Mamiya TLR buyers guide

markjwyatt · Feb 28, 2020

bluechromis said:
I have this picture of Diane taped up on the wall in my house. I lot of people don't know she used a Mamiya TLR.

Why? I see a lot about her using it (towards the end of her life, some say around 1962), but no one explains why. Interchangeable lenses + square format? Maybe not losing sight of the subject at picture time?

Joel Pickford · Feb 9, 2022

Can anyone identify the large, boxy lens shade that Diane Arbus is using in the photo above?
Also, could that be a 135mm lens that is mounted on her camera?

I have recently read the 1984 biography of Arbus, as well as the various essays in the 2005 exhibition catalog. There is no mention of her using a 135 mm lens, yet some of the close head shots look like they were made with it (while others show the slight distortion of the 80mm lens). I saw the 2005 retrospective at the Met and vaguely remember seeing a 135mm lens in the glass case containing her camera gear. Does anyone know?

mrosenlof · Feb 9, 2022

The boxy lens shade was produced by Mamiya for their longer than normal lenses. The shorter versions only shaded the taking lens. Looking at how far the bellows are racked out, I think the 135mm is a reasonable guess.

Nokton48 · Feb 9, 2022

6x6 TLR Shooting Bank by Nokton48, on Flickr

I have two Hasselblads and oodles of lenses and accessories. I still like the C33's and prefer them sometimes, so I have recently picked up these to use

alanrockwood · Feb 10, 2022

Nokton48 said:
6x6 TLR Shooting Bank by Nokton48, on Flickr

I have two Hasselblads and oodles of lenses and accessories. I still like the C33's and prefer them sometimes, so I have recently picked up these to use

Impressive!

Sirius Glass · Feb 10, 2022

Nokton48 said:
6x6 TLR Shooting Bank by Nokton48, on Flickr

I have two Hasselblads and oodles of lenses and accessories. I still like the C33's and prefer them sometimes, so I have recently picked up these to use

Do they go out to play all together or do they take turns?

Nokton48 · Feb 10, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Do they go out to play all together or do they take turns?

Good Question. I can only use one at a time . Each body has a different lens and film. Right now, finishing first roll of 220 Shanghai 100 in the C22, Pan F+ in C33 #1, EFKE PL100 in C33 #2, FP4+ in the Autocord, and HP5+ in the Mamiflex. The lenses get switched around of course depending on the nature of what I am doing and my plans.

Yesterday I called David Maheu (had a great conversation!) and ordered three georgeous arty 8x8 foot Tim Kelly signature backgrounds. And I have unearthed and are working the wrinkles out of a couple of really big painted OMNI muslins I used back in the 80s. Shortly I will be redoing my background roller system and it is going to get a big upgrade.

Joel Pickford · Feb 10, 2022

By the way, when you change lenses on a C330, how does the parallax correction synchronize with the new focal length?

Joel Pickford · Feb 10, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Do they go out to play all together or do they take turns?

I am curious why you sometimes prefer the Mamiya TLRs to your Hasselblad system. Lack of mirror slap and mirror blindness?

Don't you find the Hasselblad lenses to be far better than the Mamiya TLR lenses?

I recently got interested in getting a Mamiya TLR for street photography and portraits out of frustration with the collector prices of Rolleiflex Wide cameras (which is what I REALLY want to go with my Rollei 3.5F Planar model). The Mamiyas seem much bulkier and clunkier, but they are dirt cheap to buy right now. I have been watching some of them on eBay and no one is buying. Occasionally, a seller reaches out to me with a lower price offer.

pbromaghin · Feb 10, 2022

Joel Pickford said:
By the way, when you change lenses on a C330, how does the parallax correction synchronize with the new focal length?

There is a knob that you turn to indicate which lens is mounted.

Nokton48 · Feb 11, 2022

Joel Pickford said:
I am curious why you sometimes prefer the Mamiya TLRs to your Hasselblad system. Lack of mirror slap and mirror blindness?

Don't you find the Hasselblad lenses to be far better than the Mamiya TLR lenses?

Yes, Mirror slap, shutter "ka-whup" and can't see when the exposure is made; mirror blackout.

No I do not think Hassy lenses are far better than Mamy lens. They both work very well for my intended purposes. Hassy has some lenses that won't fit TLRs like the 30mm Distagon, the 135 Planar-S Bellows, and the 350 Tele-Tessar. (which I do own) But I would not say they are FAR better. Mine are all black T*'s from the seventies or there abouts

No complaints here about optics. And I do use all of them

Junk Mamys can be cheap, but not always. Where are all these dirt cheap cameras? Mainly I see expensive ones on Ebay. Even trashed ones are mostly expensive

flavio81 · Feb 11, 2022

Hi,

I've owned many mamiya TLRs and most of the lenses, so i'll give my two cents here:

- The 135mm and 105mm lenses are very beautiful in rendering but they require to protrude very far away from the body, making handling or ergonomics a bit uncomfortable, particularly the 135mm. The C33x models, having an extra shutter button, are better for such lenses.

- The 180mm "non super" isn't an really inferior lens to the praised "super" lens. But the early version of the 180mm often suffers from haze at the last element. Watch out. All these 180mm are very sharp and have delicious rendering of out of focus images (as well as the 135 and 105 of course)

- Yes there are many versions of the 105mm lens.

- Avoid lenses with distorted mounting plates!

- Forget about the blue dot! Who cares about the blue dot! All mamiya shutters are just fine except the really really really early seikosha shutter with speeds to 1/400

- The porrofinder and the CdS porrofinder are crap, avoid. You can't really focus with them, the image is small and dim.

- EVERY mamiya C330 out there will need the foam below the focusing screen frame replaced, otherwise it won't necessarily achieve proper focus calibration. It's a simple job.

flavio81 · Feb 11, 2022

alanrockwood said:
Also, I already have a RB67 with a good lens collection, a Rolliecord, and several Kiev 60 cameras with a good lens collection. (Also a Russian Sputnik 3D stereo camera.) Would there be much benefit in adding a Mamiya TLR to my TLR zoo?

Thanks.

Yes, a C330 is like your Rolleicord but with...

- a proper shutter button

- much bigger and much heavier

- much better focusing screen

- interchangeable lenses

- quicker film loading

markjwyatt · Feb 11, 2022

flavio81 said:
...
- The 135mm and 105mm lenses are very beautiful in rendering but they require to protrude very far away from the body, making handling or ergonomics a bit uncomfortable, particularly the 135mm. The C33x models, having an extra shutter button, are better for such lenses...

Interesting. I have had the 55mm, 80mm, and 180mm (Super) for a few decades. I recently picked up the 135mm and only took it out once or twice to shoot, but did not pay any attention to that (I used the C330f), nor noticed any issues. I will have to watch for that and see if it really is an issue for me next time I use it.

flavio81 said:
...- The porrofinder and the CdS porrofinder are crap, avoid. You can't really focus with them, the image is small and dim...

I do have a porrofinder I picked up really cheap (cracked mirror) years ago, and must admit I never use it.

flavio81 said:
...- EVERY mamiya C330 out there will need the foam below the focusing screen frame replaced, otherwise it won't necessarily achieve proper focus calibration. It's a simple job.

Does that apply to the C330f also, or is that a specific issue with the C330? So far no problem on the C330f. I have not used my C220f in a long long while, but need to use it again just to keep it active.

grat · Feb 11, 2022

I have the CdS porrofinder, and while it's useful as a spot meter, it is dim, looks awkward, and does not bring me joy.

Now, the paramender is kinda cool if you're doing any kind of close-up work.

Sirius Glass · Feb 11, 2022

grat said:
I have the CdS porrofinder, and while it's useful as a spot meter, it is dim, looks awkward, and does not bring me joy.

Now, the paramender is kinda cool if you're doing any kind of close-up work.

The Paramender destroys one of the complaints about TLRs that SLR owners bring up. Even though I am a committed SLR user, I tip my hat to the wisdom of the Paramender's genius and consistent repeatability.

Neil Grant · Feb 11, 2022

...I have the unmetered porrofinder on a c330s and prefer it over the pentaprism for hand held eye-level work. With their high centre of gravity, and heavy masses in the shape of the prism at one end and the base unit at the other, I find these cameras are only too happy to 'tip'. To me, it's more manageable with a lightweight porro. The 's' screen gives a bright enough image for focusing and composing, but one that's quite small.

markjwyatt · Feb 12, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
The Paramender destroys one of the complaints about TLRs that SLR owners bring up. Even though I am a committed SLR user, I tip my hat to the wisdom of the Paramender's genius and consistent repeatability.

It eliminates a lot of the complaint, but only when tripod mounted. The truth is for 90% of my shooting, there is no real parallax issue to start with. I like shooting the TLR, it works, and I am aware of the parallax situation, so when it occurs I can use the indicator in the viewfinder or the paramender. When I was a teenager the commercial propaganda in popular photo magazines did get to me (for instance making me feel that my baby Rollei was inferior), but once I started actually shooting pictures most of it really did not matter.

markjwyatt · Feb 12, 2022

Neil Grant said:
...I have the unmetered porrofinder on a c330s and prefer it over the pentaprism for hand held eye-level work. With their high centre of gravity, and heavy masses in the shape of the prism at one end and the base unit at the other, I find these cameras are only too happy to 'tip'. To me, it's more manageable with a lightweight porro. The 's' screen gives a bright enough image for focusing and composing, but one that's quite small.

It is the weight/balance issue that got me to buy one.

MattKing · Feb 12, 2022

If you use the camera and pentaprism with the left hand trigger grip, the balance is excellent.
(on the tripod, in this case).

Mamiya TLR buyers guide

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