Mamiya C220 vs Rolleicord

[Bruce Appel]

My start in mf went from yashica d, to mamiya c3300, to rollei. The mamiya was a good , if somewhat big and bulky workhorse, but after shooting a rollei I was never again happy with it. If I recall correctly, I had a black 80mm, a black 180, and a silver 65. They were ok lenses, but the glass in even my 3.5 tessar rollei was clearly better.May very well have been my particular samples.
I would say that unless you are hell bent on having the interchangeable lenses, go for the rollei and don't look back.

 

[Ryuji]

If I recall correctly, I had a black 80mm, a black 180, and a silver 65. They were ok lenses, but the glass in even my 3.5 tessar rollei was clearly better.

Umm... this is different from my experience. I have 80mm f/2.8 in both silver and black versions, and both are very good lenses. Of course the 75mm for new Mamiya 6 is sharper and more contrasty, but that's a much newer design. (I dislike Xenar on Rolleicord I have. This isn't the smartest thing to say in public because I have one for sale :=)

One thing that's often not mentioned is that Rollei TLRs don't ahve flash shoe. Mamiya TLRs do. Besides a TLR with a flash makes a nice party camera, there is one more use for the flash shoe. Check this out:

http://silvergrain.org/Photo-Tech/TLR-meter.html

Another thing. People often compare TLR v. SLR, but in terms of the shooting style, I think Fujifilm GA-645i and new Mamiya 6 rangefiner are more of the competitors. I really wish Fuji sold GA-645i with silent autofocus and film advance of Konica Hexar and 6x6cm format!

 

[Bruce Appel]

With older cameras sample variation may be significant. My rollei glass is better than the mamiya glass I had. I don't know that any more than that can be extrapolated.

 

[Paul Howell]

In the early 70s I owned both a Mamiya C33 and a Koni Omega Flex. My parents bought me the Mamiya, but I traded it in for for a Koni Omega Flex because of the 6X7 format, used Koni Press backs and it had a dark slide so I could change lens in the field. I used for many years and found it to be reliable with good lens. I don't if Koni Omega Flex's are available and what the repair outlook is, but I would give it a look.

 

[Konical]

Good Evening,

Koni TLR's show up fairly regularly on E-Bay.

Konical