samedi 8 janvier 2005

Cameras I've Clicked With Mamiya 7 It may be controversial to start a camera review by mentioning another totally different model... but several other magazine editors have made the same comparison in the past so I'll do it anyway. The first thing I felt when looking through the 6x7cm Mamiya 7 range / viewfinder was that 35mm Leica M users would love it! Of course the Leica M7 is still in production whereas the Mamiya M7 isn't... but there are enough of them on the second-hand market to excite a growing number of photographers seeking better quality from film and a more composed shooting style. Those in the know believe that a certain series of rangefinder cameras dating from 1954 and still in production arguably has a more accurate focusing system utilising lenses from a 21mm wide-angle to 50mm standard than AF cameras and, with practice in certain situations (especially poor light), has a focusing system almost as fast in operation. This may seem hard to accept by readers but there have been American magazine and internet site tests which show that even when tested on a top pro-spec camera such as the Nikon F5 manual focusing can be up to 100% more accurate than auto-focusing. And of course the advantages of fast and accurate coincident image focusing systems offered by the 35mm rangefinder camera are just as applicable in manual focus medium format cameras. Update 15 June 2007 : This article has been moved and can now be read on my new expanded web site 20/20 Visions 9:36:36 PM    comment []