Opinions on the Mamiya 7

Mind blowing optical performance (think Leica 35mm performance on 6x7 format) on fairly decent body. Body has its fiddly bits (compared to the (IMHO) ergonomically better RF645) but there is nothing that gives this level of performance with this portability (and lens options).

Fantastic travel camera. Wonderful for landscapes and very good for documentary work. Super quiet. MUCH quieter than a Leica M. Quietest camera I own.

Put one on a tripod and shoot a scene at f8-11 with fine grained film and then make a 20x24 inch print and tell me if you are not impressed.

Some say the lenses are 'wire sharp'. I think they are fine, but my goodness they are merciless. If you want to be kind to faces, you must load up with something with less resolution, like HP5 or TriX. I have plenty of images shot on TriX/HP5 that have old world charm despite being shot on these modern optics.

Then 65 is my favourite of the lot, not for performance as such, but the fact that it seems to be the ideal compromise FL (for me).

Take the deal! Use the camera and if you don't like it, swap it for a hasselblad. The 7 is worth more $$ so a swap would be something like blad +$$ to your advantage.
If you are wanting to use the camera for portraits though, the 150 Mamiya lens is not RF coupled so Mr Hasselblad has a serious advantage. For normal & wa the Mamiya is hard to beat.

John Koehrer said:

Take the deal! Use the camera and if you don't like it, swap it for a hasselblad. The 7 is worth more $$ so a swap would be something like blad +$$ to your advantage.
If you are wanting to use the camera for portraits though, the 150 Mamiya lens is not RF coupled so Mr Hasselblad has a serious advantage. For normal & wa the Mamiya is hard to beat.

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The 150mm Mamiya lens does indeed work with the rangefinder. There is a longer focus lens, 250mm I believe, that is not coupled.

Sandy King

J Rollinger said:

That is exactly what worries me! I know there is a 90% chance i will list it for a trade or sale. I wanted a Hassy with 2 backs, maybe thats what i will try to trade it for.

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One thing has not been mentioned yet. When I got mine (used), the rangefinder was seriously out of focus. Well, serious to me, because I did a lens test and got something just under Hasselblad performance but knew it can do better. When I sent it in to Mamiya for service, the extremely friendly repair guy warned me that camera and lens has to be adjusted to each other, and that this is most notable with the longer 150mm focal length. He turned out to be right. The camera adjustment made a big difference, the lens adjustment did even more for the resolution. In the end, I had 90 lp/mm, which is amazing for MF.

Be prepared to have it serviced to get the most out of it. They charged me a 150 Euros and the seller was friendly enough to pick up a 1/3.

RalphLambrecht said:

One thing has not been mentioned yet. When I got mine (used), the rangefinder was seriously out of focus.

Be prepared to have it serviced to get the most out of it. They charged me a 150 Euros and the seller was friendly enough to pick up a 1/3.

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Good point. The Mamiya 7 and 7II cameras may lose their rangefinder focus, and the loss may not be immediately seen unless you stress the system with a long focal length lens like the 150mm. Depth of field is so great with the wide angle lenses (43mm, 50mm and 65mm) that you might not notice the problem unless you test a high resolution subject like a resolution target. But with the 150mm lens, any problem with range finder focus will probably who up with normal photography.

Sandy King

If you need to adjust the rangefinder, take it to Bob at Precision Camera Works in Niles. He's very reasonably priced, and he did it very quickly for me. It helps to be local.

-Laura

Update!

Thanks everyone for all the advice. After the job being rescheduled it finally has been done. The customer was so nice that she bought be breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was there ever at dinner time. The job took a few more hours than i expected but i now have my Mamiya 7. She also included some filters a Gossen Sixtomat meter, a small little light box to view the negs, 2 cable releases, 8x scope, camera strap, carring bag and 27 rolls of Velvia (expired). The filters are odd to me because they are square and slip into a device that goes on the front of the camera.

The camera has been sitting for 5 years so i put in a new battery to try it out and everything seems to be ok. The shutter sounds accurate at 1 sec, 2 sec, 4 sec so i think its fine. I will run a few rolls through it today to see how it performs. I will give the camera a chance before i decide if i will trade it for a Hassy, but to be honest I'm not liking this rangefinder deal! Is there anything i should watch out for since it has been sitting for 5 years? Below are a couple of photos. Thank you again everyone for all your help!

I just got a back up body and a used 43. What a great system if you are comfortable with the limitations of RFs. The body has a vertically misaligned finder, but I can live with that as its an easy fix. Besides, with the 43 and 50, I tend to zone focus and so will wait until a convenient time to get it adjusted.

Nice trade! I currently shoot with a Mamiya RB67 (which I love), but sometimes I'd really like to have the portability of a Mamiya 7 with one of the wide angle lenses. Enjoy!