Hiya, a few people on this list know something of photography so a
photography technical question.
I have just been outbid on a Mamiya C300f with 65mm lens on ebay and
could burst into tears at the disappointment. I used just such a camera
with complete outfit in my younger days until it was stolen and I
brought a big motor bike with the insurance claim instead of replacing
the camera outfit. Perhaps the losing bid was for the best as a winning
bid would have emptied my bank account and I should think of more
practical things like buying food to eat but anyways....
I am after a medium format camera. Hassle-blad is way beyond my money
means (and not called a hassle for nothing) as is any SLR and so have
settled on finding a twin lens reflex like the old Mamiya C330f I know
and love (dated around the 1980s) and in my search have come across an
older still Mamiya C3 with a silver 80mm lens which came into production
in 1962. My question now concerns lens aesthetics. Mamiya has a soft
lens, unlike the European lenses on a Rolleiflex, for example, which
tends to be more hard. However, the older 1960s Mamiya lens has an old
coating and lens flare could be a problem especially in the hard
Australian light since landscape use is one intention. But then again I
do like the idea of using a camera dated in the 1960s and was around
during 1968.
I was wondering if anyone knows of anyone who uses a Mamiya C3 or can
otherwise make some comment on the lens. Just maybe, this Mamiya C3 is
within my very limited means and I hope to god it is not a collectors
item, yet, as I do really want to use it to take photos with. Or should
I hang in and go for a C330? What are my chances of scoring a
Rolleiflex? And 120 and 220 film better not become obsolete? (As an
aside, I still have my super 8 movie camera and rocknroll editor, but
try getting film. Transferring to DV has become much cheaper but will I
have problems convincing a stuck in the mud technician that the footage
shot at 18fps I really do want projected at 24fps and so the DV version
must comply to this.)
If you wonder what this has to do with poetry, almost everything. Still
very slowly working on a multimedia version of Bar-B-Q for starters and
am thinking of starting a new aesthetics movement called retro (for us
experimental types who can't afford the latest technologies.) When I
think about it I could have used the C330f for a couple of weddings and
with a 180mm lens a few portraits and that would have paid for the
camera...mmm and groan, what a drag, but photography pays more then
poetry.
If anyone wants to send me a Hassleblad, I will gladly accept the offer,
all the same. And I don't know if I should laugh or be insulted that a
camera I once used professionally I now have to buy from an antique
dealer. (And if anyone suggests digital I will jump through my obsolete
computer screen and shove a Nikon 8 Megapixel down yer guzzler... and
that is being very polite about it.)
--
Chris Jones <[log in to unmask]>
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