I have several Mamiya 645(medium format) lens in mint condition and want to use them on my XL2 and will be getting an XL H1 very soon. I just bought a used EF adapter. I have seen Mamiya to Canon EOS adapters on line and I'm wondering if anybody has this setup (medium format lens) .. Your opinions pro & con. I will be using the 20 & 6X most of the time. What kind of quality do you think I can get with the H1 and the Mamiya lenses (just for DOF). thanks Jack

Hey Jack,

Welcome to the board.

If the lens will, in fact, mate to the camera via adapters you can, as you know, through them on there; however, you will not see your DOF effected as you are still hitting a 1/3 sensor.

There will probably be a difference in the image, due to the quality of the len(s), and the adapters, but if you are only going for DOF, you are not going to be amazed.

Now, if you were able to get that Mamiya lens to adapt to a 35mm adapter (PS Technic, Letus, Redrock, etc.) you would see a change in the DOF; however, that is additional money to rent or buy an adapter for the XL H1 or XL-2.

Erin , thanks for the advice. I can get the Mamiya to Canon EOS lens adapter for about $85 and I already had the Mamiya lenses so I might give a try. I did look into the Letus,I just can't justify that $$.. I was just curious about Medium format lenses on an EF adapter,haven't seen that info anywhere yet. Won't using the EF give me more DOF than the stock video Canon lenses? Not like a 35mm adapter,but better than not using it. I'm going on a 3 month trip out west and shoot in some National and State parks leaving this spring. Something I always wanted to do, now that I'm retired, I'm going to do it. I have the XL2 now and will be getting the H1 in a week or two. If anybody has used Medium & the EF, let me know. thanks

Erin , thanks for the advice. I can get the Mamiya to Canon EOS lens adapter for about $85 and I already had the Mamiya lenses so I might give a try. I did look into the Letus,I just can't justify that $$.. I was just curious about Medium format lenses on an EF adapter,haven't seen that info anywhere yet. Won't using the EF give me more DOF than the stock video Canon lenses? Not like a 35mm adapter,but better than not using it. I'm going on a 3 month trip out west and shoot in some National and State parks leaving this spring. Something I always wanted to do, now that I'm retired, I'm going to do it. I have the XL2 now and will be getting the H1 in a week or two. If anybody has used Medium & the EF, let me know. thanks

You will be using a lens designed for medium format cameras adapted to a 35mm format adapter to a 1/3" CCD camera. If I remember right the Canon EF adapter will give you, because of the crop factor, the equivalent of 7.6 X the focal length of the lens used for a 35mm format lens. I would imagine that value might increase using a medium format lens.
For example... Using a canon 85mm lens with the EF adapter will give you the equivalent of a 646mm lens. So basically the EF adapter turns any lens into a telephoto lens, and does not give you true 35mm depth of field. You would need to mount your camera on a nice tripod to get stable shots with a lens setup like that.

All the Best!