Mamiya C330 TLR lens choice (?)

[Sirius Glass]

That's what I'm trying to tell them Steve.

Two people of the same experience and of the same mind.

 

[Loren Sattler]

Ditto with the variable quality of the 55mm lens. That is why I raised the question in previous post. I bought one on Ebay that was terribly soft, simply defective. I found a second one that is good, never heard anyone else mention this issue with other focal lengths for the C330.

 

[miha]

There is a quite a difference between 65 and 80. I'm shooting with the 80mm pair now because the shutter broke down on the wider lens which suited my view better. But if you are happy with what you have now, get the 55.

 

[dynachrome]

All of my TLRs have fixed lenses but I have the same choices to make with my SLRs. When I use my Mamiya M645 cameras I take either the 45 and the 70 or the 55 and the 80 and then usually ad a 150 and/or 210. There is no 65 for the M645 cameras but 70 is close. The Bronica SQ cameras have a 40, a 50 and a 65 but the 65 is rarely seen. I have a 50 S and a 50 PS as well as an 80 S and an 80 PS. The 105 was not made as a PS so I have the S. It's a little long for a standard lens but just long enough for portraits and has closer focusing than either the 150 S or 150 PS. Eventually I would like to get a 40 but I don't know whether I will be interested in getting a 65. The 40 can wait for now because for the GS-1 cameras I have a 50 and a 65. There was an 80 made for the GS-1 cameras but it is also rarely seen and is about equal to a 40 in the 35mm format. I do have one 65 for a medum fomat camera. It's an early Mamiya for the RB 67 Pro S. In High School I used a Koni-Omega camera with the 58/5.6 Hexanon. The results were very good for two reasons: the lens is good and the camera kept the film very flat. The stadard lens for my Bronice ETR series cameras is a 75 so a 65 would be very close. I think there was a 60 PE. For now I have two 50s for the ETR series cameras.

 

[benjiboy]

The Mamiya TLR's have a very flat film path too.

 

[macvisual]

Great replies thanks, keep them coming.

Anyone looking to sell a good condition 55mm lens for the C330 please message me, thanks!

Here's another query, the 'blue dot' C330 lenses, are they the more recent up to date versions I take it...? Same quality as the 'non blue dot' lenses I wonder ??

Thanks;
pete

 

[MattKing]

Great replies thanks, keep them coming.

Anyone looking to sell a good condition 55mm lens for the C330 please message me, thanks!

Here's another query, the 'blue dot' C330 lenses, are they the more recent up to date versions I take it...? Same quality as the 'non blue dot' lenses I wonder ??

Thanks;
pete

Blue dot are the most recent versions.

Have you seen Graham Patterson's excellent Mamiya TLR resource: http://www.gapatterson.com/grahamp ?

 

[David Brown]

While the "blue dot" is the more recent, any of the black barrel lenses should be fine (taking into consideration the 55mm variances cited). The older, silver barrel lenses work, too, until they don't. The difference in the black and silver is the shutters, more than the lenses. It is my understanding (I could be wrong) that the black ones are more readily repairable than the older silver ones. As long as a silver one is working, no problem. Just FYI. I also recommend Graham Patterson's site, linked above!

 

[benjiboy]

While the "blue dot" is the more recent, any of the black barrel lenses should be fine (taking into consideration the 55mm variances cited). The older, silver barrel lenses work, too, until they don't. The difference in the black and silver is the shutters, more than the lenses. It is my understanding (I could be wrong) that the black ones are more readily repairable than the older silver ones. As long as a silver one is working, no problem. Just FYI. I also recommend Graham Patterson's site, linked above!

I think David there's a better chance that the later black blue dot lenses are multi-coated, but nobody seems to know which ones.

 

[Sirius Glass]

There is a quite a difference between 65 and 80. I'm shooting with the 80mm pair now because the shutter broke down on the wider lens which suited my view better. But if you are happy with what you have now, get the 55.

The 65mm to the 80mm is roughly equivalent in the 35mm film realm of 42mm to 50mm. Not a whole lot of change.

On the other hand 55mm to the 80mm is roughly equivalent in the 35mm film realm of 32mm to 50mm.

I have always preferred the 28mm to 50mm in the 35mm film realm. Since this is not possible in the Mamiyaflex family, the best one can do is use the 55mm for wide angle photography.

 

[miha]

The 65mm to the 80mm is roughly equivalent in the 35mm film realm of 42mm to 50mm. Not a whole lot of change.

On the other hand 55mm to the 80mm is roughly equivalent in the 35mm film realm of 32mm to 50mm.

I have always preferred the 28mm to 50mm in the 35mm film realm. Since this is not possible in the Mamiyaflex family, the best one can do is use the 55mm for wide angle photography.

In horizontal view yes, but you need to crop from square to 2:3, otherwise 65 = 35, 80 = 45; pictures look quite different. And 55 is 30 (as was my AIS Nikkor 28mm).

 

[Sirius Glass]

In horizontal view yes, but you need to crop from square to 2:3, otherwise 65 = 35, 80 = 45; pictures look quite different. And 55 is 30 (as was my AIS Nikkor 28mm).

I said "roughly equivalent" to make a point about the relative horizontal angular coverage with 35mm film because that format is what most people are familiar with. I never said the rectangular format was square or that square format is rectangular [although mathematically the same]. It was a convenient comparison that most people would not have a problem understanding. Since the OP will be using a square format, I used the common comparison that one will find in non technical photography books or on the internet. I choose not to nitpick to give the OP a convenient comparison.

When one discusses focal lengths of different format, the common convention is to only compare the horizon dimension, not the vertical dimension.

 

[Xmas]

The direct vision finder is 80 and 65.

Some people crop 24x36 to square anyway or even 24x18!

This all sounds like digital equivalent speak to me.

The 55mm I've tried have all been ok like my cosina LTM lenses.

 

[benjiboy]

There were at one time inserts that fitted in the direct vision viewfinder and clipped onto the two little studs on the top I have the insert for the 135 and 180 lenses, I believe the one for the 55 had a reducing
lens in it, I once saw one on EBay.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You are talking about a viewfinder without optics only a mask [a sport finder over the camera rather than using the upper lens and the mirror]. There are not mask for the viewing screen [ground glass] for any of the Mamiyaflexes.