A Mamiya C330 saga

I have a Mamiya C330f that I’ve used for quite a few years. I had to re-foam the viewing screen and add light seals, but otherwise it worked well except that one of the focusing knobs was bent. This made focusing difficult because my fingers kept getting stuck. After a while, I found a parts C330 body for $35 from KEH via eBay. The original plan was to take a knob from the parts cam. and sell the focusing screen from same for $35. Then I started playing with the parts body, and all of the mechanical stuff worked. I then took the bent knob and banged on it until it was mostly fixed. I stuck it on the parts camera, put a lens on and the waist-level from the 330f and shot a test roll. Perfect. No light leaks, advance correct, etc. In fact. my negs somehow looked sharper—maybe the split-image on the new body worked better for my aging eyes. I’ve bought a chimney finder from eBay, so each body will be ready for use. “Les, why do you have two Mamiya TLRs?” “They just grew.”

Great camera - had one years ago - as with a few other fondly remembered cameras, had to go when I was much younger and poorer! If I were to go back to 6x6, it would be toward the top of the list along with the Yashica Mat 124 G. With the 330 - the other two lens sets are excellent as well.

I found a parts C330 body for $35 from KEH via eBay.

 

I then took the bent knob and banged on it until it was mostly fixed.

 

When anyone asks me why I choose the "mediocre" Mamiyas as my TLR, some version of the above is my answer: they have got to be the most simplistic, repairable 6x6 cameras ever made. Not "repairable" in the sense you can send them out to only two or three octogenarian gurus with a foot in the grave, who charge twice what the camera is worth to service it: I mean repairable in the sense that any halfway-intelligent owner can DIY fix 90% of potential issues. And there really aren't that many potential issues: unless abused by the Incredible Hulk, about all that ever develops is sticky shutters in the lenses, haze/fungus in the lenses, film advance glitches, or (rarely) pinholes in the bellows.

 

Most of the lenses disassemble with simple tools, making inner elements easy to clean and exposing the shutter for routine DIY naptha cleaning. Really gummy shutters are easy for any typical repair tech to service: they're just Seiko shutters, with no complex aperture/camera body linkages. Film advance glitches are a little trickier but not that difficult: the bodies are not complicated, and the much-maligned final "plasticky" Mamiyas have much-improved advance designs less likely to fail anyway.

 

As the owner of a fairly extensive Hasselblad kit that is slowly dragging me into poverty with its utterly ludicrous maintenance costs, my Mamiya TLRs are a breath of fresh air each time I pick one up. For the price of one (inevitable) Hasselblad lens shutter overhaul, you can buy a complete Mamiya C330f with 80mm lens that will likely go ten years before needing any mechanical repairs. And I have far more confidence that a Mamiya TLR will be repairable ten years from now vs a Rolleiflex or Hasselblad, to the point I'm gonna reluctantly start selling off a lot of my Hassy stuff the second I see the handful of service gurus begin retiring.

 

The Mamiya TLR system isn't "beautiful" in the jewel-like manner of a Hasselblad or Rolleiflex. But it has a functional beauty that puts a silly smile on your face when you use it: so earnest and workman-like I almost hear it say "Yo, c'mon, whatcha waiting for, the sun won't be out all day, lets MOVE!". Other than the heft, the only things I don't like are the focus screens in the older models (too dim and flat). After struggling to focus the slower 55mm and 180mm f/4.5 with a C33, C330 and C330f I tried the final 330s and 220f. Bingo: those last bodies have much brighter contrastier screens, in some respects better than even the Hassy Acute Matte. Its a shame the newer screen design can't be retrofitted to the older Mamiya bodies (believe me, I tried everything). True, the final 330s/220f are black-plastic-sheathed nondescript blobs, especially the 220f (which resembles a chintzy Yashica 124G on steroids). But they handle beautifully within their wheelhouse: the 220f has become my favorite 6x6 (minimalist operation in the extreme, like a jumbo Rolleicord).

Edited December 7, 2018 by orsetto

Example from test roll.