martinimages
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Registered: 01-2006
Location: West Yorkshire
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Mamiya 6 MK4
I bought this camera recently its a 1948 Mamiya 6 MK4 6x6cm folding medium format camera
The person I bought it from has owned it from new so it was in really good condition for its age, the only area that I needed to tweak was the lens, both rear front and back elements had stains and haze on them, I cleaned that of with Cerium Oxide and they came up like new, or nearly.
The Mamiya was quite advanced for its time, it was the first camera to use film plane focusing, frame counter with double exposure prevention, red flag warning of unexposed shot. It has a coupled Rangefinder and this one is fitted with an Olympus F3.5 75mm lens, film speeds are B then 1 to 1/500sec.
The reason I bought it apart from loving old film cameras and the look from the older lens, I wanted a medium format camera that I could put in a coat pocket, and I love the quality from the 6x6 negs.
The pictures below where entirely test shots on my first outing with it, I used a light meter for exposure setting and guessed a couple using the Sunny sixteen rule.
The resultant negatives where a little soft partly due to the old lens design but I found a good way of getting the lost contrast back in Photoshop.
My impression was favorable, excellent build quality, easy to focus, change settings and the shutter sounds wonderful plus its quite in operation.
So for £68.00 + approx £100 I think I will get it CLAd, its a gem and a cheap way into quality Medium format Rangefinder photography, that is of course if you can be bothered to use film again , I love it
Here is a few first test shots from the Mamiya
Last edited by martinimages, 24/Mar/15, 10:19 pm
--- "After that shutter closes it’s all over. The physical light captured on film is all that is left, a history of light preserved in chemical form, and I have to move on to the next one."
http://martinhensonphotography.co.uk
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11/Mar/15, 10:09 pm
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Digital Finger
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Registered: 08-2014
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Re: A Leica for £68.00
really lovely results fora lovlely 'little' camera
--- I am a part of what I am, not apart from what I dream,
That's a part of what I seem, but not apart from what I am
~ Simon
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12/Mar/15, 9:04 am
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Norman2
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Re: A Leica for £68.00
That is one super camera - what film and developer do use because they will both have an effect on the hardness of the negative?
Norman
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12/Mar/15, 10:52 am
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martinimages
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Re: A Leica for £68.00
Thanks guys
Norman I used Kodak Tmax 400 and developed it in Ilford DDX. I like this combination and would rather have the option to increase contrast than the other way round as would be much harder to edit keeping in mind these pictures are from a scanned negative, if I was printing in the darkroom I would develop the negatives for a longer period to up the contrast
--- "After that shutter closes it’s all over. The physical light captured on film is all that is left, a history of light preserved in chemical form, and I have to move on to the next one."
http://martinhensonphotography.co.uk
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12/Mar/15, 5:30 pm
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tomdpk
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Re: A Leica for £68.00
Looks like you will be having fun with that camera Martin.
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15/Mar/15, 1:01 pm
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JustDave
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Re: Mamiya 6 MK4
Nice Martin.
Going to have to dust off some of mine.
Regards, Dave
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26/Mar/15, 1:07 am
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martinimages
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Re: Mamiya 6 MK4
Thanks Dave, yea get some film through them
--- "After that shutter closes it’s all over. The physical light captured on film is all that is left, a history of light preserved in chemical form, and I have to move on to the next one."
http://martinhensonphotography.co.uk
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26/Mar/15, 5:24 pm
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John Roberts
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Re: Mamiya 6 MK4
Martin, camera looks great! I was wondering what I could clean some lenses and filters that belonged to my father, and I see you mentioned cerium oxide.
If you have a second I would be grateful for any tips or potential pitfalls in using this material. The lenses are all uncoated, by the way.
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28/Mar/15, 3:54 pm
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martinimages
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Re: Mamiya 6 MK4
Hi John
CERIUM OXIDE is the finest finishing glass polish you can get, it brought my Mamiya 6 rear element up like new, it removed haze and stains that I could not shift with everything I tried.
You don't need much, I bought of ebay a 10gm packet which is enough to clean a lot of glass on cameras, more then enough.
You mix a small amount with water to a creamy consistency, apply to a lint free cloth and rub in a circular motion, it can a take a while but it does work, it will even remove fine cleaning scratchs.
If you have a lot of cleaning to do It might pay to buy the powder in a kit form and that comes with Felt Bobs that you attach to a drill to speed up the cleaning, when done, the powder dries and buffs of like any other polish.
The only pitfall I can think of is if you start to clean and there is any fine grit on the glass before cleaning, just make sure you give it a good brush or blow off before buffing,
It takes a while to get the glass pristine but worth it
You say the the class in question is not coated so that will not cause any problems
Before you start establish that the stains, haze, fungus is NOT inside the lens elements, if it is then you need specialist repair. (expensive)
Last edited by martinimages, 28/Mar/15, 5:13 pm
--- "After that shutter closes it’s all over. The physical light captured on film is all that is left, a history of light preserved in chemical form, and I have to move on to the next one."
http://martinhensonphotography.co.uk
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28/Mar/15, 5:08 pm
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John Roberts
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Re: Mamiya 6 MK4
Martin, thanks for taking the time to help me. The advice I saw on the internet was everything from a thick paste to a slurry, so it's good to know what has worked! Hopefully it is just haze as I can't see any filaments.
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29/Mar/15, 12:25 am
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