Mamiya TLR 55mm: half stops?

[jon whitear]

I've just bought a black 55mm Mamiya TLR lens, which has both

aperture and shutter speed rings indented in full stops. Does setting

the aperture ring half way between stops give a half stop aperture?

 

Cheers,

[christian deichert]

Yes, by stopping in between the click stops on the aperture ring, you get half-stops, or even third stops (although this can be tricky, as the lens will want to slide that extra fraction of an inch into the detent for the full f-stop.<P>

 

Although using Mamiya lenses with click stop aperture rings can be somewhat limiting at times, it's really the best variant of the lens to have. It's easier to play with the aperture settings on my 55mm lens because it has no click stops, but because of its age Mamiya no longer has the parts to overhaul its shutter if I ever need them to.<P>

 

By the way, one tip on the 55mm lens: buy the metal lens hood and use it for every shot. Avoid shooting into the sun -- this lens is VERY prone to flare. You can find the hoods on eBay if you don't already have one. Also, see my comment on modifying lens hoods to take larger filter sizes in the Mamiya TLR review here on photo.net; it will behoove you to use larger filters rather than buy new sets of 46mm and 49mm filters.

[ryuji_suzuki]

Most aperture diaphragm control levers/rings that are mechanically

connecting to the blades can be set at an intermediate points.

The clicks are usually just for convenience.

 

However, most mechanical shutters cannot be set at an intermediate

points except only a few shutters that can vary continuously at high speed range. Seiko or Seiko-sha shutter units cannot vary exposure

duration continuously (unless you make a mechanical modification inside).

 

About the shutter unit part. The lens shutter units used in these Mamiya TLR lenses are very general modules used in a variety of models, including Mamiya's later TLR lenses. Mamiya OP in greater Tokyo area is (has been to me, at least) very helpful in finding for me compatible parts from what they have, when I repaired my TLR lenses. They silently told me that they would often be able to find compatible parts for repairing C3 from stocks for C330 because C330 is internally more similar to C3 rather than C33, although the they do not guarantee the result. For these reasons, they accept repair orders for older equipment case-by-case basis when they can actually perform repair work with what they sill have in stock.

 

These repair and parts supply policy varies among distributors. Some distributors carry parts longer than others. They have no influence in these policies as well as pricing strategy to overseas distributors. All these things I learned from a rep from service department in Japan.

 

I don't work for Mamiya. I am just one very satisfied user because of their excellent products and service.

All I intend here is to share potentially useful information with others. If you decide to call/write a Japanese corporation, I strongly suggest that you assume they don't understand anything but their language -- this may diminish (somewhat :-) the value of the information I put in this response, though...