Mamiya 7 150mm 4.5 lens: is it suitable for street and candid shooting?

[Ligament]

Hi All,

I have a Mamiya 7II with 80mm lens, which I like for street shooting.

I'd really like the additional reach from a 150mm 4.5 lens, however I am reading that it is fairly tricky to focus accurately even with a tripod, and the focusing is slow due to gear slack or some such issue. The message I am getting is that the 150mm would not be user friendly or fun to shoot for street photography.

Have any of you used the Mamiya 7 150mm 4.5 for street and candid photos and is it worthwhile?

Thanks!

[bobby_novatron]

Haven't used it for street photography but I don't think it would be suitable. Even with hyperfocal settings, you'd be getting a comparatively narrow field-of-view. This is not a lens that would work at all for 'shooting at the hip' or taking impromptu grab shots. You'd basically have no idea what you're taking a picture of. The parallax issue is compounded by the long reach of the 150mm lens.

Also, the even with a lot of ambient light and using hyperfocal settings, you'd have to be quick at manual focusing. Who knows? Maybe it would be fun.

I suppose it would be applicable for isolating people and objects that were a considerable distance away, like using a telephoto with SLR's. But in that sense, its purpose is somewhat limited.

Maybe I'll try it out and report back!

[kmallick]

I confess I have not used the 150mm for Mamiya 7 for street photos. But I can only imagine how difficult it would be. Its definitely tricky to focus because of a small viewfinder frameline. Its a wonderful lens and deadly sharp for landscapes and for some portraits, but street photography is pushing it.

I do find the 150mm for Mamiya 7 easier to focus than the Mamiya 6, but this is a whole different story.

[Matus]

While I did take a few street photos with the 150 lens for my Mamiya 6 - the focusing accuracy is really on the edge and I usually take longer to focus, so moving subjects would be an issue. But I mostly get the focus right even wide open, it just takes time.

On a side note - I only wish the 75 lens would have such a smooth OOF blur as the 150 ...

[Moriturii]

Because ANY and EVERY lens in existence is suited for all types of photography, just a matter what the artist wants, the answer is by default, yes. Yes it is suitable.

[Ligament]

Originally Posted by Moriturii

Because ANY and EVERY lens in existence is suited for all types of photography, just a matter what the artist wants, the answer is by default, yes. Yes it is suitable.

Right, so an 800mm telephoto is suitable for macro work, street work, etc? Your statement is false.

[Atto]

really hard to recommend the 150mm for street shooting, it is hard to focus in that kind of shooting mode.

nevertheless it's a marvelous lens. Last shooting last Saturday. I have some problems developing the fuji 160s, a bad night for doing it. The negative it's a mess, and fast scan without DigitalIce