ay mamiya

The other day my friend Julia made me very happy by sending me a very special gift. For quite a while now I’ve been dreaming about a more flexible medium format camera to extend my range of possibilities a bit more and thanks to Julia’s generosity I have now exactly this kind of tool, a Mamiya C220! It not only has interchangeable lenses but also bellows which make close-ups possible. It opens up several new possibilities of which the wide-angle lenses are probably the most enticing and I’m looking forward to exploring those further with time. For now I have mostly played with close-ups trying to figure out the parallax and exposure correction. After playing around with it a bit inside on a rainy day I finished off the roll in the park today. I was so excited to see the pictures that I developed the roll as soon as we got back and scanned them as soon as they were dry. I’m seriously impressed with what this camera can do. Thank you, Julia, for your kindness!

All pictures taken with: Mamiya C220, Mamiya Sekor 80mm f/2.8 S.
RPX400 stand-developed in Caffenol-CL.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Obligatory TLR self portrait. I also tried a portrait of my husband, but apparently still had the lens lock on, not knowing what it was.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

First close-up attempt. This was taken before I figured out that I needed some exposure correction, so it was a bit underexposed. The second attempt was correctly exposed but badly framed. I still need more practice!

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Those white specks are not dust but flies. The one towards the left right above the stone thing is actually pretty much in focus. Catching a fly at this tight a depth of field. Ninja style!

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

This one turned out exactly how I wanted it. And it definitely wouldn’t have worked with the Rollei.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

The exact spot for this frame was picked by my husband. He chose very well indeed! I like the balanced light dark juxtaposition with the wall to mark the border.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Super tight depth of field, focus spot on where I wanted it. I love this camera!

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Some sort of meditation? There was also a guy doing tai chi, but he was wearing dark clothes with a dark background. I didn’t think it would work unless I interrupted him, so I passed on it.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Slightly different perspective. These kinds of shots are pretty difficult to frame with a TLR, so I’m quite happy with the outcome.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

And one for Julia who loves little fur balls. I was waiting for him to turn and look at me, but then this lady appeared and it was now or never. I had to refocus and release very quickly. And it worked!

Comments

  • Julia McClelland

    How wonderful to see these photos taken with Bob’s camera and a few mentions about my kindness. I am thrilled that it’s being used now and I am sure that Bob would have approved at my choice of what to do with his favourite medium format camera. They look good particularly for the first film.

    • I’m glad that you think Bob would have approved your choice of home for his Mamiya! I’ll try to do it justice! And I also think that these turned out well for the first film in a new camera. But then, it’s a wonderful camera, no surprises there! Thank you again! 🙂 As for the first roll: I guess it helped that I already had some experience with my Rollei. The bellow focus is the only real difference, everything else is very similar.

  • Brian Bothwell

    The camera looks huge in your hands! It’s nice that Bob’s Mamiya has found a nice home, I can remember how thrilled he was with his first one of these, bought back around 1980!

    • It is a rather a beast of a camera for my hands, but boy is it beautiful! And Bob was probably as thrilled with his first Mamiya as I am with this one! It’s in such nice shape too! Just lovely! 🙂

  • Pavel P.

    number 4…!

    • Agreed, it’s also my favourite 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Pavel!

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