5 Frames with a Mamiya C220 and Portra 160 NC – By Trenton Trammell

Buying a new camera is always a hard choice, but it’s even harder when you have to relinquish a current piece of gear to do it. After about 3 months of deciding whether or not I should sell my Mamiya 645 Pro kit, I did. I decided I would buy a Mamiya C220 TLR for two main reasons; I wanted to try my hand at square format compositions, and secondly I wanted to experience the joys of using a TLR.

I had a few rolls of expired Portra 160 NC from 2002 and set out with my new camera. The reversed image in the waist level viewfinder was confusing enough, and it soon became clear that I had taken the luxuries of the modern Mamiya 645 for granted. Nonetheless, I had a blast traversing the streets of Atlanta at golden hour on the lookout for things that catch my eye. Using the 80mm f/2.8 blue dot lens was a familiar experience, but I will soon begin to investigate the other lenses for this model (specifically the 55 mm f/4.5 and the 105 mm f/3.5)

Since the Portra was said to have been refrigerated, I metered my shots at ISO 100 just to be safe. There were few noticeable color shifts, but if I could reshoot the roll, I’d meter at ISO 80 because some of the exposures were just a tad underexposed and grainy due to the age of the emulsion.

I attribute these odd color-shifts to the inconsistency of expired film

The warm tones of this interior at golden hour caught my eye

Even in its old age, this Portra maintains a desirable lack of grain

The 80mm f/2.8 never disappoints

Operating the C220 while leaning backwards wasn’t easy, but it made for a nice perspective

So far I’m a fan of the images and am beginning to embrace the square format. Once I shoot a few more rolls and know the camera like the back of my hand, I’ll share some more! 

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