Mamiya Model 3 Paramender

[jerry_rogers2]

After some searching I found a like new in the box model 3. I have been using a model 2 but it was jammed in close on my 3 way head and not as easy to use as I would have liked it to be. Just came yesterday and I shoot a roll through it taking closeups of trees in bloom. Works great and seems plenty steady and well made. I wonder why they are hard to find and I also see it was dropped in the promo literature that covered the C330S after being in the brochures for the 330 from 1976 to 1979. Anyone know of any issues with them long term?

 

[orsetto]

Unfortunately the Paramender III followed in the footsteps of several other accessories Mamiya once offered for their various medium format systems: after perfecting the accessory, sales would perversely decline. Mamiya would churn them out in lower volume than previous iterations, discontinue them, then all these years later they became scarcer and more expensive than one would expect.

IIRC, soon after the final C330S/C220F bodies arrived demand for the Mamiya TLR system began falling off as their RB67, RZ67 system became more and more preferred by photographers for tripod studio work requiring accurate framing. While a very clever solution to the parallax issue, the TLR + paramender was increasingly perceived as clumsy or inconvenient vs a more intuitive SLR.

Tho still a popular 6x6 system, in the '90s Mamiya TLRs saw less use in fields like tabletop, product, and food as the years passed, and the paramender eventually became a nearly irrelevant catalog item (much like the cut film back or newfangled frameless focus screens that would only fit the 330S). Hence the scarcity and price of the Paramender III nowadays. Having personally settled on the C220F  (with its incredibly bright/contrasty focus screen) as my favorite Mamiya, I should probably track down a P3 before they all disappear. Unlike the 330, the 220 has no fallback auto parallax indicator in the viewfinder, making it even trickier for framing close shots. 220 is lighter and less fussy to use in the field, but has more compromises in the studio.

Edited March 10, 2023 by orsetto

[jerry_rogers2]

I was thinking about a 220f because I hear it has a much brighter screen. My 65 year old eyes struggle at times to focus. I have all the various focusing hoods and a couple of different screens but still not any ideal. But I would miss the parallax indicator in the screen. Plus the prices are crazy these days for excellent rated f's.

 

[orsetto]

The focus screens in the C220F and C330S are hands down the best stock screens of any medium format reflex camera I've ever used (and there were many). Bright enough to make even the f/4.5 lenses like 55mm and 180mm much more usable, while maintaining the contrast (or 'snap') necessary to nail focus without hunting. I prefer these late Mamiya screens to the Acute Matte in my Hasselblad, which is slightly brighter but decidedly not easy to focus with.

The 220F/330S screen is what finally and forever cured my Rolleiflex fantasies. Even today, you can buy an entire mint C220F or 330S for about the cost of just a premium screen + installation upgrade from one of the legendary Rollei techs. A variation of the 220F/330S screen material made it into the larger RZ67: those screens became so sought after to cut down for Rolleiflexes that they're almost unobtainable now.

Track eBay for a few months, and one of the Japanese dealers will occasionally list assorted new old stock Mamiya 330S screens (like the example pictured).  I bought a couple of these some years back, hoping to somehow retrofit them to my older 330f.  But I don't have the tools or skill necessary to properly trim the size: after ruining two screens I gave up. 

If you can obtain a 330S screen, any good repair tech should be able to make it work in the old 330f screen frame: the screen side tabs just need to be carefully trimmed and the retaining clips in the frame resized. If a Mamiya RZ67 screen can be shoehorned into a Rolleiflex, it shouldn't be any harder to hack a Mamiya 330S screen into a 330f. Unless you're a klutz at filing fragile plastic, like me.

Edited March 11, 2023 by orsetto

[jerry_rogers2]

Thanks for the details on the screens. You told me more than I could find searching the web last week. I will be keeping an eye out for one.