MY FAVORITE TELEPHOTO LENS FOR MEDIUM FORMAT

The new-to-me Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO lens arrived earlier this week, so today I took it out for a quick spin. On the Mamiya 645AF family this is a fully manual lens. It mounts directly to the Mamiya 645AF mount, but there is no auto-focus, and the metering is stop-down. I owned this lens once before and thought it was amazing on the Phase One P25, so I am looking forward to using the lens again with the Mamiya ZD. Incidentally, the Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO can be mounted on Canon and Nikon dSLRs via an adapter which are easily found on Ebay. After trying the Hasselblad-to-Canon adapter, and Mamiya-to-Canon adapter, neither seemed very well built. Maybe some one will release better quality options someday. I tried a couple different brands, and suspiciously the adapters looked identical.

LENS OVERVIEW

What I like about the Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO when mounted a medium format camera with a 48x36mm sized digital sensor is - it is essentially a 135mm F2 lens on medium format. The field of view is very similar to use a 135mm lens on a full-frame dSLR. Technically the FOV is 125mm in 135 terms. If more reach is needed, there is a Mamiya 2X tele-converter. I tried converter and works fine, but the lens bokeh does pick up some artifacts - such as double-imaging and smear-like effect to the blurring. I shot the lens without the tele-converter; the 2X was just an experiment.

The 200mm F2.8 APO is very sharp wide open and renders with a nice 3-D feel at times (if the light is right). The background blur (bokeh) is wonderful and is much like like using a 135mm F2, but with amped up bokeh. In use the lens is more like 135mm full-frame lens with 200mm F1.8 bokeh traits. Its minimum focus distance is 2.5 meters (about 8 feet). If a shorter focus distance is needed, the lens can be used with extension tubes, but that really limits the focus range.

Overall, the “feel” of 200mm is very similar to 135mm on the 1Ds Mark III, but the Mamiya has more compression. The 200mm bokeh can be smoother, more abstracted due to the compression of 200mm vs 135mm. The lens is wonderful for portraits and plenty sharp for landscapes. Nailing focus is tricky and I benefited radically by using a monopod equipped with the Really Right Stuff MH-01 Monopod Head. The lens is on the large side, weighing in at 1100 grams (about 2.5 pounds). With the camera, lens and monopod set-up, it is difficult to call this a walk-around set-up. Nothing about medium format is really walk-around sized, but the 200mm APO underscores the point.

The Hasselblad 110mm F2 Planar is a highly sought after lenses for medium format gear heads. I think the Mamiya 645M 200mm F2.8 APO delivers a more distinctive image - and for a lot less money. Likewise, the Mamiya 645M 80mm F1.9 delivery a very thin depth of field as well, and is very a much a “Hasselblad 110mm Planar on a budget” alternative. Instead of spending $1200-$2400 on a Hasselblad 110mm Planar, I suggest the Mamiya 80mm F1.9 and 200mm F2.8 APO. The Mamiya lenses will cost ~$800 via Ebay and offer great bang-for-the-buck.

The Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO samples are intended to illustrate the lens’ wide open sharpness, depth of field, bokeh and colors characteristics. All images were taken on a Mamiya ZD integrated dSLR. It is pretty obvious to see that my most common use was portraits. Check out the links to the left for more portrait lens reviews.