mamiya AF ULD 210mm f/4 IF LENS - any owners out there?

[NN232783UL]

Dear all, I am looking for any comments/experience from users of the mamiya AF ULD 210mm f/4 IF lens for
portraits, as I've found it attractively priced on ebay but cant find any reviews of this lens.

I shoot a lot on a Canon 135mm dslr and I like the slightly flatter perspective this gives in comparison to the 85mm lens for 35mm format.

The 210mm lens should pretty much do the same for the leaf credo 50 back on the mamiya 645afd+ body.

Any portrait examples on sites or any good or bad experiences would be great to hear about.

I've found a few nature photographers using it but looking at gekkos and trying to consider how the lens works on human faces is a bit tricky!

Thanks in advance
Spiros
http://www.spirospolitis.com

[C-M-B]

The 210mm is a fantastic lens, super sharp and lightweight at the same time and very compact and surprisingly cheap for its optical performance.
Its optical performance is on par with the 120mm macro lenses and (in my opinion) better than the Schneider 80mm LS.

The autofocus is pretty decent, but I wouldn't recommend using it for wildlife or sports - or anything in motion to be honest. It can catch up with small movements well enough but still, it's not a fast lens - probably also due to the fact that it's an f4.0 - I'd prefer 2.8 but then it'd be heavy and much bigger.

Generally f4 could be a slight drawback for outdoor and nature photography, but if you have a monopod or tripod you can work around that to some extent.
Speaking of landscape photography - it's fantastic for that purpose as well! Very(!) sharp from corner to corner with no noticeable distortions and accurate colours (at least with mine). It is prone to flaring though, not as much as old lenses like a 50mm C Shift, but I definitely recommend using the integrated lens hood whenever possible/necessary - even in studio conditions!

The integrated lens hood is nice but it makes using some filter systems a bit of a problem. It works fine with NiSi filters but other systems may not work well (I tried cheap Cokin P filters and that system really doesn't work at all with that lens - but then again you wouldn't use that cheap stuff with your expensive gear anyway).

For portraits it's excellent, I use it myself for beauty shots as well - but you definitely need an extension tube due to the minimum focussing distance of 2m - even a 16mm should suffice to get close enough to your subjects. That means you'll lose autofocus but I never found it to be a big problem as long as you're able to use manual focus. For that reason I use a microprism focussing screen in my Phase One DF+.
The focal length is pretty much perfect for headshots and closeups.

I can send you some examples via email if you like!

[Evgeny_Buzov]

its a good lens, sharp enougt to resolve 50mp
but it has some specific colour renderition, its bit different than modern lenses, and a bit lower contrast
if You preffer it - lens is perfect for money, but its a matter of taste
portrait sample i can put on flickr if you are interested

[NN109341UL]

Hi I have one of these on a DF+ and an IQ180 . I would agree with the other comments there lens is very sharp up to f16 lower contrast wide open as you would expect. Like all focal plane shutter lenses on the DF series camera shake even on a decent tripod is minor problem in the 1/30-1/2 sec range so shooting a few and mirror lock up are a must but with high shutter speeds and in the studio its a lot of lens for the money. I got mine for £160 on eBay.

Dave