logo
Close
Shop
Back
Typewriters
Back Portable Desktop Other
Sale Items eBay Store
Photo Lab
Back Send Us Your Film Photo Lab Services Pricing Services FAQ Mailing Your Film FAQ Printable Order Form Printable Services Pricelist Digital Printing Image Analyzer
Sell Your Gear
Back Sell Your Gear Consignments: How it Works Consignment FAQ
Culture
Back Museum Codex Meet the Staff Customer Shows Social Landing Page Press Links Manifesto E-Mail Newsletter Signup
Support
Back Consignment FAQ Shipping FAQ Privacy Policy Return Policy
Contact Us
Account
Back Log In/Register
Get Social
Back Instagram Facebook X / Twitter Discord
Return to Museum Home

Mamiya C33

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 C33 was released in 1965 and was the fourth camera in this system.  Improvements introduced with the C33 (and retained on the C330) included a self-cocking shutter.  Prior versions of this camera had a separate film advance, but for C33 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 C33 a parallax correction needle that moved up and down on the focusing screen as the photographer focused the front standard.

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.

ar/js
logo

Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc

All rights reserved ©2024, Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc