Slowest hand held shutter speed Mamiya 6

[stump4545]

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with my Leica MM and MP my slowest consistent handheld shutter speed was 1/30.

 

can I expect the same acceptable sharp 1/30 shutter speed with my new Mamiya 6?

 

 

thank you.

[Brenton C]

Does the Mamiya have a moving mirror, like SLRs do to inflict mirror-slap induced vibration?

 

As I understand it, that's a major design difference that allows steady rangefinder speeds 1 or 2 settings slower than dictated by the SLR rule of thumb--the reciprocal of your focal length.

 

In the absence of specific information, I'd go by the SLR rule. Sorry I dont have particular expertise that is camera specific.

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[Brenton C]

Just looking at the mamiya, I see it's actually a RF type camera. I assumed they were Hassy knock-offs. ;-)

 

I would assume that the effect of vibration is inversely related to the size of the sensor, so larger film format would not be as badly affected as a 35mm (or similarly small digital sensor).

 

Whether that gives you anothet stop, say, 1/15th is the burning question. If my assumption is correct in the forst place, that is.

 

I'm very interested to try larger format myself, so I' m eager to see what info comes in next!

[kdriceman]

The Mamiya 6 is a rangefinder (as noted above) and uses a leaf shutter, thus no mirror slap. However, it is slightly bigger than an MM/MP, but not noticeably heavier. You will be using a longer lens to get an equivalent field of view to 35 mm and this will likely work against you on handholding. I have been pretty happy with my Mamiya 6 results at 1/60. If I'm below that I try to find a support somewhere/somehow.

[250swb]

There is no reason to think you can't, but no reason to think you can. 'Acceptable' sharpness isn't a set parameter, one persons idea of acceptable will not be another's, and of course the image itself plays a big part.

 

Some of the famous blurry images from the history of photography are famous because it's a good photograph anyway, so that's the thing to aim for. But if detail and definition are important use a tripod for anything longer than 1/60th irrespective of any bragging battles about hand holding a camera at 1/15th or whatever. Take twleve photo's at 1/15th hand held and some will be sharpish, some not sharp at all, none will be dead sharp unless you extend the odds to a couple of pictures out of a hundred. But on the other hand all the tripod photo's will be dead sharp at any speed.

 

Steve

[honcho]

with my Leica MM and MP my slowest consistent handheld shutter speed was 1/30.

 

can I expect the same acceptable sharp 1/30 shutter speed with my new Mamiya 6?

 

 

thank you.

 

Depends on several factors, one of which is the focal length of the lens you are using. As already pointed out , it is a self-defeating exercise unless a tripod, or at the very least a monopod, simply can't be used and obtaining some form of an image is more important than creating a sharp image.

 

It's not unknown for some to claim seemingly superhuman powers by being able to obtain 'sharp' images from hand holding at 1/8 sec and slower. My reaction invariably is 'so what!'. I'd rather have an image sharp when it should be sharp, or no image at all if the means to create one is unavailable.

[Orient XI]

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Physical fitness has a lot to do with it. When my son was his school's 400 and 800m champion he could hold much slower shutter speeds with his Nikon FG20 than his couch potato of a father could with an M6. At that time in his life he was blessed with very slow pulse and respiration rates.

[250swb]

It's not unknown for some to claim seemingly superhuman powers by being able to obtain 'sharp' images from hand holding at 1/8 sec

 

And of course this becomes part of a Leica myth that extends reasonable expectations into the world of fantasy. Everybody wants to outdo each other instead of being honest.

 

In thirty years of M photography, including a period as a theatre photographer having to work in very low light at times, I'd say that by pure chance and desperation I have got a sharp (properly sharp) image at 1/15th maybe twice, at 1/30th many times, and at 1/60th very often. Maybe my success is moderated by the sheer amount of difficult exposures, but it is the ratio that is important, moving one stop from 1/60th to 1/30th is a massive jump, to 1/8th a galactic jump. No professional would ever put themselves under that pressure and would respond to the situation in a different way, so these bragging claims are purely in the realm of the amateur where it hardly matters unless the aim is to brag.

 

 

Steve

Edited August 5, 2014 by 250swb

[chrism]

My secret weapon is a Manfrotto monopod, especially since I started playing with slower films, heavier cameras and portrait length lenses.

 

Chris

[Guest]

Physical fitness has a lot to do with it. When my son was his school's 400 and 800m champion he could hold much slower shutter speeds with his Nikon FG20 than his couch potato of a father could with an M6. At that time in his life he was blessed with very slow pulse and respiration rates.

 

Very true. Good sharpshots (only know some, who I occasionally shoot with at paper cards, none of us at living things, with me in the third quarter of the field of average rank amateurs, hence I never travel to competitions)

not only control their breath, but pull the trigger between heartbeats. Born 57, being 57 I'd be allowed to sit down for a couple of years now, btw. Some guys being 3 years my senior begin to accept this privilege.

There are some, who write having witnessed HCB having drunk coffee and smoked. Though they say, that he did this mostly while editing, because he had to sit still and rarely ever when out and about. There's a clip on you tube, when he photographed in China (or Mongolia) with a pipe in his mouth, but that was his sense of humour (and deception) when photographing a street event with a giant dragon, spitting smoke also.

He was 46 when Tri-X came out. And for his shots in portrait mode he held the camera "the right way around". So did Eisenstedt (youtube again) and most of the great ones from that period. Including modest "no-household-names" ones I had a chance to talk to.

[philipus]

a Manfrotto monopod

 

Chris, what ball head do you have on the monopod?

[chrism]

Manfrotto 482 - but I often don't use it (and never for 6x6!)

 

C.

[john_s]

I rarely push my luck with slow shutter speeds, but I was lucky once indoors at 1/15 with my Mamiya 6 and 50mm lens (35mm equivalent something like 25mm) in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The height of the camera body makes it easier to hand hold at slow speeds IMO. But the OP has already been using Leica M which is close to tops in the hand holding area. The bigger aperture of most Leica lenses makes it a good choice for low light. Why use a 120 size camera for this? What you gain in big film (which I love) you can easily lose with smaller aperture lenses (usually minus 2 stops). I've tried Delta 3200 in medium format and I've reverted to my Leica with 400 film and an f/1.4 lens.

[NZDavid]

Does age make a difference? Or the age of pixel peeping? I used to definitely be able to hand held a leaf shutter camera (Olympus rangefinder with a 42mm lens) at 1/15. SLR (OM series) no. Leica rangefinder with wider lenses, sometimes -- but I am increasingly finding that even faster shutter speeds of 1/30 or 1/60 are not always sharp enough. Perhaps I am not concentrating enough or squeezing the shutter gently enough. Perhaps I am not so steady. In any case, I thoroughly agree that unless you really have to, the faster the shutter speed the better!