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Hello from Christchurch, New Zealand.

J

John Leathwick

Well-known member
Hi All,

With some kind help from Olaf Sztaba I've finally managed to fully join the forum. I'm largely retired after nearly 50 years doing conservation science in New Zealand's wonderful outdoors, most of which time I've carried a camera of one sort or another. Early forays in large format included a Graphic View and Linhoff Technika, but then for many years I just shot 35mm or M43, before finally buying a Fujifilm GFX. That has since been paired with an ArcaSwiss F-Universalis and a small collection of mostly Mamiya RZ lenses, this change enabling me to return to the control that I used to enjoy with my old 4x5s. A big thanks to Rob de Loe for all of his help while making this latest transition. I look forward to interacting with the very talented and knowledgeable folks that I've seen posting on this site.
John
 
4

4x5Australian

Well-known member
John, here's a warm welcome from 'across the ditch'. Conservation science sounds intellectually enriching and the South Island is a wonderful place. Glad to hear that you've found a photographic tool that feels right and gives you back the control you had with 4x5. I presumed the electronic shutter of Mamiya RZ lenses would preclude their use on a technical camera, so I'm intrigued. How did you come to them?
Rod
 
J

John Leathwick

Well-known member
Thanks for that welcome, Rod. I had intended to follow Rob de Loe's use of Mamiya 6/7 lenses, but had no joy in finding anyone in Australasia who could do the required shutter opening on them, and I didn't fancy long-distance freighting of several lenses to the US for it to be done there. I then came across a couple of folk using RZ lenses either with a Cambo Actus or a medium format digital back, so started to explore possibilities. I eventually worked out that opening the RZ lenses in stopped-down mode is relatively straightforward using functionality built into them to allow the taking of time exposures longer than those allowed for by the RZ in-camera shutter control system. I now have four RZ lenses, the 50mm ULD, 75mm M, 110mm, and 210mm Apo, and am really impressed with all four of them. I'll follow up with a more detailed writeup in due course on a blog that I have and will post a summary and link here.
-John
 
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