Mamiya RB67 lens

[Jeff Kubach]

Can the 110/2.8 work on the RB67?

Jeff

[CGW]

It's not a mechanical lens.

[keithwms]

Yes it can work on the RB; you just pull out two small pins (very easy) and it fits normally. However, you will have no shutter control... so you either have to rely on the mirror (which is okay for long exposures) or you can hand shutter, which is okay down to 1/16 or so as long as you're not shooting slide. I leave the lens wide open and use my finger to use the DOF preview lever to stop it down... another way to shutter.

I have used the 110 on my RBs and also on 4x5 and 5x7 rigs. it's great fun to work with a lens that fast and with quite good coverage.

[CGW]

Yes it can work on the RB; you just pull out two small pins (very easy) and it fits normally. However, you will have no shutter control... so you either have to rely on the mirror (which is okay for long exposures) or you can hand shutter, which is okay down to 1/16 or so as long as you're not shooting slide. I leave the lens wide open and use my finger to use the DOF preview lever to stop it down... another way to shutter.

I have used the 110 on my RBs and also on 4x5 and 5x7 rigs. it's great fun to work with a lens that fast and with quite good coverage.

Sorry but I don't call this "working."

[keithwms]

Works for me. Very nicely.

[EKDobbs]

Ah, so the 645 and the RB67 share the same mount, but the 645 lenses lack the leaf shutter?

[keithwms]

NO. the 645 and RB mounts are totally different. We're talking about the RB and RZ, they have very similar lenses, image circles, and almost identical mounts. The only difference in the mechanical part of the mount is that the RZ lenses have some curious little pins that keep them from going on an RB that need to be plucked

But please note that you won't get infinity focus with RZ lenses on an RB body. The reason is that the flange is a bit different. It's pretty silly and almost certainly designed ot keep the lenses form being interchanged. with a bit of work you can get make it work but... with the bodies so cheap, I don't know anybody who bothers. For most uses of the 110/2.8, i.e. portrait and such, it's totally fine on the RB, as long as you can live without the shutter. (and if you really wanted to play with it, I bet you can rig the signal to the shutter too)

If you really want to use a 645 lens on an RB or RZ, you will have trouble because the mirrors are totally different sizes and so the film to flange distance is totally different. So you'd only do it for macro work. I have done that too, it works okay, what you do is glue an RB body cap to a 645 rear cap, back to back, drill a hole and voila. This "ghetto" adapter can attach almost anything to anything, but is usually useful only for macro because of film-flange distance.

I like to do some pretty extreme macro, in which case I relish the speed of the smaller format lenses. And a fast 35mm lens is just fine for almost any format once you get out into high magnification.

[keithwms]

One more quick thing, all the RB lenses can work on the RZs. Important to remember. For some people it may make more sense to get an RZ and buy RB lenses for it.

[EKDobbs]

Ah. That back-to-body cap adapter trick is a really good idea. I'll remember that.

[Neil Grant]

The reason is that the flange is a bit different. It's pretty silly and almost certainly designed ot keep the lenses form being interchanged. .

I think you'll find that reason the flange to focal plane distance was reduced in the RZ compared to the RB, was to allow for a better optical design of the 50mm lens.