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Mamiya C330 / C330 Pro F / C330 Pro S

Draw a Venn diagram of medium format cameras with one circle being interchangeable lens cameras and the other being twin lens reflex (TLR) cameras.  Not much of an overlap is there?  But if you look very closely, there's one set of cameras at that intersection: the Mamiya C series.  Beginning with the Mamiyaflex C, Mamiya introduced a series of ten TLRs between 1956 and 1983 that became as sought-after for their durability as for their ability to make impressive images.

All of the Mamiya C Series cameras feature automatic film loading and advancing, which was fairly standard in the medium format cameras of the day.  What separates these cameras from others is that the film never has to make any bends as it feeds from the supply spool to the take-up spool.  This helped the film stay especially flat and with the pressure plate on the rear door, these cameras are remarkable in their ability to keep the film plane very flat.

The most striking feature of the Mamiya C cameras, though, are the bellows.  With an especially long bellows draw, the Mamiya C cameras can achieve remarkably close focus.

The lenses that Mamiya created for these cameras run the gamut from 55mm to 250mm focal lengths.  Given that range, there's almost no shooting situation that these cameras can't handle.

The Mamiya C330 was released in 1969 and was the seventh camera in this system.  Improvements introduced with the C3 (and retained on the C33 and C330) included a self-cocking shutter.  Prior versions of this camera had a separate film advance and, but for C330 users, advancing the film and re-cocking the shutter were combined.

As with all TLR cameras, the problem of parallax needed to be addressed.  Mamiya gave users of the C330 a parallax correction needle that moved up and down on the focusing screen as the photographer focused the front standard.

The C330 in particular has interchangeable focusing screens so that users are able to choose between six different screens.  Several types of hoods and prism finders are also available.  All of these features add up to a camera system that may be configured for virtually any photo shoot from studio to street.

Even with the incremental changes and advancements that Mamiya rolled out in the nearly three decade production run of the Mamiya C Series, it's a cinch that any one of these cameras can provide years of use and enjoyment.  With more lens options than any other TLR and closer focusing than other SLRs, Mamiya C users will not have to pick one part of the Venn diagram.

Mamiya rolled out two updates to the original C330. The C330 Professional f added a second shutter release button on the "chin" of the camera and uses the Type 2 waist level finder. The C330 Professional S made use of a different style focusing screen that was not compatible with earlier models of the C330 and Mamiya removed the interchangeable film back.

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