Mamiya C330/TLR Appreciation Thread

[jon_j1]

Hey all,

 

With all the hype of the new dSLRs hitting the market these days, and how film

will be dead, etc, etc, I thought I'd mention how much I still love my Mamiya

C330 TLR. That's right - that's a "T," not "D."

 

It's not all roses. I've often thought of selling my C330 with eyes for

Hassleblad or even moving to 4x5, but everytime I pick it up with the intent of

eBaying it, I fall in love again. There's just something so relaxing about

setting it up, studio or outside, looking down to focus, manually setting

everything.

 

I know it's not just me who feels this way, so show your appreciation for the

C330 (or your own personal favorite TLR). :D

[golden]

I also have a mamiya c330 that i have thought about selling several times but then i think about it. I love my 180mm lens i have with it, very sharp, i will probably never sell it or my other 2 tlrs, i have a yashica C and a yashicamat. also it gets alot of attention when i use it with the 180, it looks like 2 canons sticking out of it. lol ppl are like WOW! what is that? lol there are some images in my gallery taken with it. love it. thanks for the thread

[picturesque]

I used to use my C330f cameras for weddings. After I went digital, I kept them and all the lenses and accessories I had for them and still keep them maintained. I love them. One of the bodies was even stolen and recovered from e-bay. I would never part with them.

[lata]

I have a C220 and C220F with 55, 80 and 180mm lenses. I like it very much. The 55mm is my favorite, sharp enough and also very small and light. Even if the camera body of Mamiya is rather big, the lenses are small and light compared with MF SLR lenses. And the Mamiya is dirt cheap for a MF with interchangeable lenses. I only wish that the camera body was a smaller...

 

Some shots taken with C220F are in my portfolio http://www.photo.net/photos/Lauri%20Talve

[garyowen]

i've been a Mamiya C series fan since I bought my first C-2 in 1959. I probably have six or seven now including my original C-2 and there just so indistructable I could never see me parting with them , There lenses are of superior quality and you have a versital selection to choose from. A love affair?? Damned right,almost an obsession!

[christiaan_phleger___honol]

Huge fan, love the 135mm and 55mm. Don't forget to periodically check the rubber foam on

the screen surround.

[carl_neilson]

Count me in!

 

Quite a few years ago I was researching inexpensive ways of starting off in medium format, and after a ton of research the Mamiya TLR system seemed to suit me perfectly...

 

...but I ended up buying a Rolleicord III! The Rollei was in brilliant condition, mechanically and cosmetically, and I love it to death so I don't regret buying it. Even so I always felt a little restricted by its standard lens.

 

Last June I finally put "Plan A" into action and got myself a C330f in perfect condition with a 105DS, and in the months since then I have added all the other lenses with the exception of the 65 & 135. I have to say that this camera is everything I hoped and expected it would be and I'd never consider parting with it.

 

The size and weight don't bother me at all, and all the other complications (the interlocks, etc) all seemed very logical to me and never gave me any of the confusion that I sometimes read about here.

 

Just yesterday I was down by the river early in the morning taking some snapshots to try out an old chrome 135 on behalf of a friend in my local photography club who was having difficulties with it, and even when just shooting off this test roll I was thoroughly enjoying the whole experience.

 

Fun-per-buck-wise this gear is the best money I've spent on my photography. So I'm continuing to be on the lookout for accessories and lenses at fair prices to add to my system or to upgrade with items that are in better condition than the ones I've got.

 

There's a time and place for everything, and I'll continue to use my 35mm Canon EOS 33 (and my digital compact) regularly when the situation dictates it, but I think the C330f will be used more.

[wildunclelou]

Phleger said to check foam rubber on screen surround can someone please explain

[carl_neilson]

Someone with more knowledge can correct me if I'm wrong, because I haven't actually fiddled with this yet, but this is my take on the issue...

 

The removable/exchangable focus screen assembly is made up of a metal frame containing a sandwich of an upper glass screen and a lower plastic screen (my particular plastic screen has a 6 degree "rangefinder" split prism). Between the top of the glass screen and the interior of the metal frame is a piece of foam that provides pressure between the metal and glass, keeping the glass and plastic screens securely in place. With age the foam crumbles and no longer applies that pressure, allowing the glass and plastic screens to move around inside the metal frame. If they move upwards inside the frame it means that the position of the focus screen is no longer in sync with the film plane, meaning that when you see a perfectly focussed picture in your viewfinder the image isn't perfectly focussed on the film.

 

I have read old threads on this site where people have ended up with fuzzy photos and thought that there were major issues with lens pairs being out of alignmement, or the mirror is out of alignment, or any one of a number of major things, but the culprit turned out to be that small and easily repairable piece of foam.

 

I'm really hoping that gravity is keeping my screens flush with the bottom of the frame because the foam in my screen needs replacing. I've read that it's an easy DIY job to replace the foam, but if someone who's done it can give a step-by-step dummies guide we Mamiya TLR newbies would appreciate it.

[carl_neilson]

I wrote the above from memory, but after just having a close examination of the focus screen assembly it appears my memory was slightly wrong.

 

The glass screen is fixed solidly to the assembly's main outer metal frame, and the foam actually sits between the glass and a smaller inner metal frame to which the plastic screen is fitted. So when the foam crumbles away it allows the plastic screen and the smaller metal inner frame that holds it to move up and down.

 

Mine is actually in worse condition than I remembered, so I've started another topic asking for advice on exactly how to repair it.

[tim_drake]

What sets the Mamiya tlrs apart from the Rollei tlr line is that it is a system camera with a very nice selection of interchangeable lenses. My Rolleicord Vb gets taken off the shelf about once a year whereas the Mamiyas get used several times a month. I mainly shoot landscape and on a tripod so the size differences of various tlrs does not make any difference to me. I like the dual focus knobs, the bright viewfinders, the standardization of mounting plates that makes using Kirke Arca Swiss plates a breeze, the focus lock on the C330S, the macro lens capability of pr괠near every lens, and the speed of the 65mm lens makes a great night photography lens. I can use the camera with a light weight carbon fiber tripod and carry the camera, tripod, and a couple of lenses on my dirt bikes with ease. I can use modern multicoated filters without having to use a series filter adapter. Sure a digital camera does all this but not with the same fun factor.

[carl_neilson]

Spot on, Tim. You nailed it with the term "fun factor". I was burnt out and bored with my photography for the last few years, but buying the C330f back in June has rekindled all my interest. I love the back-to-basics methods required to set up the shot, and the novelty factor of using an old style camera too. And the biggest pay-off is that after all the manual settings and dealing with old technology I end up with photos that are significantly better in quality than my Canon EOS system. To top it off, I'm about to start developing my own b&w very soon for the first time. That's thanks to the Mamiya because if I have to do everything manually with that camera then I might as well see the finished product through to the end myself. (Plus, b&w processing is expensive at my lab, but it cheap to DIY, and the C330f is making me burn through a lot of it!). Yep, huge fun.

[jason_boulanger]

I bought a Yashica-Mat 124 a few months ago just for the hell of it, and quickly fell in love with it. I agree with the poster above; I too was getting somewhat burnt out with photography (the passion was still there, but it was getting repetitive), and a TLR was just what the doctor ordered. I just ordered a Mamiya C330 today, and I'm planning on putting together a nice little system for it.

[richard_keistler]

People can argue forever about cameras whose lenses interchange or not. I own a dozen Rollei and Autocord cameras, and also the last C220f and C330s with the lenses. I find I adjust my shooting style to whatever camera I'm carrying. It's funny, if you go to Flickr or one of the big posting sites, you'll find the overwhelming percentage of photos are shot with the normal 80mm lenses. If I'm just shooting normal focal length I will take a Rollei or Minolta. They're much lighter and have lenses of equal quality.

 

I'm delighted to hear that the purchase of a TLR has refreshed some people's interest in photography. At times I get fed up with my Leicas and peering through a little hole. I go back to the beautiful groundglass image on a TLR. Strangely, as I enter my fifties I find it much easier to focus on the groundglass as opposed to an RF.

 

I first learned photography in the sixties on a TLR and my affection hasn't dimmed. No, I will carry 35mm more often, but I'd never get rid of my TLR's! Plus, with their simplicity and durability, they'll outlast you with a modicum of care--