INTRODUCTION

Through all the horseracing about the newest glass for high-end digital cinema cameras, it’s easy to forget about the more expressive lenses out there.

There may be the Angenieux EZ-3 Cinema Zooms and the Hawk V-Lites—but then there’s the rehoused primes of the Mamiya 645 stills camera.

Gentle, dreamier optics with the latitude to handle verité or studio scenarios—the Mamiya 645 primes

WHAT IS THE MAMIYA 645

Bokeh Rentals’ new Mamiya lenses originated from the Mamiya 645, a medium format stills camera with an elegant, softer optical style.

The original Mamiya 645 film camera is used for both studio photography and street photography. It has the latitude capable of handling natural light environments, such as the diner portraits in the video below. But, when taken into a studio for photography with models, its softer optics lend a dreamier, loose aesthetic to more orchestrated setups.

Check out the video below to see the Mamiya 645 lenses in action with its original camera body.

Because of the Mamiya’s unique imagery, the technicians at England’s True Lens Service rehoused and retooled the primes for modern digital filmmaking. Not only were optics preserved, but lens mechanics were improved across the board.

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Upgraded, Rehoused Primes

LPL Mount

Third party adapters exist to use the Mamiya lenses on Nikon F-mount, Canon EF mount, and other camera systems. And they’re not particularly expensive. But, using third party adapters can carry the risk of not perfectly preserving the optics and all functionality.

So, TLS technicians elected to convert the Mamiya lenses to the LPL mount, the newest universal lens for digital capture.

In addition to compatibility with top digital cinema cameras like the ARRI ALEXA, the LPL mount allows lens data to transfer using the LDS-2 system by ARRI.

Speed Booster

True Lens Service installed a new circular iris with a built-in speed booster. Now that the Mamiyas have a speed booster built inside the housing, each lens is now slightly wider. For example, once retooled by TLS, the Mamiya 110mm prime has become a 77mm that can cover full-frame sensors. Other lens modifications include the 38mm (originally 56mm) and the 56mm (originally 80mm).

An added benefit to the internalized speed booster is that each rehoused lens is now a stop faster.



TLS also offers a PL mount option without the speed booster, for those who prefer the original focal lengths.