Is my Mamiya 6 broken?

[KyleCharles]

Hi all,

I recently acquired one of my dream cameras, a Mamiya 6 body with cap and -2 or -3 diopter at a garage sale for the amazing price of only $10! It is in decent condition overall. The meter seems to work. The camera has obviously been dropped, but the door opens and closes with no problems. The finder is clean with only a little dust.

I am familiar with the awesomeness of this camera, and also the problems with it's less than robust film advance. The cap that covers the screw which attaches the advance lever is missing. With no film in it and no lens attached, the advance lever can be advanced over and over again. The take up spool does advance with the lever.

Is this normal or does this demonstrate a problem with the advance?

Is there any way I can tell if the advance works properly without a lens? (at this time I cannot afford to buy an expensive lens for a broken camera)

Any idea what a fair price would be for the diopter? (I imagine these are quite hard to find)

Who is the best person to send it to for a CLA/repair? (I understand that problems with this camera can often not be fixed) I am in the U.S.

I have downloaded and read the owner's manual. Unless I have missed something, I have not been able to find any answers there.

Thank you all for any input!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Does it need to have a film in it to work? I don't know about this one, but some cameras do. This is much likelier than having to have a lens fitted.

Cheers,

R.

 

[john_s]

The diopters are stock items at B&H, $19.95. Auction prices about half that. Two white dots is -2, three white dots is -3. Red dots are for +ve diopters.

It is normal for the advance to be free to be operated repeatedly without film, so your camera could be ok.

 

[lonemantis]

I'm pretty sure it works like the Mamiya 7, where film needs to be loaded for the shutter to fire and film to advance. You could sacrifice a roll of film to try it out.

The missing plastic part of the lever and cosmetic issues shouldn't cause a problem. If the shutter fires with the back open, then you should be fine!

 

[t.s.k.]

Forget the advance for a minute.
At this point you don't know if the electronics are fully operable without a lens since the body has no shutter. You'll most certainly need a lens to see if the camera works.

There's really only one guy in the US who has the obsolete parts to completely rebuilt an M-6. Bob Watkins at http://www.precisioncameraworks.com should be able to get it up and running...but at a cost.

And you don't need film to dry fire the shutter. Just leave the back and dark slide open...again, you'll need an operable lens to complete the shutter circuit. To test the advance however, it should be loaded with film.

 

[KyleCharles]

Well, that is pretty much what I was thinking/hoping you guys would say. I guess it's time to find a nice 50mm for it.

Thank you all for the input!

 

[cody.wms]

Just to further clarify (if needed) the film advance will go and go when the back door is open. The counter will only be activated once you shut the door. Then the camera will only advance to 12 or 24 (if it set on 120 or 220, respectively) before letting you wind the remainder of the paper.

I had one body that winded freely with the door open, but would get stuck when loaded with film. you had to hit the side release button to advance it. This wasn't apparent without film in it, so you may have winding problems once you get it going. But you won't know without a lens.