Mamiya C33

 

Another camera from my collection. A Mamiya C33 which was made sometime between 1965 and 69, here sporting a waist level and Porroflex finder - the latter for eye level viewing. The lens is somewhat more recent. 

 

I bought it for a song back in 2004 when film cameras suddenly became worthless overnight and digital finally started to become affordable and a genuine alternative to film. Hopefully electric cars will do that at some stage. That’s a story for another day though. 

 

It replaced a C33 I had in the early 1990s which was stolen when I lived in an attic just off Clapham Common in one of those big Edwardian houses. I’m surprised the burglars found their way up there. That was my Quasimodo era, which followed on from being a cherub. 

 

I’ve been holding back putting film through it due to fungus in the taking lens. It tends too take hold in the aperture chamber part, maybe because moisture and spores can access that section more easily. 

 

As recommended having purchased hydrogen peroxide and ammonia to clean the glass, I removed the lens from the camera and unscrewed the rear optic cluster (an easy job). And much to much surprise the fungus wiped completely away with a lens cloth and a few blows with a puffer bottle to eject any dust.

 

To get to the glass element the other side of the leaf shutter, I locked shutter open on B at full aperture and performed the same task. A little nerve racking, but the cable release has a good locking screw. Reassembly took 2 minutes. 

 

 

The lens is simply pristine now. I think I was lucky, but I’m sure those nasty chemicals can be used for household chores, and of course if I’d had to use them the glass elements would have had to been completely removed from the lens prior to soaking. 

 

This will be the next camera to have a roll of film put through it once I’ve replaced the light seals later today. A 15 minute job, and as always, click on the images to enlarge.