Shel: I've used a Mamiya TLR (C3) for four years; first got it for studio portraiture, at which it excels, and have lately been using it more and more for candid portraits, landscape and even street photos. I've got the 135/4.5 and 65/3.5 lenses, with shades. The only other goodies I've bought for it are a porrofinder (prism-like viewfinder using mirrors; I seldom use it) and a Stroboframe 120 bracket. Total cost of entire system, $800. I could probably sell it today for at least that much.
My observations: 1. Image quality is excellent. There may be other reasons to spend lots more money for a different system, but image quality is not among them. 1b. Lens shades are not a luxury. Perhaps that's because the Mamiya coatings are not as good as Pentax, but more likely because I'm routinely shooting from right next to big silver umbrellas, spilling light like crazy into the lens. 2. Square format rocks, though that grew on me only gradually. I do all my portraits that way now and am starting to explore landscape possibilities in square holes. Wish I could buy square paper. 3. Adding the Stroboframe grip/bracket improves handling immeasurably for hand-held work. A neck strap helps, too. A big clunky TLR -- yes, it's a heavy camera, though so is the P67 -- is surprisingly good for street work, because it makes you look eccentric and harmless. 4. Parallax is a slight problem for anything closer than head and shoulders portraits. Doesn't take too long to figure this out, though, and compensate. The screen in my C3 is marked at the top for close-range work. I believe the spendier C330 has a moving indicator, though I'm not sure. I've never used a Paramender, the name of the parallax corrector, but I don't have much interest in macro work. 5. MF is truly a wonderful step up from 35mm, a different and much richer environment. It's slower, but largely because the system I'm using is all manual. Which leads to my last thought: 6. I love the Mamiya system and will probably never part with it. But if I can sell enough photos this year I plan to celebrate by buying a Pentax 645n. And then possibly retiring my PZ-1p and LX to occasional backup work. Auto-focus and auto-exposure MF photography would be a blast, and I would love to leave 35mm for occasional grainy flings. Let us all know where you spend your money. Happy 2002 Bob Keefer - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
