Show off your TLR!

sold my Rolleiflex last month as I already have 2 other film cameras(Hasselblad 500CM and Leica M6)
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A Mamiya Portrait... 35mm TLR. I put a C330 with the 180mm next to it as well to give an idea of the size.

portrait_c330_sm.JPG


If someone can tell me anything about this camera I'll be very glad to hear it.
 
Is that thing as heavy as it looks ?
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No, it is heavier. With a back (but without film) it puts 16 kg on the scale. First time I had to get out the bathroom scales to weigh a camera. So you don't put it on a strap around your neck. As for film it takes 100 feet rolls for 550 exposures. Got it with 5 backs. That's 2750 exposures so if anyone has an idea what you can do with that please explain.

You shoot street?
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No, street isn't my thing. And if the weight wouldn't be a problem then the power would be. It needs to be plugged in the mains, there is not much use for it on the street either. Anyway I wouldn't put it next to a street as somebody is likely to take it for a speed trap camera.

But I'm missing the power supply. So if anyone can help...

It is really only usable for identity photos. There isn't even a way to focus! The screen has an oval on it to frame a face, nothing else. Now even if I would be a photographer specialising in identity photos, what would you do when you have to take 550 of them to finish a roll?
 
Spanik - that must have been used at a Department of Motor Vehicles to take driver's license photographs. Possibly at a jail, to take mug shots. That control panel with the toggle switch and six white buttons gets me excited. I like to push buttons on old machines - just see my signature.
 
If I can get it working again (big if!) then I wanted to put it up at the open door days of the modelling club. Just to show off and maybe get a few fun photos.

For those that can't read it on the photo the buttons are labelled:
- all action
- winding
- shutter check
- speed light
- numbering light
- beam light
- on/off (that one I have an idea what it does 🙂 )

The front looks like this:
portrait_front_sm.JPG

and the other side:
portrait_lens_side_sm.JPG
 
Wait a minute, wait a minute ... a TLR (or, TLR-like apparatus) with a zoom lens?! This is one crazy piece of kit! Is this really a TLR, in that one lens is for taking and one is for viewing, or something else? In your last picture, the upper lens looks extended further than the lower lens, which has me suspicious. (Or maybe I'm just looking at it cockeyed.) How do you focus the thing? -- I assume the "T ... W" knob does the zooming ("T"=tele to "W"=wide) but does it also do the focusing?

As for usage, I would agree with guesses above about school portraits or at worst, DMV. Had it been meant for jails, it would've been called the Mamiya Mug (or Mamiya Booking). 🙂

--Dave
 
Spanik said:
If I can get it working again (big if!) then I wanted to put it up at the open door days of the modelling club. Just to show off and maybe get a few fun photos. For those that can't read it on the photo the buttons are labelled: - all action - winding - shutter check - speed light - numbering light - beam light - on/off (that one I have an idea what it does 🙂 ) The front looks like this: and the other side:
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Wow! that is awesome! Looks like a lot fun if you can get it working.
 
Wait a minute, wait a minute ... a TLR (or, TLR-like apparatus) with a zoom lens?! This is one crazy piece of kit! Is this really a TLR, in that one lens is for taking and one is for viewing, or something else? In your last picture, the upper lens looks extended further than the lower lens, which has me suspicious. (Or maybe I'm just looking at it cockeyed.) How do you focus the thing? -- I assume the "T ... W" knob does the zooming ("T"=tele to "W"=wide) but does it also do the focusing?
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Well, it is a camera with 2 lenses, the upper lens is only for viewing, the lower lens is for picture taking. So I think it qualifies as a TLR. There is still a debate who is looking through the viewer: the subject or the photographer?

It is indeed a zoom (90-230) but there is no way to focus. I guess for the intended purpose the subject would sit on a chair and once the distance correct it would stay that way. The lens closes to f/32 so maybe focusing isn't that important. The "T-W" knob is for zooming Tele to Wide as you suspect. Maybe "framing" would be more correct than "zooming". You are correct that the upper lens is a bit further to the front. But both lenses are not equal, the viewing lens is f/4.5, the taking lens f/8.
 
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