Featuring the Mamiya Universal Press!

Hey everyone!

This week we decided to share some of our shots taken with our Mamiya Universal Press (“MUP”)! You may have seen this amazing camera (with interchangeable lens and film backs) being mentioned in our previous entries here, and so this time we decided to dedicate a post to our recent Polaroid shots with the MUP!

photo_2017-07-02_21-46-41 — Our MUP coupled with the Mamiya Sekor 100mm f/2.8 lens and ground glass back. This is only useful for gaining awareness as to the size of the frame being captured, as once the film is loaded, the film back obviously cannot be removed.

The lens of choice for these shots is the Mamiya Sekor 63mm, f/6.3 lens! It is a wide-angle lens, which we have been keen to try on our MUP for some time. Unfortunately, the lens could not be calibrated to the MUP’s rangefinder (as this lens was made for Mamiya Super 23), which meant that we required the use of zone focusing. Having taken some shots to familiarise ourselves with the lens, we present our Polaroid shots (on the Impossible Project Gen 2.0 Colour Film Black Frame)!

Image (36)a — Singapore Parliament Building; this is where the wide angle lens comes in handy as there isn’t a good vantage point to capture the entire building.

Image (36)b — Singapore Supreme Court; to the left lies the *former* Supreme Court.

Image (36)c — Snapshot of the building which houses the Ministry of Communication and Information, from the bank of Clarke Quay.

Image (36)d — Shophouses near Chinatown!

Image (37)e — A wide-angle shot of Boat Quay, wherein lies the Elgin Bridge, the Parliament House and the former Supreme Court in the background!

Image (37)f — The iconic Singapore Central Business District, facing Boat Quay!

Image (37)g — The National Gallery, which was the former Singapore Supreme Court.

Separately, we also managed to use the same lens with the Fujifilm instax wide film:

photo_2017-07-02_19-56-13 — A playground located in the heart of several housing apartments in the East of Singapore, Pasir Ris!

photo_2017-07-02_19-56-20 — Venturing along Elias Mall!

And of course, we have included some candid shots of us using the MUP. As you will see below, the MUP is admittedly quite bulky, but the ability to interchange lens and film backs was an attractive feature which lured us to purchase it!

photo_2017-07-02_19-56-18 — Sandra capturing a shot with the MUP, coupled with the Lomo Instant Belair back!

photo_2017-07-02_21-49-00 — Damian capturing the shot of the Supreme Court!

photo_2017-07-02_21-49-02 — Smooth ejection from the CB70 Polaroid back!

Concluding Thoughts…

The lens is extremely sharp and the ability of the lens to capture such a wide frame is really amazing! Because the lens is flat, it is not as bulky as the other MUP lenses, such as the made-for-Polaroid 127mm f/4.5 lens.

The downside however, is our zone focusing skills. It would be great if we could focus the lens without second guessing the distance, or using a distance meter, which would be disadvantageous if we were intending to capture a fast-moving subject. We aim to continue improving our zone-focusing skills, and share our shots with our readers in the near future!

Do you own a Mamiya Sekor lens? Which is your favourite? Let us know!

Till next time,

Damianwithsandra