Mamiya 1000 35mm camera-- your thoughts please

[hanaa]

Okay. So it may seem a little too late asking everyone what they think of the mamiya 35mm-- seeing how i already purchased one on ebay. So, now that i have it what is everyone's thoughts about this line of camera. i know they have excellent MF (or so i hear) so i thought the 35mm should be good.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Hi,
You don't specify the model you have, but I remember seeing the Mamiya Sekor something-or-other 1000 model for sale in the 1970's / 1980's. I can't say I've ever heard anything good or bad about them, but they always seemed to hang around for a long time in the used equipment shops compared to Pentax Spotmatics, Minolta SRTs, etc.. As you say, Mamiya have a good reputation in MF and so my feeling was that the slow movement of their 35mm SLRs was probably due to their being physically rather large and bulky compared to the opposition. Perhaps this lack of miniaturisation was good from the point of view of longevity and reliability.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing how you get on with the camera.
Best wishes,
Steve

 

[Nick Zentena]

I have a MSX 1000. The body isn't anything special but the lenses are very nice. Considering they're all M42 lenses that means they fit any M42 body. I really like the 135mm I have.

 

[Paul Howell]

The MSX uses the basic 42mm mount, but the MSX lens have an additional coupling that allows the MSX body to meter wide open with the MSX bodies, or stop down with any other camera and the MSX bodies will work in stop metering with any 42mm lens. The other 1000 and 500 are basic bodies, meters in stop down mode. Some models have both spot and center average metering. The Mamiya lens are very sharp. If the meter is working it is a good basic body for 42mm lens.

 

[Gerald Koch]

I bought a Mamiya 1000DTL when they first came out. I really liked this camera. The DTL stands for Dual Thru the Lens metering which allows for either spot or averaging metering. The 1000 TL model has only spot metering. The lenses for the 35mm cameras are very good.

 

[Seele]

Mamiya made some very interesting and capable 35mm SLR cameras, but there had been many false-starts and dead-end designs that the company could not follow through.

With the benefit of hindsight, I feel that the DSX models with mechanical shutter, M42 lens mount, and stop-down metering would be the sensible choice; the reliability is very good indeed. Many, if not all the lenses for these cameras were made by Tokina, and are surprisingly good. A friend had a 35mm/2.8 and it was giving his Summicron a good run for its money.

Later on Mamiya also made the NC series with a model called NC1000S, and employed extensive electronics and a unique lens mount, that did not work very well. The swansong was the ZE series and that did not work very well either. If you go to the Mamiya headquarter site you will not find any mention of its career in 35mm cameras, that might say something.

 

[hanaa]

The model is a Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL. What exactly does spot or averaging metering mean? Sorry if that seems to be a stupid question. but i'm still learning.

 

[titrisol]

The 1000 DTL was a very interesting camera, I had my dad's spotmatic and a friend had the DTL1000.
We used to swap lenses among them and get excellent results.

Spot metering means that the camera reads the light in a very small area of the picutre (thus a spot) and allows you to expose for such partiucular spot.
Average metering measn that the camera reads the light in the whole scene and gives you an avergae reading (normally with rpeference for the center of the image) of the image.

 

[Gerald Koch]

The model is a Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL. What exactly does spot or averaging metering mean? Sorry if that seems to be a stupid question. but i'm still learning.

Spot metering means that only a small portion of the frame is metered. This portion is within the marked brackets at the bottom of the view finder. You meter on the main subject and then recompose the frame before taking the picture. In averaging mode all the frame is metered. Averaging can cause problems with backlighted subjects or scenes with lots of sky. In such cases spot metering is better.

 

[bohica]

Mamiya made very good 35mm cameras,but, the company never considered them their prime product and did a very poor job of promoting them. By the way, everyone knows that the Nikon FM10 is made for Nikon by Cosina. Did you know the Nikkorex was made for Nikon by Mamiya? They also sold it to Ricoh where it was known as the Singlex, and to Sears but I don't remember Sear's name for it, I think it was the TLS. All three were in Nikon F mount.

 

[glennfromwy]

I have a couple of 1000 DTLs. They are built like a tank and have a good, solid heft to them. Lenses are very good and ther are tons of good screw mount lenses to pick from. The downside - I've yet to run across one of these with a working meter. No matter, I use a Minolta spot meter, anyway.

 

[Lee L]

The spot metering area of the Mamiya DTL cameras is shown as a black square at the bottom edge of the viewfinder IIRC. I didn't find them as well built as the SRT101, Nikkormat, or FTb, and told people so when I was selling them. I had two friends in high school buy Mamiyas based solely on price, and both cameras were non-functional within 18 months. Don't mean to slam the whole line, and this could have been a bad run or bad luck, but 2 out of 2 gone that quickly doesn't speak well for the build quality. I also don't see them used and functioning at swaps, but then they were sold in fewer numbers.

Lee

 

[ChuckP]

I'm still using my 1000 DTL bought new about 30 years ago. I bought it for the spot meter function but that stopped working awhile back. Everything else is fine but the camera really hasn't seen much use in recent years as I've gone to large and medium format. Lot's of good lenses out there but changing them is sort of a pain compared to newer systems. Stop down match needle metering. Not a bad camera but take away the spot meter and there's not much to recommend it over other 35's of the era.

 

[Gerald Koch]

The spot metering area of the Mamiya DTL cameras is shown as a black square at the bottom edge of the viewfinder IIRC. I didn't find them as well built as the SRT101,

I own two SRT's but worry about the meter being coupled internally to the lens with a bit of string.

 

[Paul Howell]

At this point many of the camera made in the 70s to 80s are starting to show wear, from what I have experienced (Nikon FG, Chinion CM4, Vivitar XC3, and Spotmatics) it is the internal meter that fails. Models with electronic shutters are dead in the water and cannot be repaired due to shortage in parts. A local repair person claims that he can get circuit boards for the FG from Korea. Because I have a large selection of Pentax M42 lens I plan on keeping my Spotmatics and Chinions going for as long as I can, if a clean Mamiya comes along I would pick it up.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Models with electronic shutters are dead in the water and cannot be repaired due to shortage in parts.

With respect, that's not necessarily the case. Faults on cameras of this era are not confined to the sudden death of obscure and obsolete electronic components, but more often seem to be related to perfectly good electronics trying to control mechanical parts that are in need of attention or a good clean. I've recently had two seventies electronic Pentaxes sorted (ESII and K2), the first needed the shutter mechanism cleaning and the second a bad soldered joint re-making. I wonder how many cameras have been scrapped because of similar basic faults and repair men being put off by the word "electronic"?

Best wishes,
Steve

 

[Paul Howell]

Good points, I guess many of us just find a new (second hand) body rather than have the nonfucntional body looked at. I have a Chinion CM 4 which I had modified to shorten the shutter release, pressing the shutter 1/2 way stops down the lens and activates the meter, the meter is not working, but I think its the pressure switch not the board, the battery diod still lights. I am just too lazy to take across town to a repair person who will be able to look at it.

 

[RichSBV]

Gees, all you folks with 1000 DTL's... I only have a 1000 TL, bought brand new and still works (although I haven't used it in years). What a great camera!

And a note on electronic shutters... I am hopefully, very soon, getting back my Minolta XK from Kelly's Camera Repair, after they have fixed the electronic shutter...

 

[Jon Goodman]

The main problem with the DTL 1000 was that the meter used a tiny chain to move the adjustable parts (inside the camera). If this ever breaks, it is not easy to repair. However, aside from that, they were fine cameras. If you need to replace the old light seals, I have written specific instructions for that camera (it has a more complex seal architecture than many similar 35mm cameras), and I'll gladly send them to you via e:mail in a pdf file. I also have a light seal kit that will give you all the material you need to completely re-seal it for $6 (free shipping in the USA and no more than 80 cents to any other country). Please e:mail me at Jon_Goodman@yahoo.com if you need this file or info on the kit. I think you'll enjoy that camera.
Jon

 

[Jon Goodman]

Hi, Gerald. The string connected meter in the SRT is actually a pretty long-lasting design. If your second shutter curtain ever gets "lazy" (which will cause your mirror to hang up at slow speeds), please let me know. I have written two annotated jpeg files which show where to put the single dot of oil to remedy this. I also have written a file showing how to replace the light seals in the SRT series, and will gladly send that to anyone who wants it. Nice cameras. I still use my SRT Super frequently. By the way, Zenit used a piece of string to pull the mirror up and out of the way in their first SLR models, and it is still working in most of the ones I've seen...think it was wound of yak hair, though.
Jon

 

[pauldc]

I have an later NC1000s which is a really nice camera - good lenses and feels a bit like an Olympus OM i.e. very compact and easy to handle.

A couple of good Mamiya 35mm websites are:

http://people.freenet.de/stauber/mamiya-nc/ - this site is dedicated to the NC series but does also have loads of stuff on the earlier M42 models such as yours. Text in English and German

http://herron.50megs.com/index.htm - a great resource for all 35mm Mamiya cameras

Paul

 

[skiparvid]

1000DTL

I used one of these from 1975 to 1998 with excellent results in all conditions. Metering with non-Mamiya lens was very easy by just pushing the rewind lever forward and adjusting the apeture after selecting the shutter speed. As others have said, the 42mm screw mount alows the use of a wide variety of lens' from many manufacturers. It's not a bad basic 35mm camera although it's limited by the1/1000 top shutter speed. Skip G