Mamiya C3 Professional TLR camera "honest" review

Detailed hands-on demonstration and detailed review for SLR film camera lovers in 2023.

This video is about Mamiya C3 Professional TLR Medium Format Camera.
Camera lovers be warned: this is an “HONEST” review. I hope you know what I mean. At the beginning, we have an “AI” guest with an alternative review before the HONEST, Human review starts. The AI review was generated automatically without any edits.

Mamiya C3 was introduced in 1962. It is regarded as a robust and flexible professional camera with an important feature which is unusual for Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras: it has interchangeable lenses. It takes the regular 120 film which is still available today. The default negative frame size is 6 x 6 cm. The camera has no electronics of any kind. The unit being demonstrated comes with the 65mm wide angle lens. It has been borrowed from the shelves of the TechHeritage Museum. Other Mamiya camera videos are coming soon. So watch this space.

Mamiya C3 is a masterpiece of minimal and possibly crude industrial design. It gets everything done one way or another, but is not particularly refined in the modern sense of the word. However, in practice it works well and takes great pictures. It just needs the lover, care and attention that I am sure all of you camera lovers will give it in abundance.
I will review every detail of the camera, describe them clearly and give some helpful hints with the occasional slight tinge of criticism, which is expected in an Honest review.

At the TechHeritage Museum we are not tribal and have no brand loyalty. We just love these cameras like archaeological re-discoveries, that you are allowed to touch, admire and preserve. FYI, the film test was done on Kodak Portra 160. The film was processed in C41 chemicals. The film was scanned on Epson Perfection V600 Photo using SilverFast 9 software. The software Negafix setting was set for the default Kodak Portra 160.
We are keen on accuracy. So, if you have any questions, comments or corrections, it will be greatly appreciated. We have over 300 cameras from 1901 to 2015 at the TechHeritage Museum. We will produce videos like this one at the rate of at least one per week until all cameras are preserved not only in the flesh but also online.

If you are interested in preserving the technological heritage of the last 100 years or so, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe and share. TechHeritage Mission Statement TechHeritage is dedicated to the preservation of the Human Consumer Technology in the same manner as experts have been carefully preserving the heritage of ancient civilizations in museums.

Imagine if in Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome there were people who were interested in preserving the consumer technology of that time for the future generations. Imagine if they already had "Future Museums", carefully storing and documenting the best examples of their time in perfect working condition, just for us. The technology of that time may have included pottery, jewel making, glassware, bronze and steel making, astronomy tools and various devices we cannot imagine or believe today.

Currently, we re-discover such objects by digging the ground, separating them from dirt and bones, whilst speculating on how they were made and exactly how they were used. There appears to be some negligence in the preservation of the consumer technology of the last 100 years. There are so many devices that were made barely 40 years ago (which is a blip in the historical scale) which do not work today and it is almost impossible to find a way to make them work. Just looking at them is not enough.

We have over 300 cameras from 1901 to 2015 at the TechHeritage Museum. We will produce videos at the rate of at least one per week until all cameras are preserved not only in the flesh but also online. Similarly, we have over 300 mobile phones from the time of their introduction until the release of iPhone X. We have also started to preserve late, miniature valve radios and early transistor radio/ cassette players. If you do not have any tech heritage to share, at lease share the channel link and encourage others to subscribe. This can be your contribution to the preservation of the human consumer technology of the last 100 years.

Contacts: You can email to the attention of Mr Tech Heritage at: [email protected]