What to do with an Aptus 75 and MF bodies.

[free1000]

I have a beautiful Aptus 75 that lends itself to that part of my photography compatible with standing around with a tripod and shooting things that don't move terribly much. For that I use my Cambo and Digitar lenses and even with 33Mp this combo still out resolves my new 42Mp AR72 with Canons TS-E 24 II.

So thats fine... the problem is, l'd like to shoot with an MF body.

When I bought it, I had a Mamiya AFD2 thrown in and on the whole I've never got along with it at all. I can't bear to relate the trouble I've had getting lenses to focus right over the years.  Even on manual focus, with sharp lenses like the f2.8 200 APO which is a corker, the images are almost always slightly off a sizeable part of the time.

Now that Phase have moved on and the XF won't support even more recent backs than mine the back has effectively been orphaned from MF body development... but its still a cracking back (possibly the best Aptus 75 ever made as it was the demo unit and has a sensor taken from the sweetspot of the best wafer ever grown).

So what is the best course of action? The options appear to be a DF+ body or to switch the Mamiya and pick up a Contax kit.

If money didn't matter (shame... it does) then which would be the best course of action with this now legacy piece of equipment?


 

[Don Libby]

If it were me and I wanted to keep the back but wanted to try a MF body I'd first try out a DF or DF+ either of them are much better than previous bodies; just make certain you also use the newer batteries.

Just my 2-cents..

Don

[Paul2660]

+ 1 to Don's comments.

Paul

[synn]

Yeah, I agree with both above replies.

Arrange a demo with a dealer for the DF+. It's not the world's best body, but it works rather well for my needs and the improvements made over the previous AFD bodies, while not very apparent, make it a nicer body to shoot with.

[free1000]

Seems like the wisest counsel. I was thinking this direction already as I'm really attracted to the Schneider 110.

My problem was always getting the lens AF adjustment sorted.  I had a trial when the 110 LS came out with I think the DF body and the dealer couldn't get it to focus...  

[Paul2660]

If you can swing it, go with the DF+, as the AF is much more accurate.  You can also store AF fine adjustments, but with the DF+ I believe it only stores 1 at a time.

Paul

[Esben]

Each photographer has they own preference in camera system. For example, I would NEVER suggest the M645/DF+ to anyone. I've seen photographers on the edge of smashing the DF+ in plain aggravation. The AF is slow and not precise. There're lens errors ad libitum and it feels like a toy/plastic camera (again, just my opinion).

Why not try the Mamiya RZ Pro II. The lenses are beautiful, sharp and the Leaf Aptus is a perfect match. You don't need to wake up the back.

Esben