Bought a coffee grinder...

...well actually it says Mamiya C330 on the front ;)

 

It handles excellently and seems to work fine from the negatives of my

first roll. I'm anxious to enlarge them to see the quality! I noticed

though that the frames are spaced unevenly on the roll. Is this

normal, or is something slipping inside?

Joris, the lens makes the image quality, and the lenses for these coffee grinders are not bad. E.g. the 180mm super is just super. Mamiya TLRs deliver fine images although you can't compare their built quality with a Rolleiflex or Hasselblad. They often show corrosion on metal parts. The adjustment of the screens of pre C330 models is a joke (paper!). As I can remember uneven frame distances are normal. Old models like the Mamiyaflex often have problems with overlapping frames. The newer models are more reliable in this case. On the C3 and C220 I once owned it could vary from film to film, but I did not have serious problems.

Joris, what means unevenly? Just updated my C330 to a newer C330s and the space between the frames differ by 1 or 2 mm, this happened with the old one and also with the new, which is in very good condition, so I think its normal. And dont let you fool about building quality, Mamiyas are of fine quality and the lenses are very good, eg the 80/2.8 standard lense for C 330 is extremly sharp and renders finest details. IMO the most important issue is the waist level finder, there are the older ones, where the house isnt closed completly, so it can happen that your face or something else couses reflections on the screen, the newer ones are closed and you have no reflections. For sure you will have a lot of joy with your coffee grinder.^^

In my experience most 120 cameras give slightly variable distances between the frames. I think a lot of it can depend on how quickly you wind it, the condition of the gears, and even how long of a break (a few seconds, a whole week?) there is between shots.

 

I agree about your C330 though - it's kind of an appliance rather than just a camera. I always thought that if I knew I was going to be away from civilisation and repair shops for a long time, like say on the moon or something, I'd want the C330 with me (and a donkey to carry it) - on the moon it would be ideal, because of the reduced gravity! If you plan on a lot of long walks, I thoroughly recommend a specialist wide strap such as those made by Optech. Also, to get the most out of the larger format, try taking a tripod along - even a small and sturdy one like the tiny Manfrotto digital ones (which are metal and can hold a lot of weight) can be set up on any log or rock or table to give you a great support. They're not expensive, are very light, and will improve your results a lot.

 

Happy shooting!

and look for the left hand grip if you want to shoot handhold

"In my experience most 120 cameras give slightly variable distances between the frames. I think a lot of it can depend on how quickly you wind it, the condition of the gears, and even how long of a break (a few seconds, a whole week?) there is between shots."

 

That is what I thought. And don't get me wrong about the coffee grinder comment, I love it! I plan on using it a lot, with the 80 and 180 lenses I have.

My "coffee grinder" was flung and bounced for yards across a road when I forgot to zip up my photo-rucsac, before I threw it onto my shoulder. Luckily it landed on a bottom corner and still has the scars to prove it. Apart from a broken D.O.F. scale not working, it still takes a beltin' picture.

As long as you get 12 (120) or 24 (220) frames with no overlapping, you should be fine.

When I saw the words "coffee grinder" in the question, I assumed you had a Yashica-mat. These big tin boxes have a particular resonant quality, don't they?

<i>These big tin boxes have a particular resonant quality, don't they?</i><br><br>

 

Sure they do. It's because TLR cameras design follows the rules of the Big Design: the most important things come in pairs.

After recently evaluating the photos taken with different members of my MF family (I love them all), I decided to expand the C220 System I now own. Frankly (who ever that is), I am getting bored with only the 65mm lens I have for it. Not that it takes bad photos, only photographers take bad photos. It is actually a very fine medium WA lens, good for most of the landscape shooting I do (when I am not shooting with my LF stuff). So anyhow, I have recently bought a 180mm and an 80mm lens for my baby, irregular spacing of frames and all. You get use to it. Probably one frame every 3 or 4 rolls is edge lapped with the next frame over. Not worth sending it in for repairs.

 

So have fun with your new C330 Coffee grinder. It will take you a long way down the 6x6 road and from 6 inches, nobody will know yor photos weren't taken with a Swedish camera that cost 4 times as much (at least).

 

tim in san jose