An informal review by Mike Rosenlof for photo.net
The undisputed king of the TLR was the Rollei. In 1998, you can still buy one of its descendants new from B&H for almost $4000.00. It was small, had a killer lens, and a wonderful precision feel. One of the Rollei's lower cost competitors was from a little-known Japanese company called Mamiya. It wasn't as small, or as smooth mechanically, and of course no Japanese lens could compare to the Zeiss planar on the Rollei. Still, the mamiya had interchangeable lenses. Not even Rollei did that.
The Mamiya Twin Lens Reflex cameras are 6x6 cameras using 120 or (in some models) 220 film which were in production from the mid 1950's until 1994. Mamiya regularly came out with new models which added features and capability throughout their production life. There are thousands of them out there, and they are plentiful on the used market. Some have seen heavy professional use, some have been used lightly by amateurs. Some are beat up, some are still pristine. Many wedding photographers have used these cameras because you can still look through the finder and see someone blink at the moment of exposure. I've recently seen a school photographer carrying one of these as a backup to his motorized long roll camera.
The Japanese Yen was extremely strong against the US Dollar in 1993 and 1994, and that drove up prices to the point that there was very little market for this system. The story is that some of the tooling just wore out, and they couldn't justify retooling. As I write this in August of 1998, B&H still has a couple of new lenses and accessories for sale. The prices are quite high.
The pages at http://www.btinternet.com/~g.a.patterson/m_faq.htm have an excellent description of all of the cameras, lenses, and accessories of this system. I won't try to duplicate that information. At its most extensive, there were seven lenses, six finders, sheet film backs, several focusing screens, and other assorted accessories.
I own two C330-F bodies, and this review will be based primarily on my experience with them. Features and capabilities of other bodies are similar, but have some differences.
When using a waist level finder, the camera fits nicely into my left hand. It's not small and light, but with 35mm SLRs putting on weight in the 90s, it doesn't feel as heavy as it would have seemed to a Pentax MX user in 1979. Shutter release, focus, and wind controls are in logical positions for easy use. Shutter and aperture controls, are not visible from the top, you must turn the camera to the side to see and set them. The viewfinder brightness is OK, but not stellar. It's dramatically easier to compose with a Beattie focusing screen, but I'm not convinced it's any easier (or harder) to focus accurately.
There is no exposure information in the viewfinder, and there are no coupled meters available. Mamiya made a couple of metering finders with CdS spot meter cells. These are match needle meters, uncoupled, and probably use mercury batteries. I'm a big fan of incident metering for most lighting situations, and have nearly always used a separate incident meter with this camera.
The shutter sound is much quieter than a medium format SLR since the TLR has no mirror flapping around or automatic diaphragm snapping shut. I think the film wind makes a more distracting sound than the shutter.
I own the 65mm, 80mm, and 135mm lenses--all are the later 'black' models. I've shot a test target with only the 65mm, and the 50 linePair/mm line group was resolved very sharply at the center at all apertures, somewhat less so at the corners but still sharp from at least f/5.6 and smaller. I'm convinced the resolution limits are definitely up to professional standards even now. The 135 is extremely sharp, especially at f/11 or so. The 80 is a recent purchase, but preliminary results look extremely good.
The 135mm lens focuses at infinity with the bellows racked out about half way, so it's possible to focus past infinity and get nothing in focus. Other lenses focus at infinity with the bellows nearly all of the way in.
Because of the bellows, the shorter lenses can focus very closely. Of course they are not optimized for macro work, and parallax is a problem, but you can get really close.
The older "chrome shutter" lenses are reported to be pretty good also. But then, nobody admits their lenses are junk except Holga users. Some of the oldest model lenses might not be coated. These chrome lenses sell for much lower prices than the newer black models, partly because shutter parts are not available. On the other hand, if the shutter has worked for 30 years, it will probably last a little longer.
The taking lenses all have leaf shutters. This means electronic flash syncs at any shutter speed. There is also an M sync available for use with flashbulbs. If you use M sync with electronic flash, the flash fires before the shutter opens, and you get no flash adding light to your exposure. Many shutters that have been used by pros have the sync selector epoxied to the X position. It's hard to bump the setting accidentally, but if you do change it right before the newlywed couple marches back down the aisle, it's a disaster.
There is a standard folding waist level finder with a relatively low power flip up magnifier. It's compact, and works well. There is a rigid "chimney" finder with a 3.5x full field magnifier, and a flip up 6x lens that magnifies the center of the screen only. This finder blocks outside light much better than the folding finder, and I think accurate focus is easier, it doesn't weigh any more, it's just more bulky.
Waist level viewing is reversed left to right. With practice, you can follow moving subjects, but it does take practice. Every now and then, I'm surprised when I see a photo I took with the TLR, and everything is reversed from the way I remember seeing it in the viewfinder.
I've never used any of the eye level prisms. There is an all glass pentaprism that gives correct left to right viewing. There is also a porroprism, constructed from mirrors. Reports are that the pentaprism is much brighter. It's also heavier and more expensive. I've heard mixed reviews on the porroprism finder--mostly that it's dim, and the image is small.
Yes, there is parallax error. The viewing lens is 50mm higher than the taking lens. Some models have a finder indication where the top of frame cutoff lies. The body has to be set for the correct lens mounted for this to be accurate! You can tilt the camera to compensate, and usually this is fine. If you're trying to do precise near/far compositions, try to find a 'paramender' device. This mounts between a tripod and the camera body. After composing, turning a lever raises the body so the taking lens is exactly where the viewing lens was. At shooting distances for full length photos of people, parallax is not a concern. At head and shoulder distances, it is.
Use lens hoods. The front lens elements are not recessed deeply into the lens barrel, so a hood can make a big difference. The black lenses all take either hard to find 46mm filters, or easy to find 49mm filters. I use a 49mm tiffen metal hood with a 46 to 49 step up ring for the 80 and 135 lenses. The 65mm lens will vignette with a screw on a hood or filter, so try to find one of the specific Mamiya hoods for this or the 55 mm lens. These hoods clamp to the outside of the lens barrel. I epoxied a 67mm filter ring (no glass) to the inside of the box-shaped 65mm hood, and I attach filters to that and they don't vignette. I chose 67mm just because I already had a bunch of them for other lenses.
Except for some of the 105mm lenses, the viewing lenses have no aperture, so there is no depth of field preview. The web page referenced above links to a postscript program that prints out a depth of field calculator wheel. I printed this out and laminated it. This is the easiest device I've seen for managing depth of field with this system. I tend to trust depth of field scales more than dim stopped down images on ground glass, so this works well for me.
For users experienced only with 35mm, the depth of field you get with medium format can be a shock. It's narrow. Plan on stopping down about two stops more than you would if shooting 35mm. Keep reading for my comment on tripods.
If you hold down the shutter release and wind the film, the film does not stop at the next frame, it just winds on. This is a feature not a bug. It lets you wind off a partially exposed roll of film quickly. If you start winding the film and you don't realize your cable release is locked, it seems like a bug.
My 330-F bodies are somewhat sensitive to early pressure on the shutter release. Push it down slightly and release, and the double exposure prevention kicks in and locks the shutter release. For many years, I kept the single/multi control at multi and avoided this problem. If you do this, you have to be really careful when changing lenses to make sure both the lens and body are in matching states: shutter cocked and film wound, or shutter not cocked and film not wound. You won't jam up anything like you can with a Hasselblad, but you can easily get double or blank exposures.
As with all cameras, for maximum sharpness, use a tripod. Many people talk about how easy it is to handhold a TLR or rangefinder at slow speeds. Maybe it's true, but I'm not convinced. I've taken nice pictures hand held, but all of the framed 11x14 enlargements on my wall were made with cameras bolted securely to tripods.
The Mamiya TLR is not a perfect camera. What is? But it works well for a lot of applications. I think it's wonderful for individual, or two person portraits with the 135mm lens. It was a wedding photographer favorite for many years, and I've done some nice landscape and travel photographs with it.
Medium format has been called the great compromise format. The TLR would not be my first choice for sports photography, and when I'm chasing my kids, I use 35mm, or a Fuji 6x9 rangefinder. I can get more detailed landscapes on 4x5, when I have space to carry it.
I haven't really watched the change in prices over the years. I've heard a comment that the market has crashed for Mamiya TLR equipment lately -- no demand for something with no meter, motor or flashing LEDs. If that's so, I consider it good news for me. I'm not selling mine, and maybe I can find a good cheap 250 mm lens now.
Revised: 19 August 1998
Mike's done a very nice job -- I also went the Mamiya TLR route to medium format and have been very pleased with the results. One point to emphasize; Medium Format in general has a more limited range of lenses than 35mm, and the TLR system is even more limited. The widest lens is 55mm (roughly 30mm in 35mm format terms) and the longest is 250 (roughly 135 in 35 format), and while I've never used a 250, it doesn't seem to be very popular (their next longest lens, the 180 Super, has a fantastic reputation. I have one, and it is very sharp).I've also noticed the prices dropping.
If you can live with the lens choice and don't plan to shoot fast action, this has to be the least expensive way to get into quality interchangeable lens Medium format.
-- Matt Orth, August 22, 1998
I have shot many, many weddings with my Mamiya C220 system. IMHO, it may be the best system available for lower priced weddings and portraits. Whole systems can be had for the price of a single Hasselblad or Rollei SLR body, let alone lenses.The cameras are very relaible, as they are simple. If a shutter dies, just use a different lens until your is fixed.
Switching between 120 and 220 is easy, at least on my C220. No seperate parts to get lost of broken. Just turn one knob and then turn the pressure plate 90 degrees.
I use the 65mm for most of the shots at a wedding, and carry a 135mm for portraits. While the shutter is quiet, the film advance is not. I carry a Leica M3 with a 35 and 90mm lenses for shooting during the ceremony, to keep the noise down.
I always use the chimney finder on my C220, as it makes the image much easier to see and focus. The mirror finders are dim, and the pentaprism is heavy, and does not show the whole image. They are generally best avoided for most work.
For closeups, Mamiya made a paralax corrector that works well if your subject is stationary and you are using a tripod.
With lower prices, I may be adding to my system. Overall, one of the best "bang for the buck" camera systems available.
-- Colin Povey, September 28, 1998
Having used a C330S for years but always wanting a polarizer, I have recently Bought a Leica flip-up polarizer for the mamiya. And yes it works like it was made for it!Mabey someday I will own a Leica!It works on the 55, 80, 105(Ithink mamiya`s best lense),180 &250 ,which I own. Idon`t think it will work on the 65.
-- Jeff Philbrook, October 5, 1998
I have modified my C220 to take 360 degree panoramic photos. To do this yourself, install an in-camera mask with a 1mm(1mm X 58mm) slit directly over the 6cm X 6cm exposure area. If the camera was laying on its side, the 1mm slit would be perpendicular to the ground. Load film as normal. Set aperature like you were using an exposure of 1/60th, but set shutter speed to "B." Place the camera on a tripod, on its side with the wind knob facing upwards. The tripod should have a fluid movement in its panning ability. Start the exposure by releasing and locking the shutter to the open "B" position. Now here is the tricky part: Turn the wind advance at a rate of about 1 turn per 2 seconds while also panning the camera on the tripod in a counter-clockwise direction. Finish one pan(360 degrees) in about 10 seconds Please note that these speeds and measurements are only approximate and are based on using 100ASA film and an 80mm lens. By doing this procedure by hand like described here, results may be less than perfect. Variations in speeds of panning and winding will cause stretched and squeezed image properties. Maybe not perfect images, but certainly interesting. I have attached a motor to the wind knob with pretty good results. Have fun!Todd
-- Todd E. Gaul, November 22, 1998
The Mamiya tlr is still a great learning and classic system, glad to see the comment on being able to view the subject at the time of exposure, which is why I still use my C330s for weddings. I have caught quite a few people with closed eyes nicely illuminated by the flash.I began shooting weddings with a Rollei, went to the C220 and finally the C330S.
The Mamiya series is much easier to load, especially with a flash bracket, if you can remember how to release the back.
Biggest problems were: First- trying to zone focus, with the strange and hard to read footage scales-- there was a device that fit over the focus knob and had an easy to read scale.
Second, the parallax is severe enough that on the C220 I emphasized the line in the viewfinder with Orange grease pencil, which I wiped off just before I sold it. I had cut heads at ten feet before using this. The C330 has a red line.
Third, look for a split image screen if you need to focus reasonably fast in lower light conditions. People at weddings are not patient.
Fourth, look out for fungus in lenses from down south, OTOH, it will drop the price and give you that soft focus?
I never had a complaint about the lenses, had to have one cleaned to bring up the speeds, I glued my Sync as well. I do recommend spending a few extra bucks and buy the C330F or S, the extra features are worth it.
John
-- John Fleshin, November 25, 1998
Not that I want to send any business across town or anything, but at the Mamiya website (www.mamiya.com) there is a very compehensive, well structured, and active user forum for medium-format users. Check it out.
-- Hugh Macaulay, December 18, 1998
I had a Mamiya C330 pro-s (f?) in mint condition with 55mm, 80, and 135mm (Black)lenses + paramender... and sold it... The reason I sold it... profit and I wasn't using it enough. Now, I really wish I hadn't sold it. I bought the system for only $800 Cdn...!!!! Sold it for quite a bit more than I bought it. But now... I wish I hadn't. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! Oh well... I have a few nice chromes and B&W negs... A great system... just add an incident meter!
-- David Bindle, January 11, 1999
David, sorry to hear about your decision to ditch your C330. I recently acquired one and am having a ball! One little quirk that I'm running into, though, is parts. I'm having some work done on the parallax indicator and, if my repair guy can't improvise (as he usually can) then I'm faced with a somewhat daunting expense. But, hey, the quality of those big ol' negs is worth it.
-- Hugh Macaulay, January 14, 1999
I've acquired a C330F with 55, 80 and 135 lenses. The 55 and 135 seem great, though the 80 is VERY soft at the edges - I think this lens has seen heavy use, and is possibly damaged, as the X-M selector is glued down and the shutter speeds are slow.I've got a British photography book from the early 1960s which states that the 65mm lens 'is one of the sharpest ever to come out of Japan'.
-- Matt Bigwood, May 23, 1999
I've been using a C330 for 3 years and have been quite pleased with the system. I have obtained negatives that enlarged nicely to 16x20 for an exhibit of landscapes earlier this year. Flare with the 55mm lens has been a problem as I have not been able to locate a suitable lens hood. In addition, I find the lack of depth of field markings on the lens a bother, as I keep having to refer to tables. Overall, for less than the price of one lens for a Haselblad, I have a sturdy camera and 3 lenses that seem to do the job.
-- Ken Rowin, July 19, 1999