Mamiya 6 50mm lens and other questions

[andrew moxom]

I am new to this forum, and have a few questions around my Mamiya 6MF. I have used this camera and 3 lens kist for a numebr of years without incident. THe winder on my 6 body is (knock on wood) working fine. However, I noticed today a slight rattle within the 50mm lens when taking it out of my bag to clean with a lens cloth. I checked to make sure the lens cap, and back cap were removed, and could still hear it. I then removed the rear lens element as that is just a screw on piece. The rattle appears to be forward of the iris/shutter, and I am thinking one of front elements must be loose. The larger front element appears to be tight, so it must be the next one in. Is this something that is a mamiya serviceable, or pro repairer job only? Or is it possible for someone with decent tools skills to get at and check?

Also, after reading a recent post on alignment of the RF on teh body. I am noticing that ALL of my lenses appear to focus beyond the indiated infinity mark oni the lens body. The 150mm seems ot be the worst, and the 50, the least which would seem to make sense if the body needs adjusting. Is this the case?

Anyone recommend any decent CLA shops who could adjust my body, and 50mm lens for a reasonable amount? Mamiya seems very spendy.

Thanks

 

[keithwms]

I can offer only my opinion, which is, if you are having a rattling issue with a lens and the cause is not obvious and is causing problems, then why not simply replace it- I doubt that a lens CLA would save much if anything. Is the rattling associated with any actual problems, can you tell?

If you pick up another 50mm lens, then you'll have abackup, and then you might be able to operate on the faulty one. I just doubt that you'll get it properly serviced for less than the cost of an excellent condition used one.

If you're in the US, maybe you can find a shop in New York that'll do a CLA for you. I recall one Russian establishment not far from B&H in New York that was willing to attempt all kinds of odd repairs, but I am afraid I don't remember the name. Maybe if you call B&H, they may have some advice, they have some extremely knowledgeable staff.

As for rangefinder realignment, that can be supposedly done carefully at home, I think Ken Rockwell had something posted on that and he may have advice. But I haven't needed to do it on either of my sixes.

 

[Finder]

There are two issues with calibration:

The rangefinder may need to be calibrated.

The lenses may need to be calibrated.

Mamiya likes just to calibrate the rangefinder to one lens and hope the others will be fine. I found the rangefinder calibration is Ok for the 50 and 75. But the lens calibration for my 150 lens was off. The lens itself had to be calibrated to the rangefinder (rather than the other way around). I may have had a rather dense service person, but it was a chore to get him to do that.

 

[andrew moxom]

I figured out the rattling on the 50mm. It was indeed the front element. I removed fron t and rear caps, and held the aperture pin on the rear of the lens, and the front element with a lens cloth pinched by my forefinger. No rattle. I was then able to move the front element clockwise just a smidgen, and it tightened up. With the lens cloth, I used my thnumb and forefinger inside the cloth to turn the outer ring on the front element, and that did the trick. There is no slotted ring on this element to tighten as in other lenses, so my guess is it's a friction fit deal. Anyway, the problem rattle appears to have gone away after that minor adjustment. For the rangfinder adjustment problem. I am thinking the lenses are okay, but the body is out. The 150 appears to be the most out , and the amount past focus decreases as the lenses get wider. 150, the most, and 50 the least. I called Mamiya, and they quoted a $65 cost to recalibrate the RF. they also recommended that I get the winder looked at and serviced as they are fragile. that whole body refurb would cost $257

 

[Finder]

The front ring can simply be cosmetic. If you take it off there may be a ring under it that actually holds the element. The cosmetic ring may hide the problem, but not fix it.

Funny, in Japan, the service department never suggested that they should look at the winder. I have had both my bodies in before.

 

[keithwms]

Wow Andrew, that quote from Mamiya is surprisingly reasonable.