Pentax lenses on Mamiya 645 AFDIII (And PhaseOne P25+ back)

[Isak Bergwall]

Hi!

I read somewhere that you could mount Pentax 645 lenses (and also Hasselblad V lenses?) on the Mamiya 645 AFD III body.. I have some questions.

I am finally getting a PhaseOne P25+ Back and a Mamiya 645 AFD III body!

But now I need some good lenses to go with it

I am coming from Nikon D700 and my workhorse lens has been the Nikon 17-35/2.8 mostly at 17 mm. So that is my "least acceptable standard" or how to say..

I will not have the money to buy into an 28 mm lens at the moment so I am looking at the 35 mm offerings..

I have no problem with using old Manual focus lenses as long as they are sharp and have good drawing (not so wobbly horizon lines and distortion and so on).

Sadly I read a lot of mixed reviews of the 35 mm Mamiya lens, so I thought I should see whats in the other brands (that are compatible with adaptors) arsenal. 


so after a long rear, what I would like to know is..

Is the Pentax 35 mm better than the Mamiya model? Do you get focus confirmation and metering with the Pentax lenses? And I assume it is stop down metering for these as well?

I've seen that Pentax got a 25 mm that looks awesome, too expensive for me though.

Does Pentax AF lenses also work on the Mamiya body?

And what do Hasselblad V and Pentax selection got that is better than the Mamiya counterparts.

Also which pentax lenses is compatible with the Mamiya 645 AFD III body ?

oh my field of work is Landscapes and nature details so that is what this setup is going to be used for (rarely use the lenses wide open)

Thank you for your help!

This might have been covered but didn't find much..

[Paul2660]

Phase One makes a Hasselblad HB mount to 645 AF adapter.  I don't know about the V lenses.  Back in the day, when you purchased a
645DF body, Phase included the HB to 645 mount adapter.   You should still be able to purchase one on the web or maybe from a Phase dealer.

As for the Pentax 35mm 3.5 AF.  I don't know of any adapters that allow any of the Pentax AF 645 lenses to work on a Mamiya/Phase DF body.  It's my
understanding that the two cameras have the same flange focal distance, thus an adapter will push the 35mm AF past infinity focus.  The Pentax lens
does have a manual aperture ring and it can be used on 35mm systems with a Zork adapter, something I did for over 6 years.

As far as better glass, I can't speak to any Hassy glass, never having used their systems.  However the Pentax 35mm FA, is an excellent lens, and I feel it well outperforms the Mamiya 35mm.  The 35mm Mamiya tends to have softer corners even at aperture ranges of F8 to F14.  I don't think that the manual focus version is much better, I used it before purchasing the Pentax 35mm FA.  I was able to use my 35mm FA on a Pentax 645 Digital body and it performed very well.  Still a soft from F 3.5 to around F6.3, but once into the middle aperture ranges, very good. 

No doubt that the wide angle 35mm and even 28mm solutions from Mamiya/Phase one leave a lot to be desired.  This is one of the reasons that tech
cameras have flourished.   If Phase One/Mamiya would rework, no rebadge (which is what the did with the 35mm D lens) then I would love to try
out the lens.  I keep hoping that Phase One Schneider may come out with something like the 55mm lens.

Paul

[mediumcool]

Mamiya 645 flange/film distance is 63.3mm, and the Pentax 645’s is 70.87mm (a difference of 7.57mm), according to this site. So an adapter should be feasible, but I have never seen one. Another plan is to use a Hasselblad > Mamiya or Bronica SQ > Mamiya adapter; the Bronica’s PS lenses have a good rep—recently missed out on a Bron 40mm PS on eBay which went for $199 US.

I have two Mamiya 35s and neither is wonderful.

[ondebanks]

I read somewhere that you could mount Pentax 645 lenses (and also Hasselblad V lenses?) on the Mamiya 645 AFD III body..

What you read probably referred to the Pentax 67, not 645? There are currently adapters for the P67's lenses, but not the P645's - although as mediumcool points out, they are technically feasible. My guess as to why they don't exist is that the P645 has never had a lens lineup which offered things that the M645 didn't. If anything, the opposite has been the case - they go toe to toe on most lenses, and then Mamiya has a few extra exotic ones.

I will not have the money to buy into an 28 mm lens at the moment so I am looking at the 35 mm offerings..

If you're ok with de-fishing software (and in fairness, it is just a more extreme case of the software distortion correction that most SLR ultrawides need anyway), the Mamiya 24mm ULD manual focus fisheye lens is a cracker. Cheaper than a 28mm AF, much wider than a 35mm and much closer to your desired 17mm-on-35mm-format. Some say that it is better optically than the 28mm AF as well; I haven't used a 28mm but I can personally assert that the fisheye is much better optically than the 35mm manual focus lens.

Ray

[HarperPhotos]

Hello,

Ray I totally agree with you about the Mamiya 24mm fisheye lens. Photoshop CS6 have the new Adaptive Wide Angle soft wear which is excellent at straighten the lens fish eye effect.

I also have the Mamiya  AF28mm lens and it is as sharp as the Mamiya 24mm lens and I have the Mamiya AF 35mm lens and I have found my version to be very good. I have never hesitated to use it in any photography shoots

Buy the way I have the 24mm,28mm and 35mm lenses for sale at the moment.

Cheers

Simon

[Paul2660]

Simon,

Curious, on your 28mm Phase/Mamiya do you see the sharpness all the way to the corners? 
I was OK with the 28mm Mamiya until I upgraded to the IQ160, then no matter what setting I used, the corners were never that good.
Center was excellent but for me the softness and smearing I had was not worth the cost of the 28mm anymore. 

I am sure that as with all lenses there are good and bad copies, this was my 2nd, after Mamiya exchanged out my first one. 

I have never used the 24mm but always hear good things about it. 

As for the 35mm, I used that lens a lot with my P45+ and it was a very good lens, but never as good as the AF 55mm Mamiya.

Paul

[HarperPhotos]

Hi Paul,

One thing I know is for certain not all Mamiya 28mm lenses are created equal.

My first one was a dog. When Mamiya Japan saw the results they got me to send it back and they replaced it with the one I am now selling.

This shot was taken this morning at a local park at F16.0.

I think the problem is a lot of photographers compare this lens to Rodenstock and Schneider lenses which are a totally different beast.

Again this lens is for sale.

Cheers

Simon

[Paul2660]

Hi Simon,

Good points on the 28mm Mamiya.  I moved to the tech camera, Rodenstock 28mm since as you point out the differences are just
night and day. 

My reasons were that I still need a filter every once and a while and the Mamiya 28 was just a pain to filter, I had a OK rig I built up but it just didn't work easily and I hated the time it took to setup in the field.  (Kinda of like the Lee setup for the Nikon 14-24).  I never was able very good corners after 3 different lenses, I just gave up.   But mostly the cost of the Mamiya 28 is pretty close to a Rodenstock 28mm (used) and so I went ahead and let it go. 

I keep hoping to see Phase One get a bit more focused on the wide angle lens solutions for the DF body. 

Paul

[Isak Bergwall]

Thanks for all replies! I have been away so I haven't had the time to answer..

It was indeed the Pentax 67 lenses that I had read about, my mistake

I will use the Mamiya 35 lens on a P25+ back, and I guess the low pixel count will be more forgiving than a IQ160 and even a P45+ ?

it seams that it biggest problem is that it is soft in the corners, is this something you can fix in post production with capture one for example (I read somewhere it has some corner sharpening settings?).

Have anybody photographed with a Nikon 17-35 and can say if they thought that lens was sharper?

can you mount any of these technical camera lenses to a mamiya 645 AFDIII body?

[mediumcool]

I will use the Mamiya 35 lens on a P25+ back, and I guess the low pixel count will be more forgiving than a IQ160 and even a P45+ ?

Yes. I use a Mamiya 35N with a 22mp Aptus back (36 x 48mm sensor), and it’s mostly acceptable. Can send you some links to sample images if you like.

it seams that it biggest problem is that it is soft in the corners, is this something you can fix in post production with capture one for example (I read somewhere it has some corner sharpening settings?).

I would submit that the moustache distortion is pretty bad too, but not for all subjects. Edge sharpness correction in C1 is shown below (called Sharpness Falloff).

can you mount any of these technical camera lenses to a mamiya 645 AFDIII body?

You would need some kind of focusing mechanism, which would be expensive to custom-build, or you could use the Mamiya bellows, which probably would not permit focus to infinity (you would still need some kind of adapter).

[Isak Bergwall]

So isn't there any good "affordable" ultra wide angle lenses for the 645 AFD system?

[HarperPhotos]

Hello Isac,

Here is a shot taken with my Mamiya 645 AF 35mm lens @F11.0

Cheers

Simon

[Isak Bergwall]

Thanks Harper, I do hope the wooden structure on the left is just out of focus, otherwise that is really unsharp

[mediumcool]

Two pictures made with a Mamiya 35N





Open in a new tab or window to see full-size.

[Isak Bergwall]

I think these images are totally okay for an lens in that price range (around a 1000$ for a lens isn't that much really), and I can't see why people are complaining about soft corners and stuff..

mediumcool: Are yours post processed? Because if not it handles CA really good I would say.

[mediumcool]

I think these images are totally okay for an lens in that price range (around a 1000$ for a lens isn't that much really), and I can't see why people are complaining about soft corners and stuff..
mediumcool: Are yours post processed? Because if not it handles CA really good I would say.

Oh yeah! Capture One. Always. C1 fixes CA very well in my experience [refer screenshots in my prior post, even though they are for Pentax K-5 images].

[HarperPhotos]

Hi Isac,

Yes the wood structure is out of focus cause of it closeness to the camera.

I feel the Mamiya AF 35mm doesn't deserve most of the bad press it gets from photographers. When used at F11.0 and on a tripod I believe it produces out standing quality.

Cheers

Simon