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Newest MFD member....

Hey guys-

I just bit the bullet and now have an IQ160 for all of my landscape and African wildlife work. Just posting to say hello, and it's been a pleasure searching through some really old and not so old threads to help me determine which lenses to buy, as well as to get up to speed on other misc accessories.

Just posting to say hello.

Andy
 
Thanks, Don. I have a bunch more safaris in Africa slated for the rest of the year, and my new system will be at my side. I can't guarantee that all of my images will be captured with it, but my goal is to be able to produce the largest B&W prints that I possibly can, so hopefully it will work out. I have 6 more weeks of safaris this year, split between wildlife in Botswana and landscapes in Namibia (I am leading a PODAS event in September to Namibia). Then Iceland for 3 weeks in March and then more wildlife for the rest of the year.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Sounds busy Andy. I've had a couple months off during the summer but jump back into it the end of Aug. I'll be in Montana and Wyoming until November attempting to get at least one really great fall image there.

Looking forward to seeing the B&W.

Don
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
Congratulations, Andy!

Aside from teasing us with great images from your photo safaris (that's one item on my bucket list) I'm sure you're going to enjoy your new MFDB!

ken
 
Andy,

Congratulations for your IQ160. Would love to hear about your MF lens selections for wildlife. Hope you will share your field experience here too!

Subrata
 
Thanks, guys. Here is what I have so far:

IQ160 / DF body
28mm
45mm
75-150mm
80mm

I plan on picking up the Mamiya 300mm f/4.5, and I am also trying to get my hands on the 500mm APO (manual focus, of course). I keep hearing that the Schneider 240mm will be out 'soon', and that may change my mind on the 300mm. Who knows. My goal is to capture images that are more animalscapes, similar to a few of these images here:

Elephants and Clouds : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Giraffe Under an Acacia Tree : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Elephant Reflection : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Lioness Yawning : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Most of these images were taken with either a 24-105mm or 70-200mm lens on 35mm camera bodies. I regularly sell 40x60" canvases, as well as 30x45" cotton rag prints, so you can see why MFD made it into my camera bag.
 

hcubell

Well-known member
Thanks, guys. Here is what I have so far:

IQ160 / DF body
28mm
45mm
75-150mm
80mm

I plan on picking up the Mamiya 300mm f/4.5, and I am also trying to get my hands on the 500mm APO (manual focus, of course). I keep hearing that the Schneider 240mm will be out 'soon', and that may change my mind on the 300mm. Who knows. My goal is to capture images that are more animalscapes, similar to a few of these images here:

Elephants and Clouds : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Giraffe Under an Acacia Tree : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Elephant Reflection : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Lioness Yawning : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Most of these images were taken with either a 24-105mm or 70-200mm lens on 35mm camera bodies. I regularly sell 40x60" canvases, as well as 30x45" cotton rag prints, so you can see why MFD made it into my camera bag.
One word of caution is that there is a significant problem using longer Mamiya lenses with a high res back like the IQ160 because of vibration issues with the mirror on the DF. I have never seen what I consider to be a sharp image made with the 300mm Mamiya, even where the camera was mounted on a tripod with MLU. It is one of the reasons I use a Hasselblad H2. The Hasselblad HC 300mm lens, like all of the HC lenses, is a leaf shutter lens and the images from it are exceptionally sharp, particularly if you can use MLU.
Enjoy your shooting. I went to Tanzania last year and was lazy. I brought a new Panasonic GH2 and regret it.
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
One word of caution is that there is a significant problem using longer Mamiya lenses with a high res back like the IQ160 because of vibration issues with the mirror on the DF. I have never seen what I consider to be a sharp image made with the 300mm Mamiya, even where the camera was mounted on a tripod with MLU. It is one of the reasons I use a Hasselblad H2. The Hasselblad HC 300mm lens, like all of the HC lenses, is a leaf shutter lens and the images from it are exceptionally sharp, particularly if you can use MLU.
Enjoy your shooting. I went to Tanzania last year and was lazy. I brought a new Panasonic GH2 and regret it.
If the mirror is locked up, how can it be causing vibration issues?

Do you mean vibration issues with the shutter on the DF?
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
If the mirror is locked up, how can it be causing vibration issues?

Do you mean vibration issues with the shutter on the DF?
With the 300 it's more a case of making sure that even with MLUP that you allow vibrations to settle before firing the shutter. I find that 4+ seconds is required for super sharp landscapes. Also don't bother with the lens tripod mount unless you damp it with good long lens technique.

For environmental animal portraits in bright african light I'm sure that someone as skilled as Andy will have no problems.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
If the mirror is locked up, how can it be causing vibration issues?

Do you mean vibration issues with the shutter on the DF?
Here's an interesting article where the consequences of large focal plane shutters are described and documented. It's an even larger format, but the principles are the same:

Pentax67ii
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
I plan on picking up the Mamiya 300mm f/4.5, and I am also trying to get my hands on the 500mm APO (manual focus, of course). I keep hearing that the Schneider 240mm will be out 'soon', and that may change my mind on the 300mm. Who knows. My goal is to capture images that are more animalscapes, similar to a few of these images here:

Elephants and Clouds : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Giraffe Under an Acacia Tree : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Elephant Reflection : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Lioness Yawning : Timeless Africa : Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Most of these images were taken with either a 24-105mm or 70-200mm lens on 35mm camera bodies. I regularly sell 40x60" canvases, as well as 30x45" cotton rag prints, so you can see why MFD made it into my camera bag.
Those are some exceptional safari images, Andy :thumbs:
 

hcubell

Well-known member
With the 300 it's more a case of making sure that even with MLUP that you allow vibrations to settle before firing the shutter. I find that 4+ seconds is required for super sharp landscapes. Also don't bother with the lens tripod mount unless you damp it with good long lens technique.

For environmental animal portraits in bright african light I'm sure that someone as skilled as Andy will have no problems.
From all of the images I have seen posted here, including from people who used a Cube with a heavy tripod and waited after the MLU and before releasing the shutter, nothing helps to produce critically sharp images with the 300mm. Not sure about something in the 200mm range.
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
Here's an interesting article where the consequences of large focal plane shutters are described and documented. It's an even larger format, but the principles are the same:

Pentax67ii
Thanks - that is interesting, but it is dealing with very slow shutter speeds indeed, and seemed to imply that shutter vibrations come in at under 1/30th of a second, and mirror ones at under 1/125th.

Not that I'm challenging Graham's experience, but 4 seconds to allow for damping following a mirror lock-up is surprising to me.
 
Just as an FYI, I am more likely to use the 300mm on a bean bag for wildlife with shutter speeds that will hopefully be faster than 1/125.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
I had the pleasure of testing a Mamiya 300 late last year while in Jackson Hole and afterwards decided to go back 100% medium format. The images here are all from the backside of the National Elk Refuge from distances of several 100 yards to as close to just several. I offer the full image then a 100% crop. These were all quick handheld no tripod shots with the ISO set at 100 and the f/stop either 8 or 11 and shutter speeds as low as 400 and high as 800.

Recognizing the fact they were all shot handheld I can only image how much better they'd be with some sort of support. Also forgot to add these were taken with the P65+ which is basically the same as the IQ160; actually I consider the !Q160 just a supped up version of the P65+.













With the understanding that I'm a landscape photographer first and nature/wildlife way down the list; I am nevertheless quite please with the 300 and 60 megapixels.

Don

No processing was done with any of the files other than to open duplice, crop at 100% then save the files.
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
From all of the images I have seen posted here, including from people who used a Cube with a heavy tripod and waited after the MLU and before releasing the shutter, nothing helps to produce critically sharp images with the 300mm. Not sure about something in the 200mm range.
Here's the 300mm*** wide open on an AF with an IQ180. MLU was used, but take into account this was on a robotic pano head that was panning between shots.

Pano head moves, stops, MLU half a second later, shot taken 3 seconds after that, then onto the next one (total of around 120 shots in this).

Obviously ignore the background, and just check out the bits of the tree that are in focus to judge sharpness!

Virtual Tour generated by Panotour

/edit

Alternatively, just ignore my post and check out Don's :D

*** - this is the manual focus 300/2.8 I should add.
 
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