Hi All
Sorry for this, but I've failed to come up with an answer to this to my satisfaction, so perhaps a few of you could chime in with some answers.
I'm fairly firm on the idea of buying a 645 AFD II (with either ZD, Leaf, or Phase One back, pending budget), but I'd like to know what lenses apart from Mamiya's can be used, and what the compromises may be (eg no autofocus or aperture etc).
Intended use is primarily still life, product and architecture, with some portraiture. I'm not really looking for individual lens recommendations, just help to zone in on what is available for this camera.
Many Thanks in Advance
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Jon,
I recently went through lots of thoughts to the Mamiya lenses, what was available for this system and what would work for me. In following are my lenses and my considerations to why:
Mamiya 55-110 AF ; This is my normal zoom. It is not as wide as my Nikon 28-70 was, but is perfect fine as a normal lens (I prefer the image quality I get now ). I realized my need for wide is most in landscape. Being a normal lens the AF was important to me.
Mamiya 105-210 ; This replaces my HEAVY Nikon 70-210 AFS VR. The 105-210 is 2/3 of weight . It is also shorter, but I can now either get closer to subject or crop. Longer than 210 on Mamiya system gives you rather tiny DOF and large near focus. Although I rarely use the 105-210 range, it is good for occassional wildlife and similar, hence the need for AF to also nail the focus due shallow DOF for medium format compared to 35.
Mamiya 35mm ; I got the AF here... simply it felt so swell using it. This is excellent wide for landscape.
Mamiya 24mm fisheye ; Stopped down metering, no problem. It is a joy to use this lens. It is fun, and can be defished in Image Align. The Mamiya 28mm may be better optically, but... for significant less $$$ and slightly lighter weight I have option to use it as the 35mm equivalence to a 17mm fisheye or defish it to make it perhaps into 20-22mm at 35mm equivalence.
Mamiya 80mm f1.9 ; stopped down metering this is for low light, both to shoot with very shallow DOF, and at distances with larger DOF.
Pentax 33-55 ; This one does NOT fit on Mamiya (YET). I am seeking to have an adapter built, or to have this lens modified for my Mamiya. I am not sure if it will succeed, but would be nice if it does...
A possible future lens for me to buy is the Hartblei 45mm superrotator. There is a nice review of it here on Lunimous Landscape. The Hartblei / Arsat lenses are the only other brands I am aware of that fit on the Mamiya. The 45mm superrotator tilt/shift lens sounds like the only of the Hartblei / Arsat of really good optical quality. There is the 30mm Arsat fisheye, but it does not sound like it is anywhere near the 24 Mamiya in optics... and defishing it would make it near the Mamiya 35mm....
Regards
Anders