Mamiya TLR vs Mamiya 7...???

[Paul Jenkin]

I've got a Mamiya 7 (with 43, 65 and 150mm lenses). It's going nowhere - I love it and the lenses are superb. However, I had a fancy for a Mamiya TLR and bought a beat-up old C3 with really nice 65mm and 80mm lenses.

The C3 was a bit of a lump and a friend wanted one for an DIY camera experiment - so I sold him the body. I'm now debating whether to get the C330s body or flog the lenses I have and reduce my GAS quotient.

I'm genuinely ambivalent about the whole thing and would welcome any thoughts or suggestions on what a C330s might give me that the Mamiya 7 cannot..... Incidentally, my main interests are landscape, travel and a bit of street / portraiture.

Cheers.

 

[Dante]

Other than closer-to-through-the-lens viewing of your subject I do not see an advantage of the 330. As a matter of opinion, the Mamiya 7 (or 7II) is the best camera I've ever owned in regards to travel and landscape photography. I haven't really done any street portraiture but would think that it would be very well suited for that as well. Zone focusing is not exactly straight forward on the Mamiya 7 in the respect that the DOF scales aren't spot on. I have a post on here regarding where the 43mm and 80mm lens should be focused to for optimal zone focusing. That aside, the bright viewfinder is quick to focus so even if you're precisely focusing on your subjects on the street you should find pure joy in using the Mamiya 7. Embrace the Mamiya 7 ... you'll be glad you did!

 

[thegman]

I've never used a C3, but they seem awfully big for a TLR, or bigger in fact that a Hasselblad. I like the Rollei TLRs because of their size, but the Mamiya seems so big that you may as well just get a SLR.

I know the Mamiyas have better close up than Rollei, but surely an SLR is best for that job.

 

[rawhead]

With street, TLRs give you the advantage of a bit of discretion (or, at least, less threat to your subjects). People looking down into a TLR viewfinder just aren't as threatening to people on the street compared to those who have an eyelevel finder camera up against their face. Plus, you just look so much cooler with a TLR 😀

Another general advantage that a TLR and other cameras with WLF is the ability to shoot very low-angle (including ground-level) withouth having to be on your hands and knees:






The Road to Fools by Dr. RawheaD, on Flickr



The C330 is fabulous, I love it more than my Rolleiflex TLR (2.8C), a lot having to do with the close-focus ability.

If you have the two lenses left over and are in search of a body, there's a very cool Kickstarter project that you might be interested in, if you'd also like the opportunity to shoot 3x4 Instant film as well as roll film up to 6x9 (though i'm not sure about the coverage of the 80mm lens):

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/71185779/duo-a-diy-twin-lens-reflex-camera-for-instant-film

Actually reading the comments, it seems the 80mm would be a difficult one to fit. I'm getting that body to mount a couple of rare Xenotar 100/2.8 lenses :0)

 

[smiling gecko]

mebbe a c-220...it is noticeably lighter than the c-3 or c-330. 🙂

as the image from rawhead shows you can get reallllll low angle/perspectives without getting down in the mud or crud or dust or what have you...my old knees appreciate that. 😛

parallax is a problem with a TLR...the closer you focus, the less accurate the framing. the c-330 has a visual aid to keep an eye on the top of the frame. there is a red bar that drops down as you focus closer and closer...the catch is you can see what is going on n the top half of the frame, but not the bottom.

there is something called a parraminder - never used one - that compensates for all that ( here' s where i need some help). you can google that term and hopefully someone with someone here with some experience with that can chime in. :angel:

i never tried one as most of what i was photographing did not need absolute critical framing.

oh, almost forgot, you have to reset the shutter manually with the c-220 (where it is done automatically on the c-330 when you advance the film - unless you have selected multi-exposure.

meanwhile keep your mamiya 7 and see how you like a c-220.

breathe, relax and enjoy. 🙂😀🙂
laugh more. smile more...i do whenever over near a mirror.😀
smiling gecko, aka kenneth

 

[Spanik]

I love the C330. Just the fact that you can put a wide on it makes it worth it. And the 65mm is a very nice angle.

A C220 is lighter but I miss the coupled shutter cocking. Too often wondered why it doesn't work.

 

[fuji645]

Keep the lenses, go for a clean C330. It's lighter and will advance film and cock shutter in one wind. My results from the 65mm and 80mm are excellent. I actually prefer the rendering over my 80mm Planar in the Hasselblad. Yeah, it's heavy but it's an excellent camera with good optics and foolproof mechanics.

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Well, I finally took the plunge, traded in an old 150mm Hasselblad (non T*) lens and got mysself a nice little package. I now have a C330s, 65mm, 80mm and 135mm (all blue dot) lenses.

Okay, GAS got the better of me (again) but this looks like a great little walk about set up. The weight's no issue for me as I'm a big lump myself. I'll have to test the lens 65mm lens against my Mamiya 7 65mm lens and see how the 80mm CF T* stacks up against the Mamiya 330's equivalent.

The thing I like about these older cameras is that I don't feel precious about them when I'm using them. They just seem to "fit" nicely into the hand and hel you get about your business. My DSLR, although a great camera in its own right, just takes a lot of setting up and because it's so bloody expensive and has electronic everything, I tend to "baby" it too much.

I'm looking forward to getting cracking with the "new" C330s this weekend....