Ma Mamiya … here I go again!
Mamiya C330 with 180mm lens pair and Vivitar pistol grip … a weightlifters dream!
There are quite a few reviews of the Mamiya C series twin Lens reflex line of medium format cameras online … ones that tell you how to load it, what all the controls do … so I’m not going to go into huge detail on those topics here … If after I’ve told you about my experiences with the ‘whispering bricks’ over the years you fancy picking one up … I’m sure you can do the research on the small details.
You’ll see reviews that are super glowing on YouTube for example … and ones by people who perhaps havn’t taken the time to fully understand what the Mamiya is all about so slag it off. You’ll hear people say it was meant to be a studio camera, it’s built to be a wedding camera … yada yada yada. The truth is that it was designed as an interchangeable lens system camera … a complete work horse for the ‘general practise’ photographer as they were known back in the day.
Let’s call this a long term review -and when I say long term - I got my first C33 when I was about 14. I’d sold my first pictures and fancied myself as a bit of a ‘pro’ so I figured I needed some big negative action to go with that. I shot loads on it, and adored the flash sync at all speeds, the big, clear viewfinder, and the ability (due to the bellows) to shoot close to macro with no accessories.
To cut a complex story short … as my photo work changed I used 35mm SLRs more and the C33 less. I was shooting fast action subjects in situations where weight and portability of kit made the poor old Mamiya a bit of a millstone around my neck. So I sold my old ‘33’ and sunk the money into more 35mm gear.
Fast forward to my big move to London and my need to earn my rent reliably. Wedding photography was a good meat and potatoes living … but my 35mm kit wasn’t best suited.
The Mamiya TLR, with it’s square format (beloved of many generations of wedding photographers) was the ideal tool that most importantly wouldn’t bust my budget. So I acquired another C33 with 65, 80 and 135mm lenses. The Mamiya was in it’s ideal environment … and I did ,, many dozens of weddings with that kit.
At this point I should highlight that the C33 was always on a Tripod for wedding work … and that’s by far the easiest way to use one for any purpose. The tallness of the camera makes getting horizons that aren’t on the ‘wonk’ a little problematic if you don’t have a stable reference platform. The weight is crippling on a neck-strap for any length of time (especially with a long lens) and although a ‘hand grip’ helps … you need to have had a damn big bowl of Weetabix before hefting one out on a long photo-walk or hike. Experienced Mamiya C series users can be seen resting the camera down one forearm while carrying to take the weight off the neck strap … or holding the rig by a grip and resting the camera body on their shoulder. You learn to get weight-smart.
The compensations are a whisper quiet shutter (it makes my Leica sound like the report of a 50 calibre rifle), a super-fast wind on crank … and lenses that can really only be bettered by Hasselblad ones.
Yes C series TLRs must be addictive … I’ve bought into the system three times in my photographic career, and my current C330 feels like coming home again. The 330 is a smidge lighter than the C33 but only mouse’s handbag lighter … it’s still a beast.
Yep Parallex is a pain: the fact that the viewing lens and taking lens don’t quite have the same view. There’s an indicator in the viewfinder mind, and after a while dealing with it becomes second nature. Sure you can splash out on one of those ‘Paramender’ gadgets that raises and lowers the camera by the two inches between the taking and viewing lenses … or you can use my old trick and use a Sharpie to mark one inch increments on your tripod centre column … or you can use a 35mm film canister to measure … those are two inches long!
How about macro down to 1:1 without any extra accessories? Easy when you have bellows built in!
Sure it’s not a fabulous camera for gradient filter users … but it is amazing for infrared as you can focus without having to take an almost opaque filter on and off!
Let’s put this into perspective my current C330 with three lenses … an, 55mm and 80mm 180mm, cost me sub 550 quid … what other medium format 6x6 camera and lenses could you get for that kind of money? You are in Russian Hasselblad or Pentacon 6 copy territory … with questionable engineering and reliability. Contrast this with C series Mamiyas that were built to be bombproof and stand up to professional use … there is no real comparison.
Glorious 55mm Mamiya-Sekor wide angle
So the C33/C330 series is way off perfect for all jobs … and to me the C22 and C220s would seem a bit slow to operate. With their lack of auto shutter cocking … but then I’ve never tried one in anger. Sure you can get a Mamiya 645 with a standard lens for close to C330 money … and it’s a SLR … but like most 645 SLRs it’s not at its most comfortable when shooting in portrait format … and you get a bigger 6x6 negative with the C series that you can crop to 645 in portrait or landscape if that floats your boat.
The RB and RZ 67s from Mamiya are lovely, and of course SLRs … plus have the advantage of a bigger negative still … but are heavier even than a C330 (and indeed heavier than a small planet) and hand holding is pretty much out entirely … and you won’t get extra lenses at the rock bottom prices you can find C series ones at.
How many cameras actually remind you what you do (or did) for a living? Priceless for semi senile old duffers like me!
If the financial fairy has really pooped in your cornflakes and you still want to shoot film in medium format a Yashica 124G TLR: great quality even if you miss out on the interchangeable lenses.
If you are even more impoverished Sure could buy one of those old folding cameras with fixed lenses like the Zeiss Nettar (I have a couple of them kicking about, they are as cheap as chips) but the slow shutter speeds tend to be very hit and miss, and light leaks are common.
Former Soviet Union built medium format cameras like the Kiev 60 are as ugly as a very ugly Pitbull, sucking a vinegar covered wasp, and have suspect quality control, and more than a vague niff of tractor oil. The East German Pentacon 6 which is a very close relative suffers from more than its fair share of shutter and frame spacing issues so can be more trouble than its worth, especially if it hasn’t been well looked after.
If you are one of these people who have bought into the Holga/Diana ‘Christmas cracker’ plastic fantastic 120 trip: personally I don’t see the point. The Diana ‘toy camera’ is currently selling for around £70.00 that’s about £65 too much in my book. Oh and Holgas (a snip at £35.00) are just horrible, and somewhat pretentious too. If they were cheap I could see the point, but their main function seems to be as a talking point for when hipsters gather together to imbibe craft beers and compare man-hats. The Holga has ‘Optical Lens’ emblazoned around the business end … I mean what other sort of bloody lens would one have on a camera, a cheese one?
So … if one wants to take 6x6 photographs on a budget but without compromising on reliability or build quality …