Mamiya 7 Panoramic Kit with Gene Yoon Review

Hey, what’s going on everybody welcome back to the channel we have a very exciting video for you guys today because for the Mamiya seven I’m gonna be testing out the panoramic kid that is OEM what the heck are you jean, Yoon, yeah what are you doing in my trunk I’m in everybody’s trunk okay okay okay okay do you wanna go shoot okay okay okay okay oh man.

Hey, what’s going on you guys now that we got that crazy intro out of the way with my friend jean today in this video we’re going to be testing out the Mamiya 7 panoramic kit and the coolest part about it is that Mamiya actually makes this panoramic kit from factory settings as an OEM part this isn’t a third-party janky accessory that someone 3d printed out of their bedroom this is an actual kit from Mamiya and the coolest part about this is that because it was an intended thing with this back right here you can go from 120 settings switch it over to 220 or 135 panoramic kids.

So awesome that mia intended this camera for it to be panorama you could buy panoramic kits for other cameras like the rz and the Pentax seven so on and so forth but you need to have three parts three essential parts these two spools right here and this panoramic mask that you see right here made by Mamiya this isn’t a third party kit although you can 3d print it if you know a guy, hey everyone just going to come here real quick to voice over on how to install this panel kit first you’re going to want to grab that mask it’s very flexible so make sure you give it a good old push right underneath the rails of the 6×7 window and then you’re going to want to grab the intake spool and whatever 35-millimeter film stock you want to use.

Today I’m going to use superior 400 so there’s this little bottom part that you can push down as you see right there so that you can insert the 35-millimeter spool and make sure that that bottom part clicks right back into place so you can insert it right where you would with any medium format film go ahead and insert your take up spool on the right side and make sure that those arrows on the silver bar are pointed to the left pull your film leader all the way to the other side insert into one of the slots then wind it ever.

So gently so that you know it catches and then after that, you’re going to want to grab the pressure plate change it all the way to the 220 135 settings, or else you can use this kit at all and then you’re done and ready to shoot panoramic photos foreign how’s it going gene what are you shooting with today I’m a good dude I’m shooting with the Pentax 645n which is right here yep I see that shooting some portrait 400 and filming on in canon r6 this is the most YouTuber thing ever where you like record someone with a fuzzy mic and then like everybody else is like staring at you from behind all right this is the most awkward thing ever I’m gonna stop about gina’s the only guy that would want to spend an expensive roll of film photographing my dumb car yo what the heck what that’s a scary art installation oh my gosh.

So I just finished my first roll on the pound kit and I got 17 shots out of it so it’s it ranges I guess depending on how you load it so the way you unload it is there’s a black button right here that released the um the take-up spool there is a rewind tool for this panoramic kit but I personally don’t have it like it was just like it’s just a knob and you rewind kind of like a Leica I have to do the getaway with a quarter with a freaking quarter like in this slot and it’s not great because it scratches up the camera a little bit, oh there we go now I can release it.

Now it spins really and you’re going to be doing this for a little bit all right g can I have you on that middle brick over there yeah and then left heel up on the brick yeah right foot out there you go just like that oh dang dude looking good at this rate this video is going to go on for too long because gene and I traveled all around the city taking great photos and you can still see them as I talk through the wrap up of this video but I just want you guys to let go and check out jean Yoon’s channel he makes videos about photography as well whether it’s commercial and or film photography his character and his genuine personality shines bright through his channel so go out and subscribe to his channel.

I think you would enjoy it but just to wrap up this video having panoramic photos with the ability to create those is such a creative spark that you can add to your photography arsenal especially because it’s such a rare niche aspect ratio the mia 7 panoramic kit creates a negative that is 24 by 65 millimeters compared to the regular 24 by 36 and if you are a regular viewer or a long time viewer on this channel you probably saw my review of the Hasselblad x pan which is the same as the Fujifilm tx1 which is also a 35-millimeter panoramic photo camera and I’m here to tell you that both the x-pen and this panoramic kit create the same size negative.

So if you have the Mamiya 7 I would highly recommend buying this kit so that you don’t have to buy another three thousand dollars or more camera systems unless you really like Hasselblad and you really have that money if I’m gonna compare apples to apples though the Mamiya does have a disadvantage compared to the x-men because the x-pan has that dedicated 24 by 65-millimeter rangefinder versus the Mamiya 7 the rangefinder doesn’t change like the window is still going to stay the same uh and give you the same frame lines that are on your lens and for me, that’s the 80-millimeter frame lines.

So you kind of have to guess and check and after installing the mask uh in the 6×7 window i can kind of tell that like it gives you the middle third of that 6×7 window so you have to do your guesstimation it’s honestly not that hard because with the focus patch once you focus you just need to focus immediately on the scene that is to the left and to the right of that image and you’ll be fine i’ve i’ve had no problem with it at all in my opinion there are some advantages to having panoramic photos on the mia versus the hasselblad and one of them is that you’re using mamiya glass mamiya glass is super sharp it’s renowned for its qualities and you’ve seen the negatives that have been popping up throughout the video they’re incredibly sharp and there’s little to no flaw or maybe just no flaw at all in all the images the colors are nice the sharpness is there i’m not saying that the x-pan hasselblad lenses aren’t sharp but there is heavy vignetting they’re very obvious even if you shoot at f8 there is a filter made by hasselblad designed solely on fixing this problem.

But all it does essentially is it darkens the middle of the photo so that it matches the darkness from the vignetting and that is such a silly solution for doing that and it’s also crazy expensive so if you got that money and you have the x-pan or wanting to get the x-pan you can invest in that if you want and the other obvious advantage of having it with the Mamiya 7 is that you could switch between 6×7 medium format film and 35-millimeter panoramic you can’t really do that with the x-pan so that’s a super cool feature now pretty much my final words is like would I recommend this uh kit to anybody and I would if you already have the mia 7 or you’re planning to get it for mainly it’s medium format capabilities.

I would highly recommend saving up your money investing in the panel kit i think it would be super cool to have it is a little bit expensive but it still saves you a bunch of money saves you a bunch of money from buying the x-pan or the tx-1 just a matter of perspective and that’s all i have for you in today’s video thank you so much again to gene yoon for collaborating and visiting me out here in san francisco we had a blast i love collaborating with other youtubers and i will be having more collaborations in the coming months so get ready and get excited for that make sure you like this video subscribe and leave a comment down below about what you think about panoramic photos or if it’s such or if it’s like too much of a gimmick and too niche for it to be practical i am working on a project a book actually and i will be having some panoramic photos in that so maybe that’ll inspire some people um on how to use panoramic photos besides just for landscapes so that’s all i have for you guys in this video i will see you in the next one peace.