 2x3 backs are very similar, but the Horseman ones are a little longer on the hinge side and may not fit all cameras designed for RB67-type. (And there is an older type of Horseman back that is much longer and wouldn't fit at all.)

Mamiya Press Pan

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