Mamiya C33

[Matt5791]

Just bought a Mamiya C33 as a back up to the Hasselblad for weddings.

Havenly received it yet, but itching to try it out.

Anyone else use this camera?

Matt

 

[areaeleven]

hey matt

i use it, i love it. it's a tank for sure, but man i don't mind packing it around. simple to use, nothing to get in the way.

i'm not sure what you're used to, this might take getting used to, but for me, i enjoy it immensely.

c.

 

[Gerald Koch]

it's a tank for sure

Try it with the 180mm lens, lens hood, and the porrofinder if you think the camera alone is a tank. As most have stated it takes gorgeous photos.

 

[benjiboy]

I baught one second hand about twenty years ago, and it was old then, to do weddings, and mugshots with , it was Ideal , I still have it, I have shot hundreds of rolls of film,it has never been serviced since I have owned it, and it has never let me down.

I hope you get as much pleasure from it Matt, as I have from mine

 

[Marco Gilardetti]

Yep! My favourite choice for travelling since dacades. Light enough to be carried around everywhere and superlative in quality.

 

[blokeman]

My very 1st medium format camera... second hand, then I guess like a lot of people I traded and tried a few other medium format cameras, then at the end of 1990's guess what (?) ..... bought myself another C33, with 55mm, 80mm, 180mm.... and would never leave it behind on a trip. Easy to use, sharp & so much cheaper than some of the big name cameras. A good second hand C330 would be selling for around $500 here in Melbourne, with one 80mm lens. Now that I have one in excellent condition, I won't be letting it go again.

 

[Nicole]

Matt I have one too, love it!! Although I'm still looking for some black lenses for mine and lens hoods.
Cheers
Nicole

 

[benjiboy]

Black Lens

Matt I have one too, love it!! Although I'm still looking for some black lenses for mine and lens hoods.
Cheers
Nicole

I think the 135mm would be a very useful lens for the sort of work you do Nicole, and it uses the same hood as the 80mm, It's my favorite portrait lens.

 

[Nicole]

Hi Ben, that would be nice. I'll find one sooner or later.

 

[paulownian]

I bought my first Mamiya TLR in 1967; it was a C220. I traded it back in 3 days later for the C330. Over the years, I have owned, sold, lost, had stolen, and even gave away several of the Mamiya TLR's. I currently have the C330, two C220's, the C33 and the Mamiyaflex bodies, with 55mm, 80mm, 105mm, 135mm, and 180 lenses. I have several different finders, etc. Just about the whole nine yards. I don't use them as backup for my Hasselblads at weddings; I use Hasselblads as backup for my Hasselblads at weddings. I use my TLR's as what they are: beautifully crafted portrait, general purpose, and special purpose cameras that require a crisp, negative in the 6x6 format. I love the TLR format because I "see" if my subject blinks, looks away, or otherwise causes a missed shot. There's nothing like racking out a C330 and shooting closeups of flowers and other still life. In fact, this discussion has made me want to shoot a roll, or two in my C330 right now!

 

[Steve Bell]

Matt, the Mamiya TLR cameras are great, I often use my C220 along side my Toyo 4x5. One problem you'll have in using the C33 as a wedding backup is no interchangeable backs, as changing film is slow. I use mine mainly with 220 film, as I've lost shots in fast changing light in the past when removing it from the tripod to change film. 220 film is harder to find now, but I still have around 60 rolls in the freezer. TLR's can be fiddly when used with polarisers and graduated ND filters for landscape photography, my interest, but there's ways around this. You'll enjoy using the C33.

 

[benjiboy]

Gone Off

I bought my first Mamiya TLR in 1967; it was a C220. I traded it back in 3 days later for the C330. Over the years, I have owned, sold, lost, had stolen, and even gave away several of the Mamiya TLR's. I currently have the C330, two C220's, the C33 and the Mamiyaflex bodies, with 55mm, 80mm, 105mm, 135mm, and 180 lenses. I have several different finders, etc. Just about the whole nine yards. I don't use them as backup for my Hasselblads at weddings; I use Hasselblads as backup for my Hasselblads at weddings. I use my TLR's as what they are: beautifully crafted portrait, general purpose, and special purpose cameras that require a crisp, negative in the 6x6 format. I love the TLR format because I "see" if my subject blinks, looks away, or otherwise causes a missed shot. There's nothing like racking out a C330 and shooting closeups of flowers and other still life. In fact, this discussion has made me want to shoot a roll, or two in my C330 right now!

I found a great advantage when doing weddings with Mamiya TLRs, was you could see if the flash had gone off, and you did't finish up with a load of underexposed shots.

 

[JC in Irl]

..TLR's can be fiddly when used with polarisers and graduated ND filters ...

Matt - it's a great camera. I have a C33, a C330 Pro F and a C220. It is incredibly rugged - I have taken mine on caving trips, sailing, RIB boating, on archaeological sites in remote mountains etc without a hitch. I use two polarising filters on mine, one on each lens. Calibrate both on the viewing lens and put a dab of white paint on the twelve o'clock position when the polarising effect is strongest - aim at a car or a window at mid-day to set it up. Then take your pics with both on, composing while you rotate the top one and then rotate the lower one to the same angle by referring to the paint dots.
I have 55mm, 80mm, 135mm and 180mm lenses, a magnifying hood and a porroflex, some lens hoods. The 250mm lens is said to be poor, but I've no personal experience. Ignore the hand-grips and pistol grips and use the biggest tripod you have, and this machine will take awesome pictures. try to use f8 as often as possible for best lens performance on all the lenses.

JC in Ireland

 

[MikeM1977]

I just found and bought a Mamiya C220 camera w/ a 80mm "blue dot" lens. $80 total

After processing my first roll, all I can say is WOW! This is one sharp and contrasty lens. I'm normally a 4x5 and 35mm shooter, but this C220 is gonna see a lot more action now.

 

[Matt5791]

Thanks for the replies everyone - sounds like I bought a great camera.

I have a wedding to shoot on Saturday and I am going to use the C33 for cross processed shots (sometimes I shoot a roll of Ektachrome 100VS and cross process if the couple want some more unusual shots)

Matt

 

[Ole]

I've got a C3 sitting around. I've managed to convince myself that it's stupid to buy more lenses for it before I've run a single roll of film through it, and I've got far too big a backlog of undeveloped and unprinted films to consider shooting another one right now.

It's a great big camera, anyway. Competes with most of my LF cameras in weight; only the 30x40cm plate camera is significantly heavier!