Hi there,

I've been in doing photography for two and half years which, OK, is not
very long but I am pretty keen on doing this and feel that it's more than
hobby (which defintely holds true considering the amount of money I use to
spend on it ;-).

I have EOS 330, have been using Olympus E-1 for almost a year and bought
recently EOS 620, an adapter and a bunch of M42 lenses (including Sonnar
200/2.8 and SMS Takumar 1.8/55 - sorry, I just had to brag about this :-).
Anyway, I still feel like there's something lacking and wanted to try
something, erm, different.

Medium format.

The problem is I really can't make up my mind what I should pick up. First
of all, I don't like compromises and don't feel like trading off quality
for the lower price. In fact, prices are *not* that high, actually, and if
tighten my belt - for a time - Mamiya's C-series will be in my reach. I
guess. Hopefully, I will be able to hide the camera somewhere before my
wife finds out.

There's an auction on one of Polish sites to which link is given below:

http://allegro.pl/item142236314_srednioformatowy_aparat_mamiya_c3.html

The guy is selling Mamiya C3 for 1200 PLN (which is about $400; bear in
mind that in the biggest kolkhoz of present times that happens to be called
EU authorities have introduced ridiculously high taxes and prices of all
high-tech items are usually 20% higher compared to US' prices). Anyway,
back to the point.

As you can see, the set includes: the camera and chrome/black lens. And
yes, you see it well, there's no lens hood. Given that, would you still
pick the camera over, say, Yashica 124G without lens hood (Poles tend to
omit this tiny item on auctions, can't tell why)? To give you few more
specific question I look answers for:

* how much does the camera (C3) weight? I wasn't able to google it out,
even on Patterson's site?
* would newer (black) lens fit C3? There's a number of them being auctioned
on ebay, in mint condition, I wonder whether this would allow me to expand
my little set?
* would anyone recommend anything else - apart from Mamiyas, Yashicas,
Flexarets, Rolleicords, old Rolleiflexes (anyone has a spare 6008 and wish
to sell it for, say, two boxes of Polish beer?)?

I've read all the FAQs, FWIW, browsed the archives thoroughly. And CAN'T
MAKE UP MY MIND! (really, need to stop shouting now...)