Film Fridays: battle of two Medium Format titans - Mamiya 7 vs. Makina 67

Neither. In that price range I'll take my Pentax 67II with the finder any day of the week. Sure, its a little more weight, but as soon as you carry a few lenses... There is nothing - nothing like having a real SLR vs. a rangerfinder at 6x7.

I've been shooting with the mamiya 7 for 20 years I have still yet to find a camera that makes me happier and creates better images for my style and pace of work. I love it so much i bought a second (before the price went crazy) the Plabel is wonderful too but the folding mechanism is prone to wear and can go out of alignment. Some people mentioned the mamiya 6 another great camera but it's weakness is the winder is known to fail. I also highly rate the Fuji GF670 optically it's almost identical to the mamiya , it's the one take hiking as it packs down really well it's only flaw is the lugs are on the wrong end of the camera body (a strange design flaw)

The advantages of the Mamiya 7 II over the Plaubel Makina are substantial. The Mamiya 7 II holds better alignment over time, film advance is more reliable, more rugged and less fragile, and more importantly, the lenses are sharper than the Plaubel Makina. You won’t see much of a difference with a 4x loupe, but on a 8x loupe, the Mamiya 7 II lenses are clearly sharper.

These are the reasons why I bought the Mamiya 7 II 16 years ago over the Plaubel Makina. The Mamiya 7 II adds multiple exposure over the regular 7, otherwise they’re essentially the same camera. I knew these cameras would be instant classics due to their special niche. In an age of digital manipulation, every photographer needs to own a film camera for truth, history, and posterity.

My holy trinity of lenses are the 43mm, 80mm, and 150mm. The leaf shutter allows for hand-held shots down to 1/8s. No vibration whatsoever! 6x7 Velvia 50 scans on my Epson V-750 yields 150MP images that are breathtaking and razor sharp.

I'd take either of them - quite happily.

Rangefinder cameras so fluid and wonderful. You let the world come to you, versus "targeting" it. Others:
Fuji 6x7-6x9 RFs
Mamyia Press press camera
Koni-Omega press camera

Never used the 7, but the Mamiya 6 is my go-to camera for walkarounds and landscape/street images. The 50mm is a near-perfect optic, YMMV.

I did extended documentary projects a long time ago with the Makina W67. Well, actually TWO Makina W67s, it was not reliable enough to count on just one. The film advance mechanism was the Achille's heal of that camera. But there was nothing else that compared with it. I needed a compact and light camera that I could use in tight spaces that would produce color negs I could make huge prints from.

I eventually did a direct test against my Pentax 67 55mm lens, and discovered the Pentax lens was sharper and also had a LOT less vignetting. At that point I retired my Makinas (I've always called them Plaubels), thinking I would save one as a sentimental keepsake. As the price of these collectable cameras went up I eventually sold mine.

I briefly owned the 80mm model, but it just wasn't the focal length I preferred. I think maybe the 2nd version of that had an improved film advance, and less vignetting.

That's all I know,

Real men use the Fuji gx680, wrapped around their wrists :)

I’d rather have any RB67 camera...

There is a reason the Mamiya 7 was called the poor man's Leica. Price and performance wins.

In a similar vein, i sometimes still enjoy a fuji gsw690mk3. Big sturdy plastic rangefinder, all mechanical. Great results. I lost my lunasix and measure the light with my iphone. Bought the fuji for around $350 some 10 years ago.

I got a Pentax 645 and two lenses for a great price because the battery holder was gone. I had to build a new one, but that cost me $3 and 45 minutes versus $100 in UK Pounds, from England, and broken, on eBay.

Anyway.. once I got it powered up, the beauty of medium format was soon made apparent in its output.

Until the day comes that I can afford Fujifilm GFX, the Pentax 645 is a great entry into medium format.

I'm thinking to my self: How I don't miss film, manual focus, finder guessing, chemical water pollution, exposure times in full stops, no changing sensitivity on the fly (or changing film)...

Like comparing an Olympus trip with a LEICA M4.....sure, the Olympus has a nice fixed lens and is a lot cheaper.
Try the Mamiya Sekor 43mm and shut up forever.

6x7: what else?

http://thestockholmreview.blogspot.com/2018/

Extract: In this picture, in the show, you see the photographer in her pupils, raising his homemade flashgun featuring a plastic globe from a bathroom lamp as a diffuser. Tunbjörk said that he was kind of lost without his hallmark flash – on display along with a power pack, a light meter and his favourite camera, the brass-bodied Makina 67 – which was a clever and effective arrangement for his handheld method, and one of the secrets behind his democratic principle that everything in his pictures is of equal importance.

If you want amazing optics and remain free from batteries the Fuji GS 690 and GSW 690 cameras are workhorses and retain the aspect ratio 35mm film photographers are accustomed to but with medium format!

I have know a number of photo friends who purchased Makinas and all of them at one point or another had repair issues, on the other hand I also had a lot of friends who had Mamiya 7 and 6's and I can not recall any of them with repair problems, I am thinking you gotta figure that into "cheaper costs" column.

“Makina” is a colloquial German word meaning “breaks easily”...

Happy with my Mamiya 6 MF, best of both worlds. Plenty of resolution to crop rectangular if necessary. Though shooting 1:1 is part of the thrill for me.

I bought a Makina 67 when it first came out - I did not like the lack of sharpness of the Nikkor lens and I sold it immediately. Many years later I bought a Mamiya 7 and found the lenses to be excellent (except the 60mm which I found to be only just ok - not in the same league as the others). The only thing I can find fault with the Mamiya, is that the camera body "feels" a bit plasticy, but it is subjective and does not affect its' function at all. Of course that is what makes it light weight for it's size.

The camera review was once a professional job because and no longer that way. It should not restrict anyone from trying to write about cameras, but we can reserve our trust for something else.

I had a great time with the Plaubel 67 W, but it was expensive, especially for a fixed lens camera. I don't know if I would buy any used camera with struts, but the only thing that bugged me about my, then new, Plaubel was the rounded corners on the images. Years later, this turned out to be a great feature, because I always know which shots were taken with the Plaubel.

The Mamiya 7 is one of my dream cameras, toghether with the Mamiya 6.

Sadly out of my reach.

I am a fan of both but like the Mamiya a bit more if only because it felt more robust. Did not keep either long enough to need repair. That said, I have moved on to Hasselblad for my 6x6 needs..

Almost makes me regret selling my Makina67.

Each exposure was expensive (film, process, print, etc.). Great care was taken to select the scene (subject, content, lighting, composition, etc.) and appropriately set the camera (focus, f-stop, exp time, tripod, etc.). Pretty much the opposite of digital practices.

Sheesh, this wasn't a battle or test.
It is just a matter of: "I'll only list my preferences, and therefore my own camera will win by default".

I have owned both the Makina 670 and the Mamiya 7, and the Fuji GW690. The main advantage of the Mamiya are the various lenses that can be used, making it so much more versatile. The Mamiya 80mm is one of the sharpest lenses out there, probably next is the Fuji 90mm, then the Nikon 80mm, but this is splitting hairs. This might be the result of the more rigid lens mounts on the Mamiya and Fuji, but that is my experience. The major drawback of the 80mm Nikon lens is the extreme convergence of vertical lines when pointing the camera upwards or down. I have pictures that had to wait for Photoshop for correction. The Makina is very compact, making it a great travel camera if one can cope with the single lens which is very sharp and contrasty.

Fuji GW680III wins for me.

Call me square, but I was never happier than shooting with my Mamiya 6. Compact, Amazing 50mm lens.

I used it for 2 very successful books.

I love digital, but my film days hold a special place in my heart.

Tom

Real Medium Format.

Where is that guy that always shows up to the film posts and says no one should consider shooting film in the digital era?

Mamiya is great and the lenses are the best medium format ones, bar none. 43mm is the crown jewel. But you have to have the rangefinder calibrated and it's harder to keep it this way for multiple lenses. The problem is there is no one servicing Mamiyas in my country and finding someone more far away isn't easy either plus you have higher shipping costs and no personal inspection. That's the problem for most old film cameras, lack of spcielized care you can trust so you won't receive the camera back in worse shape that you sent out.