Mamiya C3 with 8cm F2.8 lens and finder.

The Mamiya C3 was the third development of the C released in 1962 as a part of the Mamiya C series of interchangeable lens medium format TLR cameras. The C3 was a major update to the C system. It was the version that became popular with amateur and professional photographers and was the foundation for the success of the following models. It improves upon the Mamiya C2 by having a winding crank instead of the knob design. It was replaced with the Mamiya C33 in 1965. Upon release of the camera a new series of chrome lenses was introduced. These are different from the previous version as the shutter has been changed to the Seikosha-S type. It now supports a maximum shutter speed of a 1/500 sec  with modern speed stops of 1, ½ , ¼, 1/8, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, and 1/500 sec.  Compared to the previous C2 the lens lock is now located on the left hand site of the body. Within the lens lock is a reminder to select ASA speed. The lock hinge is now on the right side. The cable release socket is relocated from the center to the top of the release slider.  The film counter now has a dedicated window on the right hand side of the body. Multi-exposure is a new feature that can be controlled with a knob located by the advance crank. The right side has a depth of field distance scale for the 65mm and 80mm lenses. The left side has a additional distance scales as well as an exposure correction scale. Starting with the C3 model until the release of the C330 , leatherette was not used for covering, instead a proprietary Mamiya covering was used with a tiny raised letter M.