Mamiya ZD + 645AFDII review !!!

[bjorso]

I'm a landscape photographer currently using a Canon 35mm digital system and I'm looking to get into digital medium format and the ZD looks ideal, especially for the price.  Do you have any landscapes photos taken with the ZD so I can see what to expect?

I have used my Mamiya 645 AFDII with ZD-back for landscape photos since I bought it. It was my main reason to buy it in fact. For everything else except studio work a 35mm digital system is better. But for landscapes a medium format system is very suitable. I can show you pictures but files are really huge so it's difficult to upload to Internet for web browsing. If you are familiar with FTP I can create an account for you on my server so you can download samples to your own computer.

A Leaf or Phase One system is probably better but has a completely different pricetag, out of reach for me!

[Anthhope]

bjorso,
         That would be excellent. Yes, all othe MF digital systems are out of my reach and the only reason I can afford a ZD is because for some reason in the UK they are being sold very cheaply second hand.

Rather then FTP you could email me a file via http://www.yousendit.com/. My email is anthhope@o2.co.uk.

Thanks very much.

Anthony

[billcat]

I saw a Aptus 22 go for US $5k on Ebay.  My ZD works pretty well, but I wish I had an Aptus 22. My main ZD complaint with landscapes is that it doesn't do long exposures well.

Michael Ezra uses a ZD for landscapes:

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30002

http://www.michaelezra.com/

Bill

[Anthhope]

Bill,
     Thank you for the info. Is noise your main problem with long exsposures?

Cheers

Anthony

www.hopesphotos.co.uk

[billcat]

Yes, noise gets out of control. I didn't check other things.

I read that people can go 20 secs with the ZD, but I'm a bit afraid at over a few secs. I think if you have more light in your photo you can go longer.  And you will want to use ISO 50 or perhaps 100.

Bill

[Anthhope]

Bill,
    Is there much difference between iso 50 and 100? I always use a tripod, so the lower the iso and the cleaner the file the better and I tend not to shoot much in really low light, so hopefully I should be ok.

Thanks

Anthony

[billcat]

I use ISO 100 when I need to. I just feel ISO 50 is better and us it almost all the time. I haven't done fancy tests. But for sure 200 and 400 are not that great. Sometimes I turn my ISO 400 shots in to B&W and that's kind of neat. But you're getting medium format for image quality so you can consider ISO 100 the max for the ZD.

Bill

[Anthhope]

Bill,
     Agreed, I always use the lowest ISO.

Thanks for all your help.

Cheers

Anthony

[Andy]

I do not know if anybody is still interested in the Mamiya ZD back but as I looked for a cheap digital back for my Mamiya AFD this blog was a great help. And therefore I would like to give some feedback on the final version of the ZB Back, the “double buffer” version which I have got.

The official only difference (as I knowl) between the normal and the “double buffer” ZD is the red name on the back (instead of white) and that it has a buffer for 22 instead of 11 pictures.

To solve the issues with tethering Mamiya has added a simple metal connector and a new (only beta) software, which can be downloaded from Mamiya.com. With this (and some scotch), tethering works fine, the connection is stronger and if the Back is disconnected it will immediately reconnect. The software only manages the camera and downloads to folders; therefore another RAW software with auto import is needed. I use Ligthroom 2.6, which works fine (converting to DNG).

According to the manual the ZD  *double buffer" Back works only with standard SD cards up to 2GB,  but this is not the case, I use SDHC with 16GB (about 430 pictures in RAW). Never the less, compared do DSLR the ZD is a very slow camera. Shooting in the Studio on SD cards it can happen that after about 30 pictures I might need a short break. And don’t expect that you can flawlessly shot and verify pictures on the small screen, it can take minutes to right the full buffer to the card and therefore also to see it on the screen. CF cards (Extreme IV) appears to be a bit faster and tethering into LR takes about 7 to 10 seconds.

There are many comments about Digital Backs not working with older camera models or the need to update the firmware. I have a standard, about 8 years old, Mamiya AFD (no AFD II or AFD III) with the initial firmware (V 1.0) and the ZB Back works o.k.

I can do about 200 to 300 pictures on one battery. Buying original Mamiya batteries is very expensive (about 200 USD) but they are identical with some Minolta-Konica batteries which I could get for about 15 Euros.

I have not done any scientific testing of the Mamiya ZD Back but using it back to back with me Canon 5Dmk2 I have the impression that the resolution, color rendering and dynamic range  at ISO 50/100 is still better. The Canon is still my prime camer,a it is a very sound camera and delivers top quality pictures. But with controlled lighting I would prefer the ZD…