Portrait-Length Mamiya Lenses

Testing Notes:

This test was spurred by the new Mamiya 150mm f/2.8 which has received a lot of hype.

These minimally sharpened full-res JPGs will allow you to compare the older 150mm f/3.5 lens with the newer 150mm f/2.8 lens. For reference we included the 120mm macro lens, often considered Mamiya’s sharpest lens. The two versions of the 150mm lens were taken from the same tripod position. The 120mm lens was taken from 20% closer in order to have the same subject size.

Comparison of old and new 150mm lens:

• Minimum Focus Distance
  • 150mm f/3.5 lens: 1.5 meters
  • 150mm f/2.8 lens: 1.0 meter
• Lens Design
  • 150mm f/3.5 lens: 5 elements in 5 groups
  • 150mm f/2.8 lens: 8 elements in 7 groups
• Size and Weight
  • 150mm f/3.5 lens: 3.2″ x 3.1″ and 1.2 lbs
  • 150mm f/2.8 lens: 4.7″x 3.3″ and 1.7 lbs
• Filter Thread Size
  • 150mm f/3.5 lens: 58mm
  • 150mm f/2.8 lens: 72mm

Processing Notes:

• Minimal Sharpening. (“pre-sharpening 1″ which is amount = 200, radius = 0.5, threshold = 1.0)
• Noise reduction turned down (luminance = 10, color = 15)
• Full-Res JPGs at 100 quality
• White balanced based on grey card (crops below are of text on a purple piece of paper)
• Exposures tweaked +/- 0.15 stops for consistency
• contrast, saturation, shadows, highlights, brightness, curves all left at default
• Lens Correction on (C1 4.1.1 has minimal lens correction, 4.2 Pro promises more)

Downloads:

• Mamiya 120mm f/4.0 Macro Lens (full-res, uncropped JPGs)
• Mamiya 150mm f/3.5 Lens (full-res, uncropped JPGs)
• Mamiya 150mm f/2.8 Lens (full-res, uncropped JPGs)

120mm Mamiya f/4 macro lens. Shot at f/4 (top) and f/5.6 (bottom)

150mm Mamiya f/3.5 lens. Shot at f/3.5 (top) and f/5.6 (bottom):

150mm Mamiya f/2.8 lens. Shot at f/2.8 (top), f/4 (middle) and f/5.6 (bottom)

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Mamiya 28mm Lens

Below is an image our Miami Technician, Doug Peterson, captured of one of the life guard stations down the street from our sunny Miami Beach location.

Camera: P30+ with Mamiya AFD and 28mm lens

Downloads

Full Res JPGS

• Mamiya 28mm [no adjustments, no sharpening, no noise reduction]
• Mamiya 28mm [with C1 adjustments, sharpening and noise reduction]
• Mamiya 28mm [with C1 adjustments, sharpening and noise reduction AND Photoshoping]

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Canon 1Ds Mark III Tilt-Shift Options

“Your only as good as your glass!”

With pixel sizes diminishing, this adage is as true today as ever. We can now “peep” at a level never before possible. The X2 Pro gives us T/S capability with a variety of new and older glass that is in our bag. This test shows how these lenses stack up against one another.

Camera: Canon 1Ds Mark III

The Hasse 60mm and the Schneider 80mm Digitar were used in conjunction with the Cambo X-2 pro.

Downloads

The following are available as 100% TIFFs.

• Canon 45mm TS-E
• Canon 85mm L
• Hasselblad 60mm T*
• Schneider 80mm Digitar

(You may need to right click and “save as”.)

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Horseman 24mm and 35mm lens

A major concern in architectural photography is the barrel distortion of wide-angle lenses. Here are two images taken using a Horseman 24mm and Horseman 35mm lens. Placing the building’s edges at the frame-edge allows the examination of the distortion of these lenses.

Digital Back

• Phase One P45

Lenses Tested

• Horseman 35mm
• Horseman 24mm

Test Specs and Notes:

• Horseman lenses were
  • Rodenstock 35mm APO-Sironar digital f4.5 lens
  • Schneider 24mm APO-Digitar XL f5.6 lens
• End of the day, Jewish Museum of Florida, Miami Beach, FL
• Minimal environmental vibration (e.g. no moving vehicles or construction nearby)
• Lenses set to near prime aperture (f11)
• Processed in Capture One 4.0
  • P45+ Easy Grey Profile response curve
  • Exposure adjusted <1 stop per image to compensate for changing lighting conditions
  • Sharpening: 130, 1.3, 1.0
  • LCC applied for each lens/movement combination
  • HDR: Shadow=10, Highlight=20

Downloads

The following sets of images are available as compressed folders of 100% JPGs.

• HM_24mm_f11
  • 0mm rise
  • 10mm rise (with corner vignetting from out of image-circle movement)
• HM_35mm_f11
  • 0mm rise
  • 15mm rise
  • 15mm fall

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35mm Lenses: Cambo Wide DS vs Medium Format

P45+ on a popular medium format body* with 35mm

P45+ on CWDS 35mm – with 10mm rise and LCC (Schneider lens)

Download 100% JPGs of the following combinations:

• MF 35mm lens, f8
• MF 35mm lens, f11
• MF 35mm lens, f16
• CWDS 35mm lens, f8
• CWDS 35mm lens, f11
• CWDS 35mm lens, f16
• CWDS 35mm lens, f11, with 10mm rise

Test Specs and Notes:

• CWDS lens was a Schneider lens: APO Digitar f5.6 35mm XL-102deg MC
• Exposed for details in dark shadows of door.
• Bright Sunny Day, Approx: 3pm, Jewish Museum of Florida, Miami Beach, FL
• SLR: Mirror lockup triggered remotely via Capture One
• Cambo WideDS triggered by cable release
• Minimal environmental vibration (e.g. no moving vehicles or construction nearby)
• Lenses set to near prime aperture (f8, f11, f16)
• Processed in Capture One 4.0
  • P45+ Outdoor Daylight Profile, Film Extra Shadow response curve
  • Exposure -0.4 stops
  • Sharpening: 130, 1.3, 1.0
  • No Noise Reduction
  • LCC applied to CamboWideDS
  • HDR: Shadow=22, Highlight=25

*This test is to illustrate the advantages of a technical camera with the latest digital lenses. In order to continue to stay unbiased we have decided not to publish which manufacturers medium format 35mm lens was used. Compared to any medium format system a technical camera has the advantage of a purpose-driven, non-retrofocus lens design.