mamiya macro A 1:4 120mm tethered on a canon DSLR

rockycarter · Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 158

wanted to try this lens for coin photography. it has a large working distance. from the end of the lens to the coin. making it very easy to light the coin. the lens is not easy to focus when magnified for final focus. but the lens does a very good job with coins.

rockycarter · Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 158

mounted on a canon dslr tethered. i used one ottlite . i used a micro focus stand. to do final focus. no photo editing just a 100% crop of the photo. to show detail, depth of field. this is also a very sharp lens. a little difficult to focus. but one its set. this is and outstanding coin macros lens.

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Really great detail. I've never done any coin macro. It seems most of the common macro problems would likely not be an issue, once you have it set up. Narrow depth of field shouldn't cause issue with most coins. Vignetting also not an issue and a non moving item in a studio setting. Intrinsic sharpness of the lens though could be limiting factor and you seem to have solved that problem with this lens!

rockycarter · Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 158

thank you jamaeolus . the big problem is lighting the coins. i was trying to find away. to overcome the hotspots created by lighting. its funny but it works. the province where i live there is this ice-cream company. they have these big ice cream parlors. one day not long ago i was in one. they was changing the ice cream buckets. i asked could i have one of those buckets. the owner asked me what for. so i told him what i was doing. how hard it is to photograph coins. because of the light issue. he said sure let me know how you made out. well let me tell you. i aim the lamps into the bucket. reflect the lights back unto the coins. no more hotspot i can light a coin perfectly every time. i am waiting for a stepup filter ring so i can mount the cut off ice cream bucket to the camera lens. i went back showed the own of the ice cream parlor my photos. he said please can i have these photos i said sure. he told me people are amazed by the quality of the photographs. he said its because of my ice cream buckets. i laughed i said you are right.

Himself · Expire: 2013-05-30

Mamiya macro 120/4 does flowers too

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Kei · Joined: 08 Jan 2015 Posts: 142 Location: S. Wales UK

Very nice. I haven't been able to use mine with my dslr as I have the af fit version which will not mount to my fotodiox adapter. It's still a manual focus lens but the aperture is electronically controlled so not sure how useful it would be anyway. I'll have to stick with using it on my 645AFD.