My Mamiya 645 kit is slowly coming together. The first thing to arrive was the lenses. I was pleasantly surprised by the lenses on two accounts.
Firstly, for a medium format camera (granted, the smallest of the MF formats) the lenses are a lot smaller than I expected. Check these three lenses out. From left to right, a 75mm Pentax 67 lens, my Mamiya 800mm, and my 50mm Olympus lens. Granted, it is a bit bigger than the OM lens (which is a fairly compact lens), but it is about the same size as my 35mm lens on my DSLR and I was not expecting it to be so dwarfed by the 67 lens -- after all a 645 neg is closer in size to a 6x7 neg than a 35mm neg*, so I was expecting the Mamyia to be a bit fatter:
PENTAX 67 75MM --- MAMIYA 80MM --- OM 50MM
The Second pleasant surprise was the quality of the lenses that I got from KEH. This was my first time trying them. I decided to give them a go as I got tired of watching ebay lenses inch past what KEH was selling them for.
The 80mm lens I bought was rated 'EX' but i wanted to see what their 'Bargain' grade was so I ordered a 150 rated as Bargain. It is in really good shape. I have decided that other than some of my ignored digital gear, very little of my equipment would be what KEH considers Excellent. I will certainly consider them again if I feel that ebay is being stupid!
The following shot, shows the 150mm at its worst: It has a little bit of scuffing on is extendible film hood, and the plastic end cap has been scuffed a bit
Stay tuned for when the bodies and all the crap that is coming with them arrives!!!
*A 35mm neg is 864mm
2, a 645 neg is ~270% that at 2,324mm
2, and a 6x7 neg is ~170% that at 3,920mm
2,