Review 5 of 7
Price Paid:
$3450.00
from B&H Summary: My first experience in Medium Format. I like the large prints I am producing with the camera. And the not so advance features as compared with my F90X has helped me to re-discover photography techinque which has sustantially improved my photographic skills. In the other hand, the slow AF and limited range on AF telephoto has reduced the number of animal pictures I am taking, and because of the not so close focusing of my 500mm 5.6 (9m) I can't really take prairie dogs and birds.
The spot on the metering is a very large circle and for years I have not used average metering in my cameras.
The Digital film backs (Kodak 16MB) are outragously expensive $12K, and the new digital Kodak DCS 14N with 14MB is only $5k, so I may actually change the MF for a +10MB digital with 35 mm lens compatibility. Strengths: MF advantage (larger film size, than 24x35mm, interchangeable backs, mirror lock-up). Magazines work with 120/220 film.Ease to use. Solidity. Manual cable release can be used. Weaknesses: Viewfinder 0.71X of life-size, is somewhat dark.
AF is slow, and the microprism (I changed the focusing screen because of the dark long lenses 500mm 5.6 and 55mm shift when using shift function) focusing screen is not very sharp, so focusing is difficult. This is perhaps what I dislike the most about the camera and woudld be the reason no. 1 to sell it.
The exposure meter is fancily adverised in the Mamiya web page as 5-segment evaluative center-weighted average (AV) with bright point elimination which gives the false idea of matrix type metering when it is really a center weighed and spot metering. The exposure meter (spot)is not as accurate as the F90X (also spot) and the spot of the meter is a rather large circle, so critical metering is not possible. Similar Products Used: Nikon F90X Customer Service: Very good in both B&H and Mamiya
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