Need some advice on Mamiya 7II

[bluepowder]

I just shot, processed and printed my first roll on the M7II. Shot Ektar 100 mostly to test out the metering capabilities of this camera since I'm pretty new to it. I shot most of it on aperture priority mode, but I had a handheld meter just for checking too.

I picked up the negs today and choose to print them out just for the curiosity...

LIFE IS GOOD!

The pictures looks absolutely awesome, the colors, contrast and pop is just mind numbing.

I absolutely love this camera to bits, thanks so much for all the poison everyone!

 

[fastshot]

Congrates Bluepowder.

After your initial shoot on the negative film, you should aim to shoot with positive films (Provia, Velvia for landscape, and Astia for people), and B/W films (Fujifilm Acros, Ilford HP5+ etc). These will absolutely blow you away. And if you do print B/W, the output from the 7ii in 6x7 format will overwhelm just about any camera smaller than a large format (4x5").

The next stop for you will be to acquire the 43mm lens. This lens is on par with the Hassy SWC 38mm Biogon lens. One advantage for the 7II is that you can focus with the 43mm via the rangefinder, but the SWC can only agak-agak focusing.

 

[bluepowder]

Hey Fastshot thanks so much for the advice!

I've done an initial roll of Ektar 100, really nice colors. Despite the overcast evening skies over the past few days, I managed to get quite a lot of sharp shots at low shutter speeds handheld, i.e. 1/8 sec. I really love the way the camera handles, it's an absolute joy to shoot.

I've sent in a roll of Ilford 400 for processing, it'll be done on Monday.

And I'm on my 3rd roll of film, now with some expired Ektachrome slide film. Really excited to see how those turn out!

Yah the 43mm lens is a really beautiful object of desire, but I've committed myself to learn the 65mm first before moving anywhere! Thanks for the suggestion though!

I'm selling some digital gear off, perhaps I should invest in a scanner too. LOL!

 

[Hlop71]

I'm selling some digital gear off, perhaps I should invest in a scanner too. LOL!

Well, if you are going to scan youself, don't go Epson/Canon flatbed way. To match your new camera you'll need something like Microtek 120tf or Nikon ED 8000/9000

 

[pchong]

Congrates Bluepowder.

After your initial shoot on the negative film, you should aim to shoot with positive films (Provia, Velvia for landscape, and Astia for people), and B/W films (Fujifilm Acros, Ilford HP5+ etc). These will absolutely blow you away. And if you do print B/W, the output from the 7ii in 6x7 format will overwhelm just about any camera smaller than a large format (4x5").

The next stop for you will be to acquire the 43mm lens. This lens is on par with the Hassy SWC 38mm Biogon lens. One advantage for the 7II is that you can focus with the 43mm via the rangefinder, but the SWC can only agak-agak focusing.

Good advice...I also echo trying shooting positives and the 43mm...the 43 is a must have...fantastic lens...

Please show us some of your pics..

 

[neoro]

Well, if you are going to scan youself, don't go Epson/Canon flatbed way. To match your new camera you'll need something like Microtek 120tf or Nikon ED 8000/9000

The quality of film developing in Singapore isn't worth paying for such a scanner in my opinion.

 

[bluepowder]

I'm probably gonna check out the IT show this weekend and scope out an Epson V700.

My purpose for scanning, mostly just for sharing the pictures online. So the priority for me here is to find one with a pretty accurate representation of the colors and characteristics of the original film.

On a side note, thanks so much to everyone for your advice about the Mamiya 7ii.

I love this camera to bits.

 

[Hlop71]

The quality of film developing in Singapore isn't worth paying for such a scanner in my opinion.

That's definitely wrong thoughts. First of all, what stops you from developing at home if you don't like the quality? When I'm not lazy, I do myself E6, C41 or BW. When lazy, I bring it to Ruby and quality is quite well.

Secondly, with cheap bad scanner you will make result of bad developing even worse.

 

[neoro]

That's definitely wrong thoughts. First of all, what stops you from developing at home if you don't like the quality? When I'm not lazy, I do myself E6, C41 or BW. When lazy, I bring it to Ruby and quality is quite well.

Secondly, with cheap bad scanner you will make result of bad developing even worse.

Perhaps you can share some scans of the 2 mediums compared to illustrate

The cost to maintain/ store the chemicals and also the aspect of chemical disposal ethically puts this at my highest list of considered items for self developing e6 and c41

I have not seen much pictures extensively from scanner like the v700 however I would assume they offer great performance at the value given in comparative to an immacon.

I have negatives develop at local c41 outlets where it came back with scratch marks and also finger prints, so probably a few bitter experience is contributing to my greater than positive comment..

 

[Hlop71]

Perhaps you can share some scans of the 2 mediums compared to illustrate

The cost to maintain/ store the chemicals and also the aspect of chemical disposal ethically puts this at my highest list of considered items for self developing e6 and c41

I have not seen much pictures extensively from scanner like the v700 however I would assume they offer great performance at the value given in comparative to an immacon.

I have negatives develop at local c41 outlets where it came back with scratch marks and also finger prints, so probably a few bitter experience is contributing to my greater than positive comment..

I don't have fleet of scanners at home to do comparison. All I can tell, I've started with Epson 4990, then got Microtek 120tf an now using Imacon. Epson is good for Internet preview only. Nikon/Microtek will give you a decent picture to print and Imacon will produce quality close to drum scanners and good for large prints.

As per quality - never received film with scratches or fingerprints from Ruby or when I did it myself. Cost of chemicals? Depends how many rolls you do. I'm shooting enough to make 5 liter Tetenal kit profitable.

Look, mate, I'm not trying to convince anyone or push to buy expensive stuff, but having a great camera like Mamiya 7II and buy Epson .... It just will kill beautiful image done by very good optic. Also, price of second-hand Nikon is not tat great now. If you lucky, can find one around 900-1000 green bucks

 

[kgston]

Perhaps you can share some scans of the 2 mediums compared to illustrate

The cost to maintain/ store the chemicals and also the aspect of chemical disposal ethically puts this at my highest list of considered items for self developing e6 and c41

I have not seen much pictures extensively from scanner like the v700 however I would assume they offer great performance at the value given in comparative to an immacon.

I have negatives develop at local c41 outlets where it came back with scratch marks and also finger prints, so probably a few bitter experience is contributing to my greater than positive comment..

I had my fair share of bad developments at various labs but you should not let that bring down your passion for film photography. It takes time and patience to eventually find a lab that gives you good consistent quality output.

As for performance and value of various film scanners, I would say that is highly subjective. I did a small comparison between the V700; a flatbed and the Coolscan 9000; a dedicated film scanner here. I believe that it is always best to see and judge for oneself without any preconceptions.

 

[kgston]

oops.. double post.. internet lagggggg

 

[kgston]

Look, mate, I'm not trying to convince anyone or push to buy expensive stuff, but having a great camera like Mamiya 7II and buy Epson .... It just will kill beautiful image done by very good optic. Also, price of second-hand Nikon is not tat great now. If you lucky, can find one around 900-1000 green bucks

I have to agree with you that a Mamiya 7 deserves a good quality scanner to bring justice to the images and I can say so because I use a Mamiya 7 myself. That said, the price of a second hand Nikon is rising, not dropping, considering that production has ceased entirely...

 

[bluepowder]

I have to agree with you that a Mamiya 7 deserves a good quality scanner to bring justice to the images and I can say so because I use a Mamiya 7 myself. That said, the price of a second hand Nikon is rising, not dropping, considering that production has ceased entirely...

Most definitely agree that a camera with such resolving power requires a good scanner to do justice to it.

It's a shame though that I can only afford to delegate a budget of 1k towards getting one. I called up Epson today, their V700 model will be available at IT Show. Frankly speaking, my reason for getting this camera is because I'm pretty sick and disillusioned with shooting digital. I wanted to spend less time behind a computer processing RAW files and more time doing actual shooting.

I do hope to incorporate film into my wedding workflow...hopefully!

However I do recognize that even with scanning film, it still requires certain processing...i.e. sharpening, color correction, etc. Can't wait though! I'll be getting my first roll of Ektachrome slide processed soon, I hope to be able to share my humble first shots here for some C&C.

 

[neoro]

I had my fair share of bad developments at various labs but you should not let that bring down your passion for film photography. It takes time and patience to eventually find a lab that gives you good consistent quality output.

As for performance and value of various film scanners, I would say that is highly subjective. I did a small comparison between the V700; a flatbed and the Coolscan 9000; a dedicated film scanner here. I believe that it is always best to see and judge for oneself without any preconceptions.

impressive comparison!

Most definitely agree that a camera with such resolving power requires a good scanner to do justice to it.

It's a shame though that I can only afford to delegate a budget of 1k towards getting one. I called up Epson today, their V700 model will be available at IT Show. Frankly speaking, my reason for getting this camera is because I'm pretty sick and disillusioned with shooting digital. I wanted to spend less time behind a computer processing RAW files and more time doing actual shooting.

I do hope to incorporate film into my wedding workflow...hopefully!

However I do recognize that even with scanning film, it still requires certain processing...i.e. sharpening, color correction, etc. Can't wait though! I'll be getting my first roll of Ektachrome slide processed soon, I hope to be able to share my humble first shots here for some C&C.

Just a thought, the difference in cost to buy from Cathy Photo might be around SGD50 but it will save you the agony of bringing that big V700 box out from the PC fair to your car / taxi

 

[bluepowder]

Just a thought, the difference in cost to buy from Cathy Photo might be around SGD50 but it will save you the agony of bringing that big V700 box out from the PC fair to your car / taxi

LOL!

I'm hoping to scope out other freebies at the show too!

Will update you guys, thanks again!

 

[jamesong]

Good advice...I also echo trying shooting positives and the 43mm...the 43 is a must have...fantastic lens...

Please show us some of your pics..

When you buy the 7ii, it comes with the 80mm lens which is for portrait. The most frequent lens I used are the 43mm and 65mm. All the lenses have awesome results.In spite of the focusing which I had problem, I stuck on a Nikon 2x eyepiece magnifier and I am very happy with my kit.

Go for it , I never regret buying the 7ii.