There's lots written about the Mamiya TLRs on photo.net, some of it even accurate. (i) The best source of Mamiya TLR data is Graham Patterson's encyclopedic treatment (ii) The lenses are good, and some are very good. You will no doubt read photo.net BS about how Brand X glass is 'better', but all that means is the poster owns Brand X.
You should shoot a few dozen rolls to see if the camera fits your style. The Mamiya TLR has a set of features shared with no other camera ever made. (iii) Some people say that Mamiya TLRs have a characteristic pastel rendition of color, which may be true. (I don't use color in 120, so I don't know.) (iv) Everyone will agree you must use a lens hood. If you're shooting into the light, even a lens hood may not save you. (v) The shutters may be difficult or impossible to repair, so if a shutter fails (particularly an old chrome shutter), you may have to replace the whole lens pair. Make some negatives and show us how you get on with it.
Mamiya C330 Professional S + SEKOR 55mm F4.5. Kodak Portra 160NC. Mamiya C330s, 55mm, Fuji NPC 160, expired in 2005. □ by Ansel Olson.
Had the C330 and 330F back in the 70's. Bought them because I felt that my 35 SLR had negs that were too small. So, I used them, as others would use their 35s.
I would get the deluxe grip holder. Makes holding it easier. Never thought of them as too heavy. The paramender is great for closeups. If, you want to take any. They are great cameras.
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Wish I still had all of my 330 equipment from back then. But, I sold them to make guitars. One thing about the lenses. If you ever get a bargain grade lens where maybe the taking lens has damaged threads for a filter for example. Then, you can exchange any part of one lens with the corrosponding glass of the other lens. Did that with my super 180. That was my entry into MF as well.
I got a great deal on a c330 pro f with a 65mm blue-dot lens. I later picked up a 135mm lens, a prism, and a trigger grip. I've loved the system, although currently my main camera is an rb67. I laughed when I read that the c330 was heavy- compared to the rb67, it's my light weight travel companion ). I think the 80mm will be a fine lens for it, and I think you'll love the setup for what you're talking about.
The only caveat would be the 'found objects'. Depending on how close you want to get, framing can be very challenging. You'll definitely learn to error on the side of standing back and cropping later, rather then trying to get framing perfect in-camera and clipping your subject. Those are reasons I went for the rb67 - I was drawn more to the macro side of things too often, and the rb67 keeps the wonderful bellows focusing of the c330. Also, it's tricky to use anything like nd-grads or polarizers, although there are tricks to make that work. I think you'll find that it's a great camera for portraits - the waist level finder is something people aren't used to, and it's so quiet with the leaf shutter that sometimes people don't realize you're photographing. Of the accessories, I think you'll find the handle would help with ergonomics (esp the trigger) and holding steady, and if you use flash at all it gives you a cold shoe.
I don't use the prism much, but as much as I like the waist level finder, it does make it challenging to take any photos from anywhere close to eye level. One thing I'd recommend is to look at the differences between the models.
I'm having trouble finding it now, but I think the pro-f may add bellows factor compensation indicator and parallex estimation to the c330, but you may want to check. Have fun shooting!
Btw, I don't know if you've seen this yet: http://www.photo.net/equipment/mamiya/tlr. Brian, I bought C330 many years ago from Franks Camera in the LA area, and the only problem I have had with it, was my fault. I photographed my nephews wedding, and put the camera, with a Sunpak 520 flash on a washing machine. I started to walk away and pulled it off the washer, where it fell on a concrete floor. Belive it or not, the camera still worked. Took it to Kurt's camera in San Diego, and it works just like new. When I was in the wedding business, this was my main camera, and even though I am no longer doing weddings, I will never sell this camera.
I have the normal,wide angle,a a 180 lens for the camera.
Hi and welcome to APUG. The C330 will work with any flash that triggers using a pc cord.
There are pc synch terminals on each of the lenses, and you need to connect the pc cord to those terminals. There is a cold 'shoe' on the side of the camera, but that isn't really suitable for mounting a flash.
I don't know if Mamiya ever made an electronic flash for the C330. There are older flash bulb holders made by Mamiya, but unless you need flashbulbs for special purposes (cave exploration?) or value the retro 'look', you probably don't want one of them. If you have a Mamiya left hand trigger grip designed for the C330/RB-67, it has a cold shoe on the top that goes well with something like a Vivitar 283. I have one of those grips specially modified to take a Metz 60-CT series flash-head that worked well for on-camera flash when I was shooting weddings.
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As I mentioned, each of the lenses has its own pc synch terminal. Each of those terminals has a M-X switch which is easy to accidentally change. Unless you are using M class flash bulbs, it is important to ensure that the switch is on X when you use an electronic flash. I've encountered a few Mamiya TLR lenses where someone has permanently glued the switch to the X position.
The leaf shutters in the lenses make flash work very satisfying, especially if you like to use fill flash. There is a 3rd Mamiya flash that will work with your TLR - the MZ 18R (GN:18 ASA100/m) which is shoe-mounted and has a fixed, single head. It can also function as a 2 channel slave with the MZ 36R unit which is how I usually use it with the RZ67 Pro. I have both the MZ 18R and MZ 36R, the latter being a highly sophisticated hammer-head unit, and may be selling both as I'm planning to sell most of my Mamiya 6x7 kit now that I've moved up to 6x8. Feel free to get in touch if either unit may be of interest but with such a large variety of readily-available, good quality, old flash units that will work perfectly well, the additional cost of a rare dedicated Mamiya flash may not be justifiable.