Surprising find, love at first click
By James Murphy
11 Oct 2009
I picked up this wonderful gem online a few months back for next to nothing. I was looking for a classic film SLR that had a widely used lens mount so I could have plenty of options for accessories. I stumbled upon our little guy here and did research on it since I had never really seen a Mamiya 35mm camera in action.
I have only had the opportunity to put one roll of Kodak Portra 400vc through it, and I am still getting used to the total manual control of this camera. I do like the overall feel of this camera a lot. It is very well built and it is pretty heavy. The camera only required one LR44 battery for the meter, which works and has been tested as accurate. The dual metering is a nice feature as well.
If you can find one of these cameras at a good price, I think it will make a great minimalist addition to your M42 mount SLR Collection as a spare body, or maybe even replace it.
The only thing I though would be a drawback is the lack of any kind of flash shoe, that has only made me think more about exposure with available light. The lenses it came with were a standard Mamiya/Sekor 50mm lens and a Vivitar 200mm Telephoto lens. I use the Telephoto lens more then I thought I would after discovering how versatile this lens really is, The 50mm lens is in great shape I just haven't found a reason to use it yet.
Along with my Yashica FX-D SLR this mighty beast has found itself a home in my camera bag, and may just replace the Yashica as my go to SLR. She is a real joy of a camera to use, and M42 lenses are very plentiful, and surprisingly cheap..........
