Swapping Leica M for Mamiya 7 ??

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

I have used 6 Leicas until today and I was feeling joy when I found the Leica Forum. But when I saw the people who shot his refrigirator with 11000 dollar Noctilux and says it was a great lens , I found that real Leica people are rare. They are.
If you are not a good photographer , your Leica always be bad camera but it is not. If anyone finds Leica is a bad camera , or when you are parking your Mercedes , you hit the garbage can everytime , its time to buy Ansel Adams catalog , few Renaissance painting catalogs , some impressionist and expressionist catalogs and think on them , why people pay 250 million dollars to Van Gogh. When you find the answer , you will start to create better and Leica will become a good camera.

[Bundesphotograph]

I did actually swap my Leica M6 for a Mamiya 7II and never looked back.
Compared to the Mamiya 7,the Leica's viewfinder is like a pinhole!
The quality of an 6x7 negative is really amazing!!

[Klainmeister]

Depends on what you want to do with the negs. I know that printing M7II negs is about as close you'll ever get to LF quality without going full LF. I know this because I have been printing some 4x5 negatives taken with a Linhof lens and I can't distinguish them at 11x14 from the M7II, maybe if you're lucky at 16x20. For 35mm, the best lens I own prints beautiflly as well, but it's all about taste and what you want to get outta it.

You can definitively handhold it to obscenely slow speeds. I don't like the shutter button, so I often use a 4" cable release and have shot below 1/30 with very acceptable results.

Remember, F/4 in 6x7 is more like f/2.8 on 35mm, so DOF is affected, but you just learn to use it differently. You can also shoot ISO 400 and it'll look like enlarged ISO 100 35mm, so speedwise there's no real loss with an F/4 lens.

Just my .02

[Dismayed]

yes and no.

Yes: Bigger film size for larger blow-ups.

No: I found the lenses of the Mamiya too sharp and contrasty and lacking in shadow details. Not quite the creamy German feel even with lower contrast films such as the Fuji 160S or Kodak 160NC.

I would, however, do a swap for a Rolleiflex TLR 75/3.5 Planar, Xenotar or even Tessar. But they do mainly standard lenses. You can, of course, get wide and tele lenses too.

Lack of shadow detail is an exposure problem, not a lens issue. Give your film more exposure.

[StoneNYC]

Sadly I've never owned a Leica, but I love my Mamiya 7 II, the viewfinder is so bright!

I was able to focus at night on something that I properly exposed at 30 seconds! (400TX) Even at that dark I could still see the parallax image, I was shocked! It wasn't BRIGHT or anything at that dark, but it was enough to see and use it, I was blown away (I was also on a tripod).

Borrow one and give it a try.

ALSO mamiya 7 can shoot 35mm 24mm X 64mm panorama images, so, think of the versatility!


~Stone

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[darkosaric]

Ask yourself two questions:

1) how often I shoot at f2.8, f2, f1.4?
2) how often I got Leica negative and thought: oh, if only this negative is bigger, quality in prints is just bad.

When you answer this - you will know what to do

BR,
Darko

[Brian Miller]

Jim, what kind of photography do you do with your M? Since it takes you a month for 36 exposures, do you make casual photographs throughout the month, or do you find a subject and go through a roll? Also, have you used a medium format camera before?

Unless you have money to burn, I recommend that you buy something cheap, like a Yashica TLR, and just try it out. See how you like the larger negative, and see how you like working with a slower lens. A TLR is actually a light camera, and it's not hard to use them in dim light. The Yashica lenses are really quite good, and I like the images I've made with mine. I also use a Holga, as it's weight is only 8oz, and the images are better than you'd expect. Tape up the light leak holes, and it's really a good camera. And of course, who knows, you may like them!

[2WK]

I have both an M6ttl and a 7ii. I wouldn't want to get rid of one or the other. I have my M6 with me everyday. I bring out the Mamiya if I am on a mission to photograph something.

[Dismayed]

Ask yourself two questions:

1) how often I shoot at f2.8, f2, f1.4?
2) how often I got Leica negative and thought: oh, if only this negative is bigger, quality in prints is just bad.

When you answer this - you will know what to do

BR,
Darko

Yes. That's why I have a Mamiya 7.

[mrisney]

I'll add that - after having an M4-P, and then getting a Mamiya 6. The viewfinder in the Mamiya 6 is much bigger, better lit, and easier to focus frame lines.

I sold off the M4-P, after realizing the Leica lenses I lusted after were outside of my budget for 35mm film. Leica 21mm/ f1.4 ... mmm, so badly wanted that one. I then spent 3 years with Contax G2 kit, and found the Contax G Zeiss lenses were more suited to my taste, sharp, and really nice color renditions.

For a while I had both the Contax G2 and the Mamiya 6.
Then I went in on Canon L lenses - 35mm 1.4 L - whew, great lens and frankly between my Sigma DP2 Merrill and my 5DMKIII, I thought that my digital equipment was outperforming my 35mm analog gear. So it was time to move the Contax G2 kit, sadly I did just that, and I have left 35mm analog completely.

Not so with the Mamiya 6. It still out performs my digital equipment, so I bought a backup Mamiya 6. I have all 3 lenses, and I doubt I will sell the Mamiya 6, it really creates extraordinary images.

One other thing, not to troll, but I think there is a huge cult of perceived quality that Leica offers. I disagree, having peered into the innards of the Leica M4-P while it was being cleaned, lubricated and adjusted, it's nothing extraordinary - maybe the M3 is a different type of camera quality wise, but the innards of the M4-P were mostly dull steel and gears that looked grey and uninteresting - also they needed quite a bit of adjustment when I brought mine to Sherry krauter, she even replaced the viewfinder with a more contemporary one from Leica M7. Still after 6 months, of use, it was tedious for 35mm analog camera, and no expsoure metering built in. I swiched gears, and sourced out a Contax G2 with a full array of lenses and the 21mm Zeiss Biogon. The Contax G2 was much better made. So what are you really getting from a Leica, other than something to caress and covet ?

The lenses I suppose, that is, if you can afford the ones - that may offer something over their DSLR counterparts.

Yes I have heard all the claims - "marvelous craftsmanship", "iconic design" "small, covert - ideal street shooter". Meh, I keep one foot in the analog world for one reason, image quality. 120 roll film using Mamiya 6 lenses delivers much more detail, than just about anything I have shot, both digitally and analog. I don't covet cameras, they are tools, it makes about as much sense as someone drooling over a screw driver or a socket set.

If you are looking for image quality - the Mamiya rangefinders are at the top of my equipment list.
Ditch the Leica and get the Mamiya 7.