Eyes – Test Shot Portrait (Mamiya Tilt/Shift).

2014, Favourite, Film, Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Mamiya RZ 180mm F/4.5 Short Barrel, Mamiya RZ67 Professional Pro II, Mamiya Tilt/Shift Adapter, Portrait, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 120, Teaching point

My first portrait using the Mamiya 180mm f/4.5 Short Barrel lens with the Mamiya Tilt/Shift Adapter.

I really should be supporting this heavy and unwieldy gear with a tripod, but I’ve avoided tripods all my life (ahhh the undisciplined life of a candid photographer).

Not bad though.  I see great potential with this set-up.

—Peter.

Eyes - Mamiya Tilt:Shift Adapter Test Shot

11 thoughts on “Eyes – Test Shot Portrait (Mamiya Tilt/Shift).”

  8. greg g49's avatar

    Fascinating.

    In T Spring 2 the 110 mm lens @ f/4 lost critical focus on the further eye. Here the 180/4.5 (presumably @ 4.5) with the T/S held not only both eyes, but looks like you were able to get all important facial features on (or near enough my eye has trouble sensing the difference) the focal plane and still achieve great background separation (even his chin begins to fall away). I have to say that a little more distance and a little telephoto compression looks really good here, too.

    Like everybody else, I love the image. Unlike everybody else, I can’t seem to resist trying to enumerate its charms.

    PS, I think I saw in a movie once where somebody addressed the tripod issue, I think it went something like, “Tripods? Tripods? We don’t need no stinking tripods…”, but, at my age, I could be misremembering it slightly. 🙂

  9. James Stevenson's avatar

    Lovely, unique looking portrait Peter. I think I’m enjoying seeing your Mamiya pictures the most, from your recent posts. Clearly you’re passionate about this setup and are getting wonderful results from it. Please keep experimenting and sharing!

  11. Peter | Prosophos's avatar

    I’m a little surprised by the reaction to this “test” photo… it really was just a test shot. Given the positive reactions, I’ve labelled it as a “Favourite” for 2014 🙂

    A few of you have commented that it seems I’m enjoying the Mamiya RZ67– I am! I bonded with this camera and its lenses right away, which I would never have predicted given it’s substantially heavier/larger than my beloved rangefinders. Oh yeah, and it’s not a rangefinder 😉

    But, I can’t casually carry the Mamiya with me for candid moments, and generating an image requires a lot of work, and so I will stick with my M240. Although the M240 has not been a crowd favourite (or a Prosophos favourite 😉 ), believe it or not I’ve been enjoying it too. And I’m referring to more than just the ergonomics… but I’ll have more thoughts on that some other time.

    Thanks everybody, for your ongoing interest and support!

    —Peter.

Leave a Comment