With a subject as handsome as Billy, it seems almost impossible to end up with a all crappy images. Apart from this, while both the Pentax and the Mamiya being great cameras with character and a history, I’m a Mamiya person. At the moment of writing this, a nice, freshly CLA’ed RZ67 with 1:2,8/110mm attached to it is sitting in a parcel on its way to my home. I’m very excited to take delivery soon, looking forward to spending time with old and new friends and take their pictures. That’s what I bought it for: she’s going to be my portrait camera. 📷🥰
The conclusion I draw is that both are equally good in the right hands. I have an RZ because I couldn't afford a P67, but now that I own it the ability to change backs has become indispensable.
The Mamiya RZ hands down, it makes you a better photographer, you need to stop and think about what you’re actually photographing and if it’s worth it. And composing on that huge focusing screen can’t be beat. I always take better pictures with the RZ than with any other SLR type camera.
8:40 Just so everyone knows a 105mm medium format is not equivalent in any way to a 50mm other than in framing. 50mm gives a similar view to the human eye that objects in the scene are not compressed or widened. A 105mm has tons of nice compression but it will not give a flat 50mm look. To get a 50mm equivalent look on a medium format you have to use a 50mm lens and crop in if it's too wide or just use a 6x4.5 format with a 50mm or a 35mm format with a 50mm lens. The benefit of medium format is that you can have beautiful compression in wider shots and high resolution that a 35mm camera canmt but if you want to widen the view like a 16mm, 24mm, 35mm would on a 35mm camera it's not possible with a medium format in the same way. So if you are a big fan of 16-35mm photos, keep 35mm camera handy.
both are great cameras! i'm a pentax 67 lover (i got 3 pentax 67 cameras) but i gotta say mamiya is cool too! nice picture quality. just a little bit heavier
With mamiya coupled with 110mm lens (the lightest z lens) and a waist level finder, total weight is not that bad at all. I shoot mamiya 90% of time handheld. It is fine if not for hiking.
I have an RZ it is the best camera i have ever shot with, it is zen like, if i could guarantee film to be alive forever i doubt i wold ever need another camera so long as i had a spare body or two.
I shot with an RZ67 Pro II for a few years, but the weight/bulk just took the fun out of it. Even on a tripod it was just more than I wanted to deal with. I eventually sold both my film cameras-- the RZ and a Sinar F1--, but lately have gotten back into film and just picked up a Hasselblad. I'm now looking to add a 6x7 and was set on the P67II for studio/portrait work, as well as a Mamiya 7II for more environmental portraits and city/landscape, but part of me is thinking of revisiting the RZ. I will probably try the P67II and M7II first and add the RZ again later.
Pentax 6x7 is fun SLR on steroids, best bang for buck in medium format world. Mamiya 6 or 7 (II) is great modern travel friendly camera however it's far from cheap. Never tried RZ67, I believe it's nice to use however it's not good for my style of handheld with lot of walking. It's a bulky studio cam which seem to live best on tripod.
I picked up RZ67 over P67 because of flash sync and its modularity, I do change back often during a shooting day. Both shows great image quality though. Maybe one day I will add P67 to my kit, but it wouldn't replave me RZ67.
Good episode and I like the results but I am on my third RB67 (CLOSE to the RZ) and I have yet to put it on a tripod. I shot weddings hand held for many years before switching to digital. The one thing you did not point out here is that unlike the Pentax you could have shot color and black and white for each shot on the Mamiya as it has interchangable backs. Buy a neck strap and do some more arm curls and you will kick butt with that RZ.
haha. Yeah I usually shoot handheld with the RZ, but took the tripod for this one as I was planning to try some shots at a high aperture, and wasn't sure how it would cope.
Nice!!! I’ve been looking forward to this. Great photography, dope beats and inspiring as ever! Overall great content. Can’t wait for the next episode. Already owned the Pentax but the last couple of episodes pushed me to purchase the RZ. Much respect to this channel.
Thanks so much! We've been putting a load of effort in (especially our videographer and editor, Tom) to make sure we're creating the best content we can. Both the Pentax and the RZ are great, but we're looking at the Mamiya 7ii in Episode 004, so maybe hold off until then ;)
Thank you! I prefer the Mamiya, but I don't own a Pentax. I would choose based on what you plan to shoot. The best camera for this type of photography is probably the Pentax.
To begin with, once again great video. if you could try a video with 645 back on RZ67 pro II, I have not seen anyone doing that. And the music was awsome also.
The RZ is definitely very appealing to me. You’d never shoot it off tripod? I know the Pentax would be a great camera but every time I lay my hands on one it seems to be faulty or broken.
The RZ is a great camera! It's just an amazing piece of design, and so interesting to use. I usually shoot it indoors using natural light without a tripod (See Episode 002), and the results are surprisingly great. In the past i've used it outdoors without a tripod, and had some motion blur issues. So I wanted to be sure the shots in this episode were going to be super sharp! I also wanted to try some shots at f16 & f22, which would only have been possible with the tripod. (Check out Episode 001 for some more examples with and without a tripod).
That's too bad to hear about the Pentax 67s you've been encountering. Are you buying them from sellers in Europe/The US? I bought mine from a camera shop in Japan (through Ebay) and I spent a decent amount on it ($1,600 I think) but it is nearly flawless. The back viewfinder lens has some cosmetic weirdness, not really sure how to describe it, it's like some of the coating has flaked off, but it actually doesn't affect the viewfinder at all, and the rubber eye-cup was permanently bent back but I just took it off since I hate those things anyways and you can replace them for about $20 if necessary. Otherwise it's clean as a whistle, smooth, I suppose the light-blocking foam strips are a bit flattened, but they still work perfectly. I like the Pentax because of the feel of it, and how it shoots, as they sort of spoke about in the video. But it can be a difficult camera to shoot with due to just how large it is, and you really can't shoot slower than 1/125th without a tripod unless you've got incredibly steady hands such that you can somehow hit the mirror-up key without f-ing up your composition because that big old clapper will cause blur otherwise. Though, all Mamiya cameras are pretty amazing to be honest, I've shot the 7ii, the RZ, and I own a Mamiya C3 (twin lens reflex) and all of them including the C3, which is far older, shoot sharp as a tack. Shooting the RZ and C3 handheld can be quite a pain though. Neck cramps galore, and the C3 is a twin lens and a 6x6 not a 6x7 so composing shots can be tricky if you're not shooting with a marked up tripod to compensate for the parallax differential between the view lens and the capture lens (luckily not a problem with RZ as it is an SLR).
I have used the Mamiya RB67 SLR and the Pentax 35mm Spotmatic SLR and the Fuji 6x7cm rangefinder. I have never used the Mamiya RZ67 SLR or the Pentax 67 SLR. If forced to use only one film camera for the rest of my life, I would pick the Pentax 645 SLR.
You should upload more often! I can't wait to get a Mamiya RB67 one day, I use a Yashica Mat 124G at the moment! Which lab do you use to process and scan?
Thanks for all your comments, James! The Mamiya is great for sure. I've never used the Yashica thought. The lab I use is called Eye Culture in Bethnal Green, London.
Jonny is an art director for an agency, he usually works with photographers and talent to set up shoots for brands. Chris is a photographer, mainly working on interior and architectural photography. And Tom is a designer at an agency, he also does a lot of video work too - This channel is just a side project at the moment, but we're really enjoying creating content for you guys, and love the feedback we've had so far! The name Eye Culture Mag comes from a photography lab near my house called Eye Culture. It was the lab I used when I first started shooting film, so decided to name the channel after it.
Dope cinemaphotography as well, Love what both cameras produce. Does the RB67 come any close to the RZ in terms of shallow depth of field and color (talking about coatings) more of this!
Thanks very much! I've actually never used the RB67 before, so not too sure to be honest. Although a few of my favourite photographers use the RB, and achieve some incredible results. I think they are very similar, but the RZ is a little more refined. Would be interested to find out more regarding the RB though, maybe we'll look at doing a comparison at some point.
beiko thank you! No it’s not a must. I wanted to get some landscapes and some shots with high apertures , so decided to bring it. It was a pain in the ass, so unless you also want to do that I wouldn’t bother with one.
Are all the photos which are shown straight out of the camera? Or, has some amount of dodging and burning been done on them? Lovely video! I'm also currently going around the streets with a Yashica-D and Portra rolls.
Hey! So I just started shooting film literally yesterday and I don’t know much, but something you said caught my attention... you said when you got the scans back from the lab, you brought in more contrast or played with temperature/colors. Can you import in Lightroom and do that when you’ve gotten scans back??
Question. you guys obviously grade the video heavily. Is the grade carried over when you are showing the photo results as this of course will change how the photos actually look. just looking into the way you guys do things.
Hey Josh, Thanks for the question! The grade is only applied to the video clips so the photos you are seeing are the scans from the lab with some very slight adjustments in Lightroom in post.
Noticed you where playing with an app on your phone throughout the vid. Are you using a light meter app?. Which one would you recommend for analogue shooting. You seem to get good results. Cheers
Hi guys really cool stuff. Just got my RZ67 and finding it a steep learning curve. Just wanted to ask what phone light metering app your using as the exposure are spot on. Also do you develop your own film or are they done at a lab. What are you using if your processing it yourself. Cheers
Hi Julian, I use and app called Lux, it works but I'm planning to get a light meter soon. I currently get my film developed and scanned at a place called Eye Culture in Bethnal Green, but I'm also looking to start developing and scanning my own film.
Hi Julian, I just wanted to follow up on this comment to let you know we now have some scanning and editing videos on our patreon account. Feel free to take a look if it's still of interest: www.patreon.com/radicaleyemag
Love the video for its visuals and soothing music. But why are you saying you "compare" two cameras while you're shooting totally different films. not even different color films but also one color and one b/w. I don't get it.
I'm debating these exact two systems. I know you mentioned the Pentax gives you a little more portability, but did you see different results with the pentax lens vs the sekor in terms of colour or contrast?
Hey Val, I did see some differences, but these could easily be down to the labs/film types and scanners used. I would say to make your decision based on what type of photos you plan to take the most. I.e. Studio or outdoor on location. They are both great cameras! Hopefully that helps!
I have an RZ and a Pentax 6x7, both are amazing cameras but I stopped watching at around 6:33. Complaining about the “portability” of an RZ is ridiculous. Using any camera on a tripod will kill your mobility. I never use my RZ on a tripod and am very mobile with it in my hands. Don’t want to hear anything else after that stupid remark.
I would have to say the Pentax not because of mobility, but because of ease of use. Shooting in the cold, it’s easier to load film into the Pentax with gloves on. But I feel as I’ve I’ve taken better photos with the RZ. It’s tough to really pick one over the other.
Alex S. That’s the thing, the RZ makes you a better photographer, you need to stop, and think about what you’re doing, and that focusing screen is beautiful to compose. A regular SLR like the P67 can’t match it. Like you I take better pictures with the RZ than any other SLR type camera, even medium format DLSR’s.
Pentax has a far superior optics! You might not notice this having Mamiya unless you try it. Rolleiflex is two-step above these two. I would buy Rolleiflex SL66 right away in mint or like-new condition! This is the best 6x6 MF *art tool money can buy* and you won't be able to reproduce images from SL66 with Mamiya, Pentax or even Hassy. The only drawback of SL66 is not having a leaf shutter. That causes a limit of 1/60 sync speed in a studio.
Hey Willy, if you're still interested in learning more about scanning i've created a video that you can find on our patreon account: www.patreon.com/radicaleyemag
