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Archive 2010 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII

  
 
jcolwell
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


Edit: I was just going through my telephoto gear bag and guess what I found? The Kenko TC that I thought was on the lens when I first posted this thread a few days ago. Oops! I've changed the title and edited this original posting text to be correct. I'm still impressed.

I received a lightly used 1DsIII yesterday, and I've been putting it through the paces with a variety of lenses, including a Mamiya M645 A 300/2.8 APO.

Here's a photo of a Halifax/Dartmouth ferry which was tied up today at the Woodside Terminal. First image is full frame. Second image is 100% crop showing the "Ocean News" that somebody was reading on the bridge. Third image is 100% crop of some gear on the right of the bridge top; needs some paint to cover that rust on the bracket. Note that the ferries have fore & aft symmetry, and so I can't tell port from starboard, at least not from this photo. There is a slight amount of CA on the bright edge of the white antenna in the last photo. I'll bet my socks that it's entirely from the TC; the A 300 APO is very clean on its own. Trust me, you don't want to prove me wrong. [Ed.: the last two sentences were not changed to remove reference to the TC; I guess I just proved myself wrong - happens all the time - at least the socks are already mine.]

The lens aperture was f/4, t=1/2000 sec, ISO 400. No sharpening. Picture style 'Faithful' (which may affect RAW conversion, I'll check later).

The lens was supported on a monopod, and it was focused through the finder (i.e. no LiveView). This is one of two images I took of the same subject. The first was focused slightly behind the front of the bridge (where I was aiming). One out of two ain't bad.

I'm impressed.

Edited on Jan 18, 2010 at 05:05 PM · View previous versions



Jan 16, 2010 at 01:29 PM
sirimiri
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


You'll cause a run on this lens, you do know that? ;-)

To me, it has the pleasant-tone, easy-contrast Mamiya 645 lens look. Plus all the sharpness one would wish for, considering there's a 1.4 converter slapped at the back.

Do you find any, how do I explain this...any alteration to the flat focus plane, by having the
Canon + (adapter) + (teleconverter) + M'APO 300 all sandwiched together?

In that, does the weight of the camera begin to inflict a bit of a bending moment along the image axis, with so much interstitial, interlocking metal?

M'APO 300 is now the official name for that lens, I deem it so.

edit: OK, it could also be MamiyAPO 300?
Or MamAPO 300? I keep dunking my head into this particular barrel of acronym apples...



Jan 16, 2010 at 01:56 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


Hi Greg,

sirimiri wrote:
You'll cause a run on this lens, you do know that? ;-)


Let the games begin. Maybe it'll get back to the $13,000 US price tag that it commanded in the nineties. Probably not.

sirimiri wrote:
To me, it has the pleasant-tone, easy-contrast Mamiya 645 lens look. Plus all the sharpness one would wish for, considering there's a 1.4 converter slapped at the back.


Yeah. Not bad.

sirimiri wrote:
Do you find any, how do I explain this...any alteration to the flat focus plane, by having the
Canon + (adapter) + (teleconverter) + M'APO 300 all sandwiched together?

In that, does the weight of the camera begin to inflict a bit of a bending moment along the image axis, with so much interstitial, interlocking metal?


The Fotodiox Pro M645 to EOS adapter that I use is pretty firm. There's some rotational freedom possible due to the stacked connections, but it's pretty solid longitudinally. The 1DsIII is usefully lighter than the 1DII that I normally use with this setup. I've never noticed any 'out of plane' field curvature effects when shooting the 300 APO with TC's, but I normally don't shoot subjects with the 300 APO that would show this effect. Of course, I could fire it up with the Mirex T-S adapter to compensate for this, but I usually don't.

Ciao, Jim.



Jan 16, 2010 at 02:28 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


sirimiri wrote:
M'APO 300 is now the official name for that lens, I deem it so.

edit: OK, it could also be MamiyAPO 300?
Or MamAPO 300? I keep dunking my head into this particular barrel of acronym apples...


How about 300 APO?



Jan 16, 2010 at 03:35 PM
gasrocks
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


I just got my copy of the Mamiya 300/2.8 APO. Wonderful. Has some great features. Built in hood pulls out and then with a twist, locks into place. And, they provide another extension hood that screws into that hood. The strap lugs are quick release. There is an extra ring just behind the focus ring - manual focus limiter. Can be set for infinity down to your choice or MFD up to your choice. I also use a Fotodiox adapter. I start doing some sharpness testing. Though I could have predicted the results. Tripod, mirror lock up, etc. etc. Tried just 300, then 300 with a Canon 2x TC and then vs my EF 500. the 300 is sharp wide open, center and edge. With a 2X TC it is still sharp wide open. Diffraction does kick in at the higher apertures. Crops of the 300 + 2x are sharper than the EF 500 - just a few more pixels makes the difference. MFD is 12 feet, there I found something not perfect about it. My copy was cheaper than I would have paid for a used EF 300/3.8 non-IS. Next, I'm going to put the 300 APO up against my Leica 180/2 APO. I'm sure the winner will be the one with the most pixels again. Nothing but sharp lenses. AKAIK the only 300 APO ever made.


Jan 16, 2010 at 03:45 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII




Nice description. My extension hood had stripped threads, and so I filed them off and now I use velcro tabs to attach it to the built in hood.

Agreed. I like close MFD. The EF 300/4L IS does a good job here. The 2.5m (8.2') MFD of the Mamiya M645 A 200/2.8 APO is also a bit of a pain, but it's otherwise a super lens. Great pedigree!



I look forward to seeing the results. I'd like to put my 300 APO up against your Leica 180/2 APO, but that's a different story.

Cheers, Jim



Jan 16, 2010 at 04:07 PM
theSuede
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


Not really, gas, you also have the "king of lenses" - the 300F/2.8 SuperAchromat that Zeiss made for Hasselblad. APO correction demands three zero-crossings in the spectral response, superachromats four. So technically, it's not APO (so the Mam may indeed be "the only APO") - it's one step better. I've held one mounted to a HD3 at a former Hassy employees house, and he jokingly commented that IF I dropped it, I should PLEASE try to make the package land on the HD3 back - since the back is a LOT cheaper and a LOT easier to get than the Zeiss lens... (the back was priced at 28 grand when new...)

The Zeiss is better APO corrected at the edge of the 43mm image circle (that's the outmost corners of a FF camera) than the Nikon/Canon/Mamiya 300F/2.8's are at dead optical center. And that's for the full 380-1000nm visible light + IR spectrum. And it's sharper too, even though they had to sacrifice the last bit of sharpness to get the four zero-crossings of a superachromat... :-) It's built mainly with fluoride and barium partial spectrum material glasses, glasses that had to be speced so tightly that no manufacturer could deliver. They actually did it the other way 'round to solve that problem - they ordered all the glass needed for the production run, tested the individual batches of glass to some of the most stringent spec intervals ever used in photography outside the spy-satellite division, and corrected the initial drawing geometries to match the small changes in optical specs of the glasses used.



Jan 16, 2010 at 04:28 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


Maybe I should put my 300 APO up against Gene's 300 SuperAchromat. I'm OK with that.


Jan 16, 2010 at 04:44 PM
theSuede
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


I'd be very interested in any comparison you could muster.. :-) Even though the Mam200F/2.8 is the interesting lens for me personally - only on rare occasions do I use anything over 200. I've heard many great things about both the 300 and the 200, Mamiya must have had some serious talent at the drawing boards!


Jan 16, 2010 at 04:49 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


theSuede wrote:
...Mamiya must have had some serious talent at the drawing boards!


Thanks to them, and to their families for putting up with their supreme talents.



Jan 16, 2010 at 04:58 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


The A 150/2.8 is also very nice. I haven't (yet) put it up against my 135/2L. Before that, I have to compare some 80mm, 85mm, and 90mm lenses. So far, I'm confident that the 1DsIII is up to the task.


Jan 16, 2010 at 05:07 PM
sirimiri
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


Pssst.....the M645 150mm f/2.8 is dirt cheap, for those on the fence.... less than $300 in 9 or 9+ condition.

Don't hem, don't haw. Pick one up, get a converter and use it Nikon, Canon, Sony-olta, Pentax, etc. etc.



Jan 16, 2010 at 06:56 PM
wayne seltzer
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


Can you post comparison shots of the 300 APO + 2x converter vs. the EF 500L/4 with the same FOV? I am interested in seeing the difference.


Jan 16, 2010 at 10:08 PM
Conner999
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


JIm,

Impressive - and congrats on the new camera. While I normally tend to 80-150mm shots, that 300 is on my wish list.

On the 150/2.8A and the 200 APO - love mine. The 200 does a GREAT job with (in my case) a Canon 1.4x, Makes a VERY, VERY nice 300/4. On the shorter side, the 120/4A is definite keeper as well. Actually so is my 80/1.9... Seeing pattern here....



Jan 17, 2010 at 07:43 AM
sirimiri
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


I scored my 80mm 1.9 Sekor C at a pawn shop, for $125. It's a 7.5 of 10 cosmetically, but works fine. I'd like to have the N version at some point - the C is nice, but a little more contrast and pop would be nice, if the N would afford such a thing.


Jan 17, 2010 at 05:06 PM
Conner999
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


The N variants typically do. Personally I prefer the lower-contras of the C's and the all-metal construction, but it's nice to have the option. My 80 is about a 7.5 as well, but optically pristine.


Jan 17, 2010 at 05:08 PM
jamesdak
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


theSuede wrote:
I'd be very interested in any comparison you could muster.. :-) Even though the Mam200F/2.8 is the interesting lens for me personally - only on rare occasions do I use anything over 200. I've heard many great things about both the 300 and the 200, Mamiya must have had some serious talent at the drawing boards!


I've got a Mamiya 200/2.8 and it is indeed a very fine lens.

http://www.pbase.com/jhuddle/image/106494827.jpg



Jan 17, 2010 at 05:40 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


I was just going through my telephoto gear bag and guess what I found? The Kenko TC that I thought was on the lens when I first posted this thread a few days ago. Oops! (or opps, as Grant Hill might say). I've changed the title and edited the original posting text to be correct. I'm still impressed.

Sorry for the mistake. The comments and discussion sent in response to the original posting are not affected by this booboo. It's still a wonderful lens.



Jan 18, 2010 at 04:55 PM
Bifurcator
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


Yes it is! Very nice indeed! I wonder though. For the same $2,500 as the Mamiya which would be more useful, The Mamiya or something like this: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/854343/0#7989313 ? Heh, I'll take both.




Jan 18, 2010 at 09:18 PM
sirimiri
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Mamiya A 300 APO on 1DsIII


I mean no disrespect by this, but why initial-to-middle obfuscation about a Kowa spotting scope and what seems like a test shooting through the back of it with a point 'n' shoot, for the majority of that thread? The references keep calling it a "lens attachment" as if to heighten the suspense...about using a high-end digital P&S to photograph through a birding scope?
Bifurcator wrote:
For the same $2,500 as the Mamiya which would be more useful, The Mamiya or something like this


FWIW, I would certainly have fun with that rig you used, for plane spotting :-)



Jan 18, 2010 at 09:36 PM
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