Beattie Screen for Mamiya C330?

[brian steinberger]

I just received a very nice Mamiya C330 F with the prism and absolutely love it so far. My only concern however is the screen. With the prism it's manageable, but a bit dim. I've researched the Beattie screen and I see it's advertised as 2 to 2 1/2 stops brighter. That would be great! Does anyone have the Beattie screen for the C330? $220 is a lot to drop on a screen for a camera that cost me $300. Thanks for any comments.

 

[benjiboy]

The Beattie screen for the C330F is indeed 2-2 1/2 stops brighter Brian,, and is considerably more expensive in the UK, it costs about the same in £ as it does in $ the only other problem with them that I know of is that they don't have the exposure correction markings on the left of the screen for bellows extension that the Mamiya ones have. I would advise you to learn to get used to the Mamiya screens, I've been doing it for more than twenty years without any serious problems.

 

[Jerevan]

Are you using the porrofinder or the prism? From what I've read the porrofinders use mirrors and seems to be quite dim.

 

[Ian Grant]

Have you tried it without the prism, I had a couple of earlier Mamiyas the C33 & C3 and really enjoyed using them, I didn't miss not having a prism finder at all. You get used to the WLF very quickly & I actually prefer that way of working. I now use a Yashicamat & Rollieflex instead of the M645's I bought after the C33/C3 were stolen so still work with WLF's.

Ian.

 

[AgentX]

I have one, got it years ago when they were cheap. You can easily mark the beattie screen for parallax using your stock screen as a guide and a grease pencil or paint marker tic.

I think it was worth the money I paid back then, which was a lot less--$110 or so IIRC. Put one in my Rollei a few months ago, even at the current price.

There are other screen options for a lot less, however. I put one in the Rollei because it's my most-used camera and the screen was atrocious. If it was only used part of the time, I'd have maybe gone in for a Rick Oleson screen or something. Not that I like his lack of a full-matte option.

 

[brian steinberger]

Thanks guys. Yes I'm using the prism, not the porrofinder. I also have the WL finder too. And while the WL is a bit brighter and lighter, I like the prism much better for what I do. I've never used a WL finder before and don't think I want to start now. I'm used to eye level viewing. I don't mind the slight dimness of the prism, but if I could gain 2 - 2 1/2 stops of light with the Beattie I think it may be worth it even at 225 bucks. And I like AgentX's idea of marking the screen with a pencil! You also mentioned other options.. what are these?

 

[AgentX]

Brightscreen, Maxwell, Oleson-- I think the Olesons are very cheap, but not quite as bright as the others. Dunno if he offers one for the Mamiya but you can contact him. Just google the names.

 

[grahamp]

All the Mamiya finders for the TLRs have a recess in the base where you can put custom inserts. So if you want the parallax marks, try printing this on clear film, or using it as a template for a hand-drawn version: http://grahampatterson.home.comcast.net/~grahampatterson/grahamp/mfaq/plate2.pdf
If it is printed without scaling the PDF they should be the right size.

 

[benjiboy]

That's very useful Graham I'll buy some clear film, thanks.

 

[grahamp]

Just make sure you use the right type of film if you have a laser printer!

I never liked the idea of marking the screen directly. The PDF has the standard parallax marks, the 55/65mm wideangle marks, and an approximate 10x8 framing guide, with some permutations. As far as I know the only common Mamiya part for the base of the finders was the 55/65mm correction plate, though there may have been a checker screen. There is a slight parallax issue since the insert sits above the screen, but it is good enough.