Hi Ed,
I had followed your earlier posts on the 300, and XF and hoped to get the same positive results.
When I used the tripod collar, I never had 3 consecutive frames that were not effected by shutter vibration. So I pulled off the collar, and then had better results, but my example also was just a bit soft on the left side.
What I also saw was the lack of micro contrast on the files, something that I see when using the older film lenses on Digital. In the past, I have always felt that this was recoverable in post, but with the 300, it seemed that the lack of micro contrast also had an issue with the capture of the finer details at distance. Again, might just be my lens.
The 240mm, is about 1/2 a pound heavier than the 300, 3.15lbs, vs 3.53, so I figured I could carry the difference. (this is with the collar installed), without take off about 6 to 7 more ounces. The 240mm is also a more packable, in that it's shorter.
But the real elephant in the room of course is the cost difference. Which is huge. I had hoped to save a few dollars but that did not work out. So I am going to sell off a few of my older Mamiya lenses soon, to help make up the difference.
Again, many thanks to Steve Hendrix at Capture Integration for helping out on this deal. Overall great team at CI.
Paul C