Bronica RF645 tempermental?

[Jabash]

I am traveling with a RF645 and it has stopped working. The shutter will not work and the meter comes on sometimes. I am traveling in Alaska now and was wondering if there is anything I can check myself to try to get it going again.

 

[mdelevie]

Sounds like battery issues. The meter, the LCD display, and the shutter all require battery power. Intermittent display and inop shutter would be the first symptoms of low battery voltage.

Do you have a spare set of batteries with you?

If it's not that, do you have a second lens you can try? The shutter is in the lens, so it's highly unlikely that two lenses would both suffer a shutter failure at the same time.

Good luck!

Mark

 

[Jabash]

Hard to find CR2 where I am. I am going to kick myself really had if this was a battery problem (I assumed KEH would give me a good battery).

 

[Ian Murphy]

Possible battery issue

Possible battery issue

You have probably identified the problem by now, but I can't help wondering if this is a case of batteries failing to work well in low temperatures. Is the problem still evident if you take the batteries out and warm them up in your pocket for a while before putting them back in?

 

[sf]

I have had zero problems with my RF645. I bought mine new. No issues except it doesn't like 220 film.

 

[Dougg]

Doesn't like 220? Rather weird, George, how does it indicate this dislike? Neither of mine have any problem with 220 film...

 

[ernie]

Mine does not give any problems with 220 film.

Just after I got it there was a problem of it only giving 15 shots with 120 film; that cleared up after a couple of rolls; however just occasionally it only gives me 15 shots. It is not that it has been loaded incorrectly; I always check that.

One problem I did have was the way I use to hold it for landscape format when using the 45mm eyepiece. I held it to my right eye with my right hand upermost and got a number of over exposed shots. Then I realised that I was covering the meter up with my left hand on the lens.:bang:

 

[jdos2]

I just bought mine today, $1,000 for the 65, 45, Speedlight (such a tiny flash!) and camera. Not bad. Serial numbers in the hundreds. 🙂

Nice, but I need to adjust the vertical offset of the rangefinder. It's a good bit off. Anyone have instructions how to remove the top of the camera?

Oh! The instruction manual mentions the 135mm lens and I have 135 framelines. Were they actually sold, or am I stuck with finding only the 100?

 

[Dougg]

The 135 was indeed sold in small numbers and then recalled, so few remain "out there". I too have one RF645 with the 135 frames, and I'm not sure how badly I "need" that lens... 🙂 Perhaps the rarity and cost of both the 100 and 135mm lenses makes it sort of a non-issue. Oh, and that sounds like a great deal on your new gear! Congrats!

 

[jdos2]

Thanks, Doug!

I found it in a local camera shop. Still tryin' to get the top off. Got the rewind lever off and all screws out of the top, but it still won't come... Screw behind the grip, perhaps.

 

[billbarber]

Mine works great with 220. Not had any problems at all.

 

[RObert Budding]

Mine, too, works fine with 220 film.

 

[jdos2]

HIDDEN COVER SCREW FOUND!

Done! Rangefinder adjusted.

 

[sf]

Doesn't like 220? Rather weird, George, how does it indicate this dislike? Neither of mine have any problem with 220 film...

With 220, it often has frame spacing problems, sometimes jams entirely, leaves very odd misplaced lightleak marks on the frames all the way from edge to edge on the film. Pretty much sucks with 220.

 

[underachiever]

I was having problems with the film advance lever on my RF645 sometimes sticking. I sent it to Tamron in NY and they fixed it and now it works great. The charge was $190.
BTW, I've been using mostly 220 color negative film with it.