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Mamiya 645 2x teleconverter - which one?

gerald.d

Well-known member
Hi all -

A quick scan of Ebay shows Kenko, Rokinar and Vivitar 2x converters available, all at very cheap prices.

I know there's the Mamiya one as well. That doesn't seem to come up very often, and whilst I can get hold of one locally, it's rather expensive.

Is there a noticeable difference in quality between the Mamiya and 3rd party ones?

This would be for use on 300/2.8 and 200/2.8

Kind regards,

Gerald.
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
Ooh. Thanks Andy.

Just waiting to hear from a dealer in the UK if they have one (I'm over next week), and if not, I'll pick that one up.
 

Stefan Steib

Active member
Hi Gerald

the Mamiya Converter is limited to the following lenses, see this text from the Converter manual :

"This tele-converter is optically designed to the same quality standards as prime telephoto lenses. Its construction is 6 elements in 5 groups. It is fully compatible with AE Prism Finder providing automatic or manual exposure. With an effective focal length extension of 2x, it is designed for the 645 lenses shown in the following chart.
Recommended for New Effective Focal Length & Aperture
150mm f/2.8 300mm f/5.6
150mm f/3.5 300mm f/7
210mm f/4.0 420mm f/8
300mm f/5.6 600mm f/11
300mm f/2.8 600mm f/5.6
500mm f/5.6 1000mm f/11
500mm f/4.5 1000mm f/9
145mm f/4 Soft Focus 290mm f/8
50mm f/4 Shift 100mm f/8
Due to physicial limitations, the Tele-Converter cannot be used with zoom lenses or with lenses not shown on the chart above."


I have the Kenko (also bought at KEH) , whereas I´m sure the Mamiya has the better image quality with the mentioned lenses, I got the Kenko for another reason: you can combine it with about any other Lens (tried up from the 35mm) including the 1,9 / 80mm. But these multiple intermediate focal lengths and the fact that on my TS adapter I may even WANT to get some softness when tilting this is a nice addtion for 45 $.


I may get the Mamiya also just as an addition and for further experimenting.


Regards
Stefan
 

ondebanks

Member
Pasting part of my recent comment from Lula:

* 2x N teleconverter: superbly matched to the 200/2.8 APO. This actually improves its performance as a telescope. Cannot be used on lenses shorter than the 145mm however, as its front group protrudes into the lens it is coupled to. If you want a 2x TC for say the 80mm or 110mm lenses, get a Vivitar one.

Although I've had the 2x N for a few years, I recently tried a Vivitar one out of curiosity (KEH "Ugly", $4) and found it did a good job. It has larger diameter lenses than the Mamiya one, which is interesting - that could mean lower vignetting with wide open lenses.

Ray
 

ondebanks

Member
So I take it that it won't work on the Mamiya 300 f4.5 AF APO ?
If you're assuming that because it's not in the compatibility list that Stefan posted...well the list pre-dates the AF lens lineup so that's not a reason to think it wouldn't work.

There are 2 issues here though - mechanical and electronic.

The mechanical issue is how far back the 300mm's rear group is positioned. If it's recessed more than about 10mm inside the bayonet, then the 2x N should safely fit it. I don't have a 300/4.5 so I can't check.

The electronic issues are that the "screwdriver" AF doesn't transmit through the MF TC, and more seriously, only the wide open aperture can be used. But at f/9 effective, you might not want to stop down much anyway.

Mamiya should really bring out an AF version of the 2x TC to address these issues. And/or a 1.4x, which I've called for previously! Since the phase-detection AF sensors in the bodies only seem to work down to an f5.6 received beam, there are no AF lenses longer than the 150/2.8 D which would be fast enough to actually perform AF with a 2x TC. A 1.4x would stretch that range to the 210/4, and the AF sensor might just cope with a TC'ed f4.5 lens like the 300/4.5? [f6.3 effective with the 1.4x]

Ray
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
Hi Gerald

the Mamiya Converter is limited to the following lenses, see this text from the Converter manual :

"This tele-converter is optically designed to the same quality standards as prime telephoto lenses. Its construction is 6 elements in 5 groups. It is fully compatible with AE Prism Finder providing automatic or manual exposure. With an effective focal length extension of 2x, it is designed for the 645 lenses shown in the following chart.
Recommended for New Effective Focal Length & Aperture
150mm f/2.8 300mm f/5.6
150mm f/3.5 300mm f/7
210mm f/4.0 420mm f/8
300mm f/5.6 600mm f/11
300mm f/2.8 600mm f/5.6
500mm f/5.6 1000mm f/11
500mm f/4.5 1000mm f/9
145mm f/4 Soft Focus 290mm f/8
50mm f/4 Shift 100mm f/8
Due to physicial limitations, the Tele-Converter cannot be used with zoom lenses or with lenses not shown on the chart above."


I have the Kenko (also bought at KEH) , whereas I´m sure the Mamiya has the better image quality with the mentioned lenses, I got the Kenko for another reason: you can combine it with about any other Lens (tried up from the 35mm) including the 1,9 / 80mm. But these multiple intermediate focal lengths and the fact that on my TS adapter I may even WANT to get some softness when tilting this is a nice addtion for 45 $.


I may get the Mamiya also just as an addition and for further experimenting.


Regards
Stefan
Thanks Stefan - I'm looking to use this primarily with the 200 and 300 f/2.8's.

200x2 will give me about a 100GP pano, 300x2 roughly 240GP :D

Kind regards,

Gerald.
 

Stefan Steib

Active member
Hi Gerald

you probably are the guy with the portable 100 TB NAS (the truck that parks behind the scene....) :D

I recently found out about the 4,5/500, wouldn´t that be even nicer.... ?
But I think this is rare, probably like a yeti in NYC and the pricetag is 17400 $...............:eek:

Regards
Stefan
PS.: bought a nearly new 5,6/500 yesterday for 329 €.......... :)
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
Hi Stefan -

I've never seen a 4.5/500 for sale, and if one came up, I certainly wouldn't be able to afford it!

Would only need 7x32GB cards for the 2x200 pano. There's only one location I want to shoot this from though, and I'm working hard on getting permission to do it :)

Kind regards,

Gerald.
 

ondebanks

Member
I recently found out about the 4,5/500, wouldn´t that be even nicer.... ?
But I think this is rare, probably like a yeti in NYC and the pricetag is 17400 $...............:eek:

Regards
Stefan
PS.: bought a nearly new 5,6/500 yesterday for 329 €.......... :)
Hi Stefan,

The last 500/4.5 that I saw spent a few months on your local ebay.de...that was in 2010, IIRC. It gradually came down in BIN price by maybe €1500 and eventually sold for something like €3500-4000.

...Which is not far off the price of a new Takahashi 530/5 FSQ-106ED with tube clamp and a P67 or M645 adapter (~ €5300 in Europe). If you are serious about that sort of focal length and speed, with unsurpassed optics, it's your best bet.

Nice one, re. your 500/5.6!

Ray
 

Shashin

Well-known member
...Which is not far off the price of a new Takahashi 530/5 FSQ-106ED with tube clamp and a P67 or M645 adapter (~ €5300 in Europe). If you are serious about that sort of focal length and speed, with unsurpassed optics, it's your best bet.
That adjustable aperture is a problem though and it is not the most ideal focuser for terrestrial objects. But excellent optics wide open. You could even use a shift adapter as I think the FSQ still has a 90mm image circle.
 

Stefan Steib

Active member
I had and eye out on this one too, but decided not to go for it. I couldn't imagine a situation in which I could possibly need a 500mm...
Thats exactly the point. I always wanted to compress images as far as possible. I will probably get the mamiya 2x converter, put this on the Mirex, tilt it and then I´ll pick details. Lets see what we will get then.
I would have never bought this lens for the list. Probably some k bucks. But now - this is an irresistable invitation to experiment !

Regards
Stefan
 
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