Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Mamiya C3 / C33

Mamiya · Mamiya TLR mount · 6×6cm on 120 film, 12 exposures; the C33 also takes 220 (24 exposures) with a separate 220 back, and a single-sheet back (English Wikipedia; Japanese Wikipedia; Patterson) · 1962

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Mamiya C3 · Mamiya C33 · Mamiya C3 Professional · Mamiya C33 Professional · Mamiya C-3 · Mamiya C-33 · マミヤ C3 · マミヤ C33

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
C3 Professional Mamiya TLR 1962–1965 — No figure published by any source consulted
C33 Professional Mamiya TLR 1965–1969 — No figure published by any source consulted
  1. The C3's launch month is February 1962 in English Wikipedia and September 1962 in Patterson and the shiura.com list; the year is not in dispute. See `disputed`.
  2. The set and body prices in yen come from one hobbyist's model list on the shiura.com forum (post 993, 2017); no other source consulted prints them, so they are single-source. No US price was found.
  3. Weights: 1,829 g for the C3 and 1,810 g for the C33 (English Wikipedia), 1,810 g body for the C33 (Patterson) and 2,040 g with 80mm (English Wikipedia's C330 article); English Wikipedia's 93 mm width for the C3 is carried as printed. Kamerastore's 1,700 g and 112 × 118 × 110 mm for a C33 are a shop listing and are not carried.
  4. 220 on the C33: English Wikipedia and Japanese Wikipedia say a different back was required; Patterson adds that early bodies could not take it without modification, that the manual ties the ability to H-prefix serials, and that 220 film only appeared in late 1965. The C3 is 120 only.
  5. Lens fit: Patterson notes that the original 1/400 Seikosha-MX pairs and some Seikosha-S 180mm pairs will not fit the C33 or any later self-cocking body, because the lens cocking arm sits higher and fouls the auto-cocking lever; they fit the C3.
  6. No production figure was found for either body.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Nameplate 'Mamiya C3 Professional' or 'Mamiya C33 Professional'; no 'Mamiyaflex'
  • Crank on the right: a knob-wind body is a C2, C22 or C220
  • C3 cocks with a lever on the lens; the C33 cocks with the crank, so a C33 has no separate cocking motion
  • C33 has a distance-scale window on the right side of the body and a needle at the left of the screen; the C3 has engraved plates on the standard and no needle
  • Raised-M covering on both, often grey on the C3; the C330 that followed has plain leatherette and lift-out screens

C3 Professional:

  • 'Mamiya' name above the lens mount, the first body without 'Mamiyaflex' (English Wikipedia; camera-wiki)
  • Crank on the right side with a partial 360° stroke that returns to rest; shutter still cocked by a lever on the lens (Patterson; camera-wiki)
  • Lens lock on the left side with an ASA film-speed reminder window; lock hinge on the right; cable-release socket moved to the top; dedicated film-counter window on the right (camera-wiki)
  • Multiple-exposure knob; depth-of-field scales for the 65 and 80mm on the right, distance and exposure-correction scales on the left (camera-wiki)
  • Mamiya's own covering with a tiny raised M, grey on many bodies (camera-wiki; English Wikipedia's 'gray leather body'; shiura.com's grey vinyl cloth); black resin focus knobs replacing the white anodised ones (shiura.com)
  • Accessory shoe at the upper left; the body is wider than the C2 (shiura.com; Patterson)

C33 Professional:

  • 'Mamiya C33 Professional' nameplate; the crank cocks the shutter as it winds and stops automatically (camera-wiki)
  • Parallax and exposure-factor indicator needle at the left of the ground glass, moving with the bellows (camera-wiki; shiura.com)
  • Distance-scale window on the right side of the body for the 65 and 80mm; 105 (chrome), 135 and 180mm scales on the left bellows plate, some with 55 and 250 added (camera-wiki)
  • Parallax knob with settings for the 80, 105, 135 and 180mm (camera-wiki); sports-finder frame doubled for 65 and 80mm (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Red window with a cover on the back, used only to confirm film is loaded (camera-wiki); raised-M covering; 1/4-inch tripod thread (Patterson; Krasnov)
  • Serial on the front face or upper surface of the lens-mount 'chin'; an H prefix marks a 220-capable body according to the manual (Patterson)

Specifications

Format
6×6cm on 120 film, 12 exposures; the C33 also takes 220 (24 exposures) with a separate 220 back, and a single-sheet back (English Wikipedia; Japanese Wikipedia; Patterson) · 12 on 120; 24 on 220 with the C33's 220 back exposures
Finder
fixed folding waist-level hood with magnifier and sports finder; the hood takes masks for the other focal lengths on the C3 (Patterson) and carries a double 65/80mm sports frame on the C33 (Japanese Wikipedia); the C-series Porrofinder and prism fit in its place · C3: a scale in the finder used with the exposure-correction scale on the left of the bellows (Patterson); C33: an automatic needle beside the ground glass that follows the bellows and gives the exposure factor, with a knob set for the lens in use, and a correction plate for the 55 and 65mm (camera-wiki; Krasnov) parallax correction
Shutter
none in body; leaf shutter in each lens pair — Seikosha-S on the chrome lenses introduced with the C3, Seiko on the black series; cocked by a lever on the lens on the C3, by the wind on the C33 · 1s–1/500, B (Seikosha-S: 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 per camera-wiki) · flash sync all speeds (leaf shutter); X and M selector on the lens
Film advance
crank with a partial 360° stroke, reversed to rest, with double-exposure prevention and a multiple-exposure release (C3); the same crank also cocks the shutter on the C33, turning clockwise to the stop and back (Patterson; shiura.com)
Back
removable back with a covered red window; sheet-film back option on both; a separate 220 back on the C33 (Patterson; Japanese Wikipedia)
Meter
none
Motor drive
Not compatible
Weight
1829 g
Dimensions
93 × 159 × 108 and 1,829 g for the C3, from English Wikipedia, which does not say what is included and whose 93 mm width looks like a body-only or misprinted figure; 1,810 g for the C33 (English Wikipedia; Patterson, body only) and 2,040 g with the 80mm (English Wikipedia's C330 article) mm
Country
Japan
Original price
¥39,800 for the C3 set with 105mm f/3.5 and case (¥38,300 + ¥1,500), body only ¥23,600, September 1962; ¥49,800 for the C33 set with 105mm f/3.5 and case (¥48,000 + ¥1,800), body only ¥33,300, April 1965 — from a model list on the shiura.com camera forum, single source (today ¥212,000)
Accessories
Lens pairs: 65mm f/3.5, 80mm f/2.8, 105mm f/3.5, 135mm f/4.5, 180mm f/4.5 in the chrome Seikosha-S series; 55mm f/4.5 and 250mm f/6.3 later, with a scale retrofit for the C3 (camera-wiki; Patterson); a Kominar 80mm f/3.7 on some early C3 outfits (Japanese Wikipedia) · Sheet-film back on both; 220 back for the C33 (Patterson; Japanese Wikipedia) · Porrofinder and prism finder, finder masks, Paramender, grips, lens hoods (C-series accessories that fit these bodies)

Focusing screens are fixed on both bodies; the C33's is screwed in place (Patterson). No meter.

Where sources disagree

Announced
  • February 1962 — English Wikipedia's Mamiya C article
  • September 1962 — Patterson's system summary (9/1962); shiura.com model list (Showa 37, September)

The year is agreed by every source; only the month differs, and it is not used in any field.

Weight (grams)
  • 1,829 g — English Wikipedia, C3, contents unstated
  • 1,810 g — English Wikipedia and Patterson (body only), C33
  • 2,040 g with 80mm — English Wikipedia's C330 article and metergeist, C33

The family figure is the C3's; the C33 figures are carried in the variant and dimensions_mm.

What reviewers say

History

The C3 of 1962 is the Mamiya twin-lens reflex grown up. It kept the Mamiyaflex C2’s interchangeable lens pairs, bellows and straight film path and put them in a wider body with a crank: a partial turn to the right and back that advances the film, counts the frame and locks the release until the next wind, which the C2 had not done. The lens is still cocked by hand with the lever on the shutter. The name on the front changed from Mamiyaflex to Mamiya, the covering to Mamiya’s own material with a tiny raised M, grey on many bodies, the focus knobs from white aluminium to black resin, and an accessory shoe appeared. A new chrome lens series in Seikosha-S shutters arrived with it, 65, 80, 105, 135 and 180mm, all to 1/500 where the earlier MX lenses stopped at 1/400. The lens lock moved to the left side and gained an ASA reminder window, the cable-release socket went to the top and the film counter got its own window. Camera-wiki calls it the version that became popular with amateurs and professionals, and Graham Patterson’s system summary makes it the first of the ‘3’ series, the Professional line, as against the ‘2’ series of knob-wind budget bodies.

The C33 of April 1965 is the C3 automated. The crank now cocks the shutter as it winds, turning clockwise to the stop and back, so there is no separate cocking motion at all; a needle at the left of the ground glass tracks the bellows and shows both the parallax shift and the exposure factor, with a knob set for the lens in use and a correction plate for the 55 and 65mm; the 65 and 80mm distance scales moved into a window on the right side of the body, with the longer lenses on a plate on the left; and the back became interchangeable for 120, 220 or single sheets, making it, with the C22, the first Mamiya TLR to take 220. Patterson’s reading of a C33 repair manual is worth knowing before buying one for 220: the ability was added during production, around the time 220 film reached the market in late 1965, the manual ties it to H-prefix serials, and retrofits muddy the rule. The price of all this was weight. English Wikipedia gives 1,810 g for the body and 2,040 g with the 80mm, and the C330 that replaced it in 1969 was designed 340 g lighter.

The published numbers are what they are. English Wikipedia’s 93 × 159 × 108 mm and 1,829 g for the C3 come without a statement of what is included, and the 93 mm width reads like a body without knobs or a misprint; it is carried as printed. The set prices come from a single Japanese forum list, ¥39,800 for a C3 with the 105mm f/3.5 and case in September 1962 and ¥49,800 for the C33 in April 1965, with bodies at ¥23,600 and ¥33,300. The C3’s launch month is February in English Wikipedia and September in Patterson and the Japanese list. No production figure exists for either.

Identification is by the wind and the finder. Both say Mamiya on the nameplate; a body that says Mamiyaflex is a C or C2, and a knob-wind body with the Mamiya name is a C22 or C220. Cock the lens by hand and wind: a C3 needs both, a C33 only the crank. The C33 has the scale window on the right side and the needle beside the screen; the C3 has engraved plates on the standard and no needle. What to check is the lens first, because the shutter, cocking lever and sync selector live there: run every speed, and on a C33 make sure the auto-cocking engages every lens you intend to use, since the original MX pairs and some Seikosha-S 180mm pairs sit their cocking arm too high for it and fit only the C3 and earlier bodies. Then the bellows at full extension, the interlock (a release that trips on first pressure without firing is a worn body), the frame spacing, the back catch and, on a C33, whether the cocking actually happens on every stroke, which is the fault that sent Camera Go Camera’s example back to its seller. The tripod thread is 1/4-inch on both, not the 3/8 of the C330f.

The reviews split the same way the two models do. Sasha Krasnov calls the C33 the most successful body in the whole line and warns about forgetting the needle; Mateusz Kaźmierczak at GRAIN calls it the only option for a TLR with lenses to change and is thinking about an RB67 for portraits; Tony Warren, writing on 35mmc about every TLR he has owned, regrets selling his. The C3’s reviewers, Jorge Ferrufino and Kampermann, praise its build and the sharpness of a camera with no mirror, and file it as a studio and tripod camera because of the dim screen at long extension and the parallax. Either body takes every later lens and finder, which is the practical case for the pair: a C33 costs less than a C330 and does nearly everything it does, and a C3 is the cheapest way into the system with a crank.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Mamiya C3 / C33
Mamiya C3 Professional — Ashley Pomeroy, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Mamiya C3 / C33
Mamiya C33 Professional, front — MagnoliaPower, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Mamiya C3 / C33
Mamiya C33 Professional with the 135mm f/4.5 pair — alexkerhead, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $200 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $190–$220). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 13 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-21. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Mamiya C22 · Mamiya C220 · Mamiya C330 · Mamiyaflex C / C2

Sources (23)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.