ON YOUR MARK...  GET SET...  GO!

About an hour before sunset I decided to take the ZD camera to my usual local testing grounds. Today was windy with 20 MPH gusts, so not the best conditions for landscapes - especially with an ISO 50 camera. Light was fading quickly, so most of the pictures were around F2.8, ISO 50 or 100 and shutter speeds between 1/80 to 1/200. Everything was shot handheld. Today’s outing was to see how the camera handled in a walk-around setting.

The ZD is a large, beefy camera. The grip is only slightly wider and deeper than the Canon 1Ds Mark III’s, but the ZD feels considerably fatter than its actual size. The ZD is thicker than a Canon 1-series, but not quite as tall. The total volume is probably similar - just pushed out and squeezed in a different shape. The build quality is very nice and camera is very nice to use. The fit and finish feel better than the Mamiya 645AFD II previously used the Phase One 25 last year.

With the Mamiya 645AFD II’s viewfinder I had trouble seeing the status bar unless my eye was perfectly lined up. The 645AFD II viewfinder needs a focus screen with crop lines to show the P25’s crop factor, and sometimes that led to poor framing on my part because I failed to pay close enough attention to the crop lines. And the focusing mask had very fat crop lines too. The Mamiya ZD’s viewfinder has 98% coverage and there are no crop lines to worry about. Basically what you see in the viewfinder is what you get. The picture below is a reproduction of the ZD’s viewfinder -

The rubber grip is the same type as the 645AFD II’s. The ZD uses slightly larger plastic buttons which are an improvement over the 645AFD II’s small rubber buttons. The front and rear control dials are the same and so are the power switch and focus mode selector. The on / off switch could be better. The focus mode selector is poorly located (on both the 645AFD II and ZD) and poorly designed. The switch is difficult to move and it does not stop cleanly at each mode. It is difficult to change from auto-focus to manual focus unless looking directly at the switch. The newer Mamiya lenses have can toggle AF / MF via a ring on the lens, and that is a much easier way to toggle focus modes.

The door for the compact flash and SD cards is difficult to open. There is a spring action lever and the door has to be slid forward. Opening the door requires two hands. Another poor choice is the jack for the remote shutter release. It has a rubber cover to protect it when not in use. The rubber cover simply pops off - there is nothing keeping it tethered to the camera.

THE MAMIYA ZD CAMERA IN USE

The shutter is responsive, but not as quick as a Canon 1-series. The shutter lag is probably double that of the Canon 1Ds Mark III. Metering is good (and so was the 645AFD II’s). Today I shot about 90 frames within 45 minutes and the ZD did fine. The camera was always ready to go. The buffer did not get in the way of shooting. Battery life looks okay - I am guessing somewhere between 200-400 clicks per charge. Aside from the 1.8” LCD (which I’ll address in a later entry), the camera was not much different than using a Canon dSLR. The ZD’s first outing went exceptionally well. To the right are some sample images, and the original MEF’s can be downloaded by clicking here. You will need C1, Lightroom or Mamiya’s PhotoStudio software to open the MEF’s.