Mamiya 330 and cropping accuracy

How accurate is the cropping indicator in the viewfinder of my C-330.

I do set the lens setting on the side of the camera to the appropriate lens setting. I justt did some copy work and the negatives are off a good bit and I never even saw the cropping guide in the viewfinder.

Can this be adjusted?

 

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Thanks,

 

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Jeff

By turning the dial on the side of the camera, the needle in the viewfinder gives the approximate location of the top of the frame. It seems reasonably accurate to me, but I have only used it for general photography and not copy work. If you don't see the needle at all with a closeup (less than 3 feet with the 80mm lens) then there is something wrong.

Mamiya made a device called the "Paraminder" which allowed you to focus the picture thru the viewing lens & then easily raise the camera by the exact amount, so that the picture lens would "see" exactly what the viewing lens had "seen". I have seen them advertised for $100-$125 in Shutterbug.

I ignore the cropping bar on the 330 and use the Parmender when I want to do close-up work. I had the same experince you did - I never seemed to get exactly the framing I expected. In fact, I now use the 220 as my primary MF camera just because it's simpler.

 

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In the final assesment, the 220/330 cameras will always be a little klunky for close-up work.

I own a C330. I haven't tested the cropping accuracy myself, but one potential problem which occurs to me is that presumeably the guide can only ever be precisely accurate as at the distance where the viewing lens is focussed. There will probably be some inaccuracy for parts of the image before and after where the lens is focussed.

Keep the distance of 5cm between viewing and taking lens in mind. For copying from e.g. a book flat on a table with the camera pointing downwards, frame it and then shift the book down by 5cm or the Camera up. Should be fairly easy to control and is exactly what the paramender does.

 

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Keep in mind the finder of the C330 is to small. The viewdiameter of my C330f is just 51mm compared to neg size of 56mm. As I understand it now, the finder shows approx 90% (linear) of the neg. Have not yet tested the location of this 51mm within the 56mm neg.

 

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I checked the relation of the bellows extension, the exposure correction and the parallax on my C330, seemed in reasonable relation in the last days. Relating things via calculated magnification. The view finder gives 5cm too much in top and 5cm below are missing. If your field of view is say 50cm (large book) than the effect should be 10% and the finger should show up below the x on the scale (5mm in the screen). If not something is broken.

 

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Yours Joachim