Jammed Mamiya 6

David Noble

David Noble

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If anyone could contribute some wisdom, I have a Mamiya 6 that suddenly will neither allow me to fire the shutter (darkslide open) or remove the lens (darkslide closed).

The film advance lever is also stuck in the cocked position (all the way over, will not return).

The camera is on, the lens appears to be properly mounted, and also fully extended and locked. I have also tried firing the shutter with the film compartment door open and no go.

This seems to exhaust what I can get out of the manual.

Any ideas?
 
Dave,

This is a well known issue with the Mamiya 6. It is a problem with the film advance and requires parts which are no longer available. It has been covered here and on many other forums if you do a google search.
Has happened to me, sorry but start looking for a repairer that has used parts or another body.

Cheers Chavo
 
ouch!!

ouch!!

been there, done that & lived through it.

sounds like your symptoms are of a mechanical nature, but...here's a fix that in the past has cured mechanical & otherwise problems:

1. remove battery, clean contacts on batteries & battery compartment.
2. re-install batteries & reset/reboot camera via the miniscule port on the right side of camera - just below cable release opening.

sorry to hear about your problem. i don't know know if this tip will help or not...

breathe, relax, and enjoy.

kenneth
NEVER FORGET BESLAN
www.neverforgetbeslan.org
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone.

After fooling around with it myself for a few more hours, I took it in to Tempe Camera (I am visiting family in Arizona), where they concurred that it was the deadly film-advance part malfunction and told me I'd have to take it to Mamiya to fix. Will try that when I get back to Tokyo, but I have a bad feeling it will either not be possible or be prohibitively expensive. Given that I just bought it a month ago and have only run about five rolls of film throught it, this is not good news. But the used camera store in Tokyo where I bought it may be of some assistance—a test of Japanese committment to service (which is usually extraordinarily good, in my experience.).

Anyway, if you find yourself in the Phoenix area, Tempre Camera looks like a pretty good place for photo supplies repair, rental, etc.
 
Try calling Mamiya before getting too upset. I have probably read 1,000 posts about the "Deadly Rewind No Parts Anywhere in the World the Sky is Falling" problem. I had an issue with mine a year and half ago - the doom sayers were everywhere by then, and Mamiya replaced the whole rewind assembly and some additional parts for me. No wait, no problem. They could be out of parts, but I'd call and talk to their repair department. They have proven helpful and fast on more than one occasion for me. Good luck.
 
I just talked to Mamiya in the US last week as I needed a replacement cover for the rangefinder adjustment access hole. Yes indeed the entire wind mechanism is no longer available as a replacement part, and neither is the collapsible lens mount assembly. But other parts such as the claw that prohibits advancing the gears after the shot still is. I was informed that in most cases the entire wind mechanism is often not what needs to be replaced unless the camera has suffered extreme damage, such as an impact, to that area. So if this is just binding without any other damage it is most likely fixable.
 
Good info wpb. I'll add that they also don't charge anything for the estimate. It's probably worth the cost of shipping to send it to them and have them diagnose the problem - at least you can be confident that the tech looking at your camera knows what he's talking about.
 
I haven't had a chance since getting back to Japan to take the camera back to the shop I bought it from, but they have a six-month guarantee on used equipment that covers everything up to replacement cost of the camera, so if Mamiya Japan can fix it (and they probably can), I should be fine.

Thanks once again for all the responses.
 
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