Mamiya 7

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The Mamiya 7 is a medium format rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses made by the Japanese company Mamiya, released 1 June 1995. It is the successor of the Mamiya 6 (1989) and Mamiya 6 MF (1993), lacking the collapsing lens feature of the Mamiya 6. The reason is that the lens mount diameter increased from 52.5mm to 67mm and required a new light shielding mask, which would block a collapsing lens[1]. The Mamiya 7 captures 6×7 images onto 120 or 220 film for 10 or 20 exposures. It is also capable of using 35mm film with the Panoramic Adapter. This produces images of 24 x 65mm. A standard 36 exposure film will yield 16 photos while a 24 exposure will have 10.

The viewfinder has a 0.57 magnification with auto parallax correction. It has a RF base length of 60mm. The bright frame lines are automatically set based on the lenses used. It is compatible with 65, 80, and 150mm lenses. The 43mm lens requires a separate finder. The bottom the the viewfinder display has the shutter speed, over exposure and LT for Long Time exposure and when blinking for under exposure. A B indicator for bulb is also present.

The leaf shutter is electronic with speeds of 4 to 1/500 sec. Exposure can be compensated from +2 to -2EV (in 1/3EV steps). The film speed range is from 25 to 1600 ISO. Since it's a leaf shutter system, flash sync is available at all speeds. It can be used with either the hot shoe or the PC sync connector. An electronic self-timer is available with a delay of 10 seconds. It can be activated with the button next to the rangefinder window. When set, the LED in front is lit, and then blinks when about to release.

To load film release the the back with the switch on the left hand grip; press the spool release buttons on the inside bottom of the film chamber. Film spooling is the semi-automatic type, meaning you have to align the start indicator on the film to a indicator on the camera body. Remember the take up spool is located on the right. Setting the ISO speed is done by lifting up the outer ring of the shutter speed dial, rotate to the desired setting. Changing to 120 or 220 film requires rotating the pressure plate inside the film back. Rotating this format plate also changes the film index window on the bottom of the memo clip, which is also a reminder of the emulsion type. Film advance is done manually via and advance crank. The camera is powered by a 4SR44 or 2CR1/3 battery.

The Mamiya 7II is a revision of the camera that has a improved finder that reduces glare, adds multiple exposure and a additional strap lug.

System

Lenses

One part of the Mamiya 7 camera concept was to have high performance interchangeable lenses, including a super wide angle 43mm lens. For the lens shutter Mamiya used an in-house high-precision electronic size #00 shutter, originally developed for the Mamiya 6. The short flange back, partly due to removal of the retraction mechanism, reduced various restrictions on lens design. This allowed Mamiya to design the 43mm super wide angle with a lens back of about 18mm, and making the front and rear lens groups in a substantially symmetrical configuration, resulting in an ideal lens design.[1]

  • N43mm f/4.5L, 10 elements in 6 groups, 390 g
  • 50mm f/4.5, 10 elements in 6 groups, 460 g
  • N65mm f/4L, 8 elements in 5 groups, 380 g
  • N80mm f/4L, 6 elements in 4 groups, 290 g
  • N150mm f/4.5L, 6 elements in 5 groups, 520 g
  • 210mm f/8, 7 elements in 5 groups, 480 g

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Shashin Kōgyō (Photographic Industries) 9/1995 pp 58-77

Links

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