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Mamiya, with their "C" range of TLR cameras, was the only manufacturer ever to offer interchangeable lenses on a regular 6x6 TLR. I have one of the later C330-f versions, from around 1980. The C330-s was built until about 1994, and there are plenty still in regular, professional use. For a true TLR fan, the Mamiya is a MUST HAVE! In fact, I sold my old Mamiya 645 in order to buy it - this should give you an idea how serious I am about TLRs! When the first Mamiyaflex came out back in the fifties, Mamiya must have been thumbing their noses at their German colleagues from Braunschweig! Rollei were never able to build an interchangeable lens TLR, although the specially built Tele-Rolleiflex was quite a success. Rollei later produced the distinctive wide-angle Rolleiflex - rare and VERY expensive today. While most TLRs copied the Rolleiflex, Mamiya obviously started with a blank piece of paper and designed their own TLR from scratch. I'm inclined to believe it was aimed primarily at studio photographers, but unlike the later and even bigger RB67 SLR, the Mamiya C330 seems happy enough going for walks outside! Why I bought mine? I shot a wedding using the Rolleiflex, leaving the M645 at home. Great results, but wouldn’t it be nice if I could change lenses? Sometimes there’s a limit to how far back you can walk for a group shot - don’t you hate it when you end up standing in the road holding cars up? Not only that, but my Mamiya 645 rig with its feeble 1/60th flash synch speed had already caused me some embarrassment in the past. Leaf shutter TLRs synchronize at all shutter speeds, and I use outdoor flash a lot. So I cleaned up my M645, replaced the light seals, and sold the whole outfit to a colleague, an outstanding lady photographer who was looking for a nice MF camera for her studio. I was lucky to find a C330-f with the three most useful lenses (55mm, 80mm, and 180mm Super) in almost mint condition at a reasonable price. Changing lenses takes a bit of practice, but then so does driving a car or anything needing coordination! Trust me - it’s not nearly as scary as the instruction manual makes it appear. Just be careful not to scratch the top surface of the lens with that weird wire clamp. After playing with the camera for a day, it'll become second nature to you. The more you play with the camera, the easier it gets. Lack of a built in light meter is less of a problem than it sounds, and hanging a hand held meter round your neck lets you check changing light situations with less effort than heaving a whacking great MF SLR up to your eye. The C330 is a BIG camera! It's about a third larger than my Rolleiflex, but I can forgive that when I think about all the tricks it can do for me. Results? Equal to the M645 as far as I can see. Compared with my Rolleiflex-T, I can’t honestly see a difference between negatives. I don’t believe in lens test chart results - no two lenses perform identically, and few give their optimum performance at the kind of distances used for the chart tests. I have only two requirements of a lens: are the results good enough to enlarge to 16x20, and will I still get sharp results at f-5.6? The answer on both counts is a clear yes. If you’re considering buying one of these, add the price of some lens hoods. Flare can be a problem on bright days, so a hood is a must, but the Mamiya- Sekkor lenses are modern, multicoated designs that aren't as badly affected by bright sunlight as some other TLRs. Incidentally, older, chrome lens pairs from earlier Mamiya TLRs might not necessarily fit, and Mamiya can only service the newer, black lenses. Check this before you buy. The 180mm lens is particularly sharp, a little shorter than a 135mm telephoto for 35mm cameras. This gives a very pleasing effect for head and shoulder portraits, tending to flatten facial features and making it easy to throw the background out of focus. The 55mm wide angle equates to about 35mm for smaller cameras. It won't make an earth-shattering difference compared to the standard lenses, but you'll appreciate it in tight spaces. Unlike the wider wide angles, you'll find it easy to keep vertical lines straight. Using flash: A quick word of warning! Each lens has a little selector switch for M and X-synch, which moves beautifully smoothly and much too easily! Unless your grandfather left a drawer full of FP4 flash bulbs for you - mine didn't - you'll never need the M position. Not only is this switch as much use to you as a rubber padlock, it can get you into serious trouble. Unless it's set to X, your flash will fire but at the wrong time. This will mean screwed up negatives that'll have to be re-shot. You'll feel silly explaining the difference between M-synch and X-synch to those newlyweds! (Tip: blame the lab. When they screw up, they always blame the photographer. Mutual Blamestorming...) On all three lenses, I've made a little plastic wedge to jam the switch in the X position - you'd be wise to do likewise. If you’re interested in close-up work and don’t mind taking your time and working a bit slower than with 35mm, you’ll love this camera. The bellows draw is truly amazing. You can even use it on a copy stand for repro photography. What about the parallax error? Guestimate it using the built in moving frame marker in the finder, or use the Paramender ( a Mamiya accessory, attached between the camera and the tripod, that raises the camera exactly the right amount to bring the taking lens into the same position as the viewing lens. Every time I try to buy one on eBay, somebody with a thicker wallet jumps in and beats me to it! ) on your tripod. You’ll get used to working with it after a bit of practice, and close ups off these big negatives can be stunning! Tip: if you don't have the official Paramender, some tripods with a winding crank for the center column raise the column almost exactly the right amount with one full turn of the handle. You'll have to experiment, but this is a cheap solution... you can also put marks on the tripod for upper and lower positions. What about the viewfinder? A typical TLR flip-up design, extremely well built. Unlike most TLRs, the focusing magnifier actually locks into place to form the top of the viewfinder turret, and is unaffected by stray light. Yes, I know, it can be awkward at first, working with a reversed image. But sometimes it can be an advantage for composing - most of us tend to see only what we want to see (usually just the center!) , and the C330 finder forces you to take a look at the whole image. As a learning tool for composition, it’s great. If you find yourself needing a prism, bear in mind that your heavy C330 will be even heavier! Filters? The 55 and 80 lenses both take a rather odd size filter, 46mm. These can be bought new, but they're rare second hand. The 180mm takes a more conventional 49mm filter, but you'd be wise to look around for the correct Mamiya lens hood - a massive affair that's so large that the top section actually sits in front of the viewing lens, with a cut-out enabling the top lens to peep through it. Don't worry, you can't see it in the viewfinder, and it won't make the image darker for focusing either. If you buy one, check the conditions of the light seals on the back. If you see any signs that the foam rubber is beginning to crumble, change them sooner rather than later. If you're feeling rich, you can still buy the original material from Mamiya, but you can easily make your own - check the foam packing that came with your computer, or use the black rubber of a mouse pad. Don't worry, you won't need an engineering degree; just a rainy, boring afternoon, some alcohol and Q-Tips to remove the old material, and a scalpel to cut the new seals to shape. Use any good all-purpose adhesive like UHU. It'll take you two hours to scrape the old stuff away, and 15 minutes to put the new seals in place. The C330 is the most flexible TLR ever built, a true classic. It is built with great precision out of first class materials, it has a solid and precise feeling about it , and has a great reputation for reliability. It will stand some serious abuse, and if it breaks Mamiya can still service it for you. As far as I know, the Mamiya C range was the only 6x6 TLR with interchangeable lenses ever built. Yes, it’s heavy. But if you need a lightweight camera, you probably have a 35mm Nikon SLR, don’t you? This isn’t the kind of camera to keep on the back seat of the car to grab and fire off a burst with. With the C330, Mamiya advanced TLR development about as far as it's theoretically possible to go. Other than adding a motor drive, there's not much more you could ask for. Plus points:
Minus points:
This is a no-nonsense, no-frills professional TLR. Unlike the Rolleiflex, it's never going to win any prizes for beautiful, graceful design! The lack of a self-timer should tell you quite clearly which side of the camera the photographer's expected to stay! For a beginner, it has one heck of a steep learning curve. It lacks the advantage of an almost silent shutter, unlike the majority of 6x6 TLRs, but it's still reasonably quiet. But results count, and the C330 will bring home the goods for you once you learn how to handle it. It's built like the gun turrets on a battleship, and could probably handle a couple of .22 long rifle hits before it started to fail. The C330 is an enormously capable system camera, and you'd be hard pushed to find photographic situations it can't handle. With three lenses, this might well be all the medium format equipment you'll ever need. The C220, a simpler and less expensive body without features like a crank or automatic shutter cocking, would also be a splendid alternative for budget-conscious medium format work. This camera will also accept the same lens pairs as its more expensive sister. For a lot more information, check out Graham Patterson's Mamiya site. Copyright © 2001 by Mike Graham. All rights reserved.
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