My first impression was dominated by the surprise of just how big and heavy the camera is. Even if that was a particularly good deal, in general these cameras seem to be rather undervalued today.
Even a “fires and winds, untested further“ description didn’t scare me off but it seems other bidders weren’t so determined – I ended up paying less than 20 euro for the body with a standard 55/1.8 lens. I kept an eye out for them and when I noticed this lovely black Mamiya DSX 1000B – they usually come in silver and I’m of the opinion that every camera looks much better in black, you see – it was finally time to get one. Partially because of the famous brand, but also because some models feature a spot meter – not something you see in just any old SLR. Sometimes for a good reason, sometimes not so much.Īdmittedly I’m a bit of a hipster, always looking for something outside the trend, and these M42 Mamiyas interested me for a good while.
Our community likes to focus on certain brands and models and still keeps them in the spotlight many decades after they were made, while other cameras are not so fortunate. From what I read the Mamiya 35mm SLRs sold quite well, yet they seem largely forgotten today. Some film photography enthusiasts might not even know that the company also produced many 35mm cameras back in the day. In the modern day, the Mamiya name is pretty much synonymous with medium format cameras.