Mamiya TLR lenses: 80mm f2.8 vs 105mm f3.5

grainhound · May 2, 2008

I’d like to know if anyone has compared the 105mm f3.5 to the 80mm f2.8 in terms of optical or image quality. I have an 80, 55, 135, and 180, so I’m hesitant about buying yet another lens unless there’s a noticeable gain in optical quality over the 80 to justify it. They’re close in focal length, but I'm planning a trip and would only take the 105, if I decide to buy it. Ok, I'd include at least the 55 as well... My question is a result of reading a number of comments saying the 105 is fantastic, but it’s never compared to another lens. There is a website that shows the number of lines per mm each Mamiya TLR lens resolves, but I’d like a little more information than numbers. Has anyone formally or informally compared these two?

eumenius · May 2, 2008

Yes, the 105/3.5 DS lens is fantastic - it's Heliar clone, so I prefer its bokeh over the 80's. But I can't name you ANY bad lens in TLR series of Secors - all black-shuttered lenses will deliver a fine quality, I've got the whole line.

Zhenya

cmo · May 3, 2008

The best lenses for my Mamiya 330 are the 105 and the 180 "Super". I sold my 80mm lens. I tried a normal 180 and a 250, none of these three comes close to the 105 and 180S. The 55 is not bad at all, but if you have it I hope you have a hood for it, it really needs one.

MikeSeb · May 3, 2008

My C220 came with the 80 and 105; I have since bought a 135 which I like for portraits. I've been thinking about a 180, and maybe ditching the 80 or 105. They are both optically superb but I find I use them very little.

BTW, what is the difference between a "normal" 180 and the "super" version?

glbeas · May 3, 2008

The 105 I had came with an aperture on the viewing lens, a pretty neat feature for previewing DOF. Look for that as well if you decide on getting one.

Nicholas Lindan · May 3, 2008

glbeas said:
The 105 I had came with an aperture on the viewing lens

I've always wondered why every TLR doesn't have a dof aperture on the viewing lens.

JBrunner · May 3, 2008

Forgive my newbieness regarding the Mamiya TLR system. Will all Mamiya TLR lenses interchange? I have a Mamiyaflex with an 80mm. I really like it, and I'd like to add lenses.

Ian Grant · May 4, 2008

Some of the very early Mamiyaflexes aren't standard, some had fixed lenses.

Mamiya TLR bodies are quite cheap second-hand even the C3's and C33's are excellent cameras, and all the lenses are superb.

Ian

Steve Smith · May 4, 2008

JBrunner said:
Will all Mamiya TLR lenses interchange? I have a Mamiyaflex with an 80mm. I really like it, and I'd like to add lenses.

More or less, yes. There are some oddities such as some lenses needing to be cocked by hand.

Probably more information than actually exists here: Dead Link Removed

It's not a particularly user friendly site but the information is there...... somewhere!

Steve.

grahamp · May 4, 2008

How would you like to see it organized? It's actually a converted Word file, and I really don't have the time to feed it all back into custom HTML There's a PDF version at Dead Link Removed (though that server is going away at the end of June - the campus is 'rationalizing' some services).

If Han Verhulst gets his book published, it will all be redundant, anyway

Ian Tindale · May 4, 2008

I think that the nested arrangement of Graham's site is among the better ways of organising such hierarchically organised chapters of information. I wouldn't have done it any other way (the html version, that is). It's been a valuable reference for me in recent years, together with this other source: Dead Link Removed

MattKing · May 4, 2008

grahamp said:
How would you like to see it organized? It's actually a converted Word file, and I really don't have the time to feed it all back into custom HTML There's a PDF version at Dead Link Removed (though that server is going away at the end of June - the campus is 'rationalizing' some services).

If Han Verhulst gets his book published, it will all be redundant, anyway

Graham:

It won't be redundant. It's great, and much appreciated.

By the way, it probably is important to mention that if you are considering a 105mm lens, you need to know which one - the 105 mm f/3.5, the 105mm f/3.5 or the 105mm f/3.5 DS.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that it is only the DS that has the variable aperture for the viewing lens.

Matt

k_jupiter · May 5, 2008

Steve Smith said:
More or less, yes. There are some oddities such as some lenses needing to be cocked by hand.

Steve.

Ah Steve, you mean like every one you put on a C220?

Mostly all lens will fit on all bodies. C220 are lighter and simpler than C330s, hence more reliable in my opinion.

tim in san jose

ajmiller · May 5, 2008

MattKing said:
Graham:

It won't be redundant. It's great, and much appreciated.

Matt

I second this - I've visited the site many, many times and always found what I wanted. An invaluable resource for the Mamiya lovers amongst us.
I'll also take the opportunity to thank Graham here.

-Tony

ps - apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread

Steve Smith · May 5, 2008

grahamp said:
How would you like to see it organized? It's actually a converted Word file, and I really don't have the time to feed it all back into custom HTML

Sorry. I didn't mean it as an insult, it's just that there is so much information that it sometimes takes a bit of searching to find what you want. My initial look got me to a list then to another list which was a bit confusing.

However, I don't think there is a better way except perhaps in book form.

Steve.

kraker · May 5, 2008

grahamp said:
How would you like to see it organized? It's actually a converted Word file, and I really don't have the time to feed it all back into custom HTML There's a PDF version at Dead Link Removed (though that server is going away at the end of June - the campus is 'rationalizing' some services).

If Han Verhulst gets his book published, it will all be redundant, anyway

Graham,

1. Is your whole Mamiya TLR FAQ marked for removal from the server, or "only" the pdf? If it's everything, then I hope you can find another place to host it. This is valuable information, I wouldn't want to see it disappear. I'm sure we (I, others, APUG in general) can help with hosting if needed.

2. This to-be-published book of Han Verhulst you mention; what's that about? Is there some more information on that?

JBrunner · May 5, 2008

Graham,

I would be happy to host it on my site, if it came to that.

J

cmo · May 5, 2008

MikeSeb said:
My C220 came with the 80 and 105; I have since bought a 135 which I like for portraits. I've been thinking about a 180, and maybe ditching the 80 or 105. They are both optically superb but I find I use them very little.

BTW, what is the difference between a "normal" 180 and the "super" version?

The difference is average vs. extreme sharpness. I have no idea what the differences are in technical data, but the "super" really deserves the name.

grahamp · May 5, 2008

Oh I wasn't insulted or upset - I am genuinely curious about ways to organise the information. Some things would be better moved, but there are direct links around that would be broken. The original is in Word, and the web pages are generated from that. If I had known how it was going to develop, I would have gone a different way. I have added a few pages that bring together topics with multiple elements for troubleshooting. I only started the thing because I was looking to buy a C33 and found the information available was uneven, or sometimes contradictory.

The pages live in two locations at the moment - www.gapatterson.org (www.btinternet.com/~g.a.patterson) and webfiles.berkeley.edu/~grahamp . It is the latter server which is going away at the end of June. I should have a new location in place before that. There's even www.gappatterson.com, but I try to keep the enthusiast stuff elsewhere. The BTInternet server is hard to update from California. For archane reasons I have to use a 33.3K modem (not my 56K), so I will probably mothball that site and eventually stop paying for it. It is heavily cited on the web and in print, though.

The 105mm comes in three flavours. Chrome shutter, black shutter, and black shutter with viewing diaphragm (DS). There is an optical change with the later lenses (the back focus changed with the designand the scales on some bodies are wrong).

The book is being produced by a Dutch collector. I don't have a due date, though I hope it will be this year. It will be self-published, I think. It should be good - he knows his stuff.

David Grenet · May 5, 2008

grahamp said:
The book is being produced by a Dutch collector. I don't have a due date, though I hope it will be this year. It will be self-published, I think. It should be good - he knows his stuff.

Indeed he does. He used to post regularly on the Mamiya user forum for these cameras before Mamiya took them down

Personally I've never had a problem with your site Graham - it's an excellent resource and I'm very happy it's there!

David.

Mamiya TLR lenses: 80mm f2.8 vs 105mm f3.5

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Mamiya TLR lenses: 80mm f2.8 vs 105mm f3.5

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