Anyone seen an adapter for Mamiya 645 Lenses to EF?

[Jim Andrada]

I have a pretty complete Mamiya 645 medium format stills kit. The lenses are superb and dirt cheap on the used market these days - some are under $100.

The back focus is longer than EF (bigger mirror than FF 35mm) and the coverage is greater than an EF lens so it should be possible to make a mechanical adapter. Lenses are fully manual, and there is a "preview" mode so the aperture can be set manually.

Anyhow, considering the lens quality and price it would seem like an economical way to get good glass, particularly longer glass as the lenses go up to 500 mm and there is a 2X tele adapter available.

Just an idea.

[Jon Fairhurst]

How's this for $50?

https://www.fotodioxpro.com/mamiya-6...t-adapter.html

[Jim Andrada]

Thanks Jon

I ordered one. We'll see how it works, but should be fine

[Jon Fairhurst]

Hopefully, it will work well.

I still shoot occasionally with a Bronica S2A 6x6 camera. I've often thought that it would be fun to adapt those lenses to EF. They extend far into the camera body and have a separate lens and focusing helix. The helix is nice, with something like 270 degrees of rotation and a perpendicular handle for controlling it. It would be nice for pulling focus on video.

Unfortunately, while there are adapters for "newer" Bronica lenses, I haven't found one for the S2 mount.

The quality of these older lenses is mixed - mostly very good. I shoot B&W film, so chromatic aberration isn't very visible. In theory, CA can cause smear and that can be totally removed by using a color filter. Contrast on my 75mm f/2.8 lens (45mm equipvalent) is excellent. Lines are perfectly straight. Combined with the look of film, the results can be luscious. The one negative is bokeh. This Nikkor lens makes "onion rings" for slightly out of focus bright dots. Photograph somebody in front of a backlit small-leaved tree and you can get a sea of white rings behind the subject, depending on the aperture.

The Mamiya adapter makes me consider replacing the Bronica with a Mamiya. Wider lens availability and compatibility with the EF mount make it interesting.

Let us know how the adapter works out. And if you can, please let us know which lenses you have and how they perform.

Best of luck!

[Jim Andrada]

I should get the adapter on Sunday (from Amazon)

I'm planning to shoot a comparison with the Mamiya prime lenses and my Canon zoom lenses. I still have my original Nikon F cameras and lenses from around 1965 and have EF adapters for the lenses so I can include a couple in the comparison. If I want to go really crazy I have a few large format lenses from the 1890's - maybe I could gin up an adapter or even figure out how to mount the C100 on the back of my 5 x 7 Linhof.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Searching around, you can also find shift adapters for the 645 to EF. You can't do that with other 35mm lenses, but the larger image circle of the 645 makes it possible.

[Jim Andrada]

I've been Googling around as well - found some T/S Mirex adapters. Quite pricey but seem to be well made.

[Chris Barcellos]

I have 3 Kowa 6 primes that would be fun to try. Anyone seen an adapter for those ?

[Jim Andrada]

Just got the adapter a few hours ago. It fits nicely on both the 645 lenses and the C100. Just turned the camera on for a few minutes and checked the image and focus/exposure. Nothing automatic, but after 70 years of still photography (Minox to 8 x 10) that's not a big problem. I have a 300mm Mamiya lens with a 2X teleconverter on it that I'll fool with in the AM. Most likely on a tripod:<)

[Jim Andrada]

OK - here's the C100 with the 600mm (300mm + 2X teleconverter) Mamiy 645 lens combination.

Looks a bit much but it gives about head and shoulders at 80 - 90 feet. When I'm shooting concerts from the balcony I want a few "fingers working" shots of soloists. So I think it will be quite useful.Up to now I've put a few GoPro's in amongst the players which works pretty well with the seated folks because they don't move around much, but the soloists often move a fair amount while performing and it's hard to predict exactly where they'll be standing when they come to the front of the orchestra.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Very nice! With the crop factor, that's one long lens. And with such a large image circle, the corners surely look great.

[Jim Andrada]

I played with it again a few minutes this AM and put it on a BMPCC. I was surprised that it seemed to be about the same FOV as on the C100 - then I realized that the SpeedBooster was doing it's thing. I'm going to get a couple of the FotoDiox adapters so I should get the normal BMPCC crop factor. They have an adapter with a 2 - 10 stop built in cross-polarized ND filter which sounds pretty handy for the BMPCC. I'll also try it on the EF-mount BMCC.

Got really busy today - hope to shoot some video with it in the morning.

[Jim Andrada]

I had a few minutes so I did a quick shot with the 600mm (300mm lens + 2X converter) Mamiya on the C100 as shown in the photo above. The "flower" cluster is about the size of a small grapefruit - maybe 5 - 6 inches across

600mm Mamiya 3 on Vimeo

I was about 35 - 40 feet away