Mamiya 7 questions - problem?

M

MichaelW

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I have a Mamiya 7 on trial, I'm thinking about buying it. A couple of things have me confused.

1: Sometimes the meter reading is displaying what seems to be a correct shutter speed. ie in Auto mode it chooses a credible number, or in manual mode it is suggesting what is a credible speed. But most of the time it is blinking the overexposure warning, even when it is nonsensical. eg in a dim room at night, f/16 at ISO 100 it blinks the overexposure warning. I just shot a roll of 120 & it was playing up for awhile & then just started metering OK. Then at the end of the roll it started blinking overexposure again.

Is this a known problem with the M7? the battery is brand new. Is this a fault or is the camera trying to warn me of something?

2: The positions on the shutter dial for A and AEL.
According to the manual when the dial is in either of these positions it should be locked & I need to press the top release button to free it to move to other positions. I do need to free it to move from AEL to the manually selected shutter speeds, however it moves quite freely between the A & AEL positions. Is this how it's meant to be, in which case the manual is inaccurate, or is something broken?
 
IIRC the first question about the blinking is a warning of a dying battery, it should say somethng about this in the manual. The second is the same as with mine and I think with all M7's.

Ryan
 
I second that.
I love my Mamiya 7ii. In fact, I think it's just as well built as any Leica I've ever owned. If it seems in good condition and the above puts your mind at rest, go for it!
 
Thanks for the replies. It's definitely not a dying battery as I put a brand new one in it yesterday.
Today I walked around in nice light & shot 3 rolls of 220 Provia. Most of the time the meter was functioning correctly in both A & M modes. But on 2 of the rolls, out of the blue & for no apparent reason the over exposure warning light started to blink. Out of curiosity I shot a couple of frames in Auto mode when this was happening & they came out very under exposed. I also shot a couple of frames in manual mode using my other camera as a meter & they were spot on, despite the fact the Mamiya meter had been frantically warning me that I was over exposing. I'm pretty sure now that there is probably some electrical fault that is coming & going. I will most likely be returning this camera & looking for one with no issues.
 
first problem seems very strange to me as well... I would avoid to buy it.

Second is normal thing same on my Mami 7.. There was some good ads here for Mami 7s.

Good luck and happy shooting...

A
 
It happens somtimes that new batteries are dogs.
Try another new one before ruling out the low battery warning.

/Erik
 
The light that flashes to warn of a low battery is the warning light on the bottom left of the viewfinder. The flashing light I am seeing is the over exposure warning which is on the bottom right. I first saw this with the original camera battery & thought it might be the problem so I went & bought a new battery, which made no difference. Therefore I'm confident it's not a battery issue.
My main question now, which can only be answered by visiting a service centre, is whether this is a major or minor problem to get fixed. The thing is, I'm not really interested in buying a camera with problems. I think I'll return it & look for one in perfect working order.
 
The repair cost will not be less than few hundred bucks..however, why buy a camera with a problem and possibility of F***ing up all the time... Try to go with brand new items or well known place or friend for such cameras... I bought my 65mm lens and a few stuff from Ahmuay

I am very pleased with service and price on brand new items... Check them out..

cheers, A
 
Hey Ali, good advice. I was thinking the same - maybe get the problem fixed & then 6 months later it comes back & it's too late for me to return it. Thanks for tip on the seller - I'll bookmark that.
 
Buy from Hong Kong Supplies via their ebay store for really good new prices, else you can pick up great examples second hand through various vendors.
 
opening up an old thread

opening up an old thread

I have a couple of M7IIs and the overexposure indicator is showing for two of the lenses (65 & 150) no matter which body I try the lenses on. Even more bizarre, the indicator goes off and the meters on both cameras work normally when I focus beyond 17' (65mm lens). Both lenses work fine in manual mode, though the metering does not. And my three other lenses continue to work fine on either body.

6 months ago, everyone was a happy camper...

Has anyone had a similar problem with their lenses and if so is there a simple solution (and yes, I have changed batteries and battery brands in all bodies).

Thanks in advance.

--Blair--
 
I had the same problem with a 65mm lens. The problem is caused by a break in one of the copper tracks on a flex circuit in the lens. The connection is lost as teh lens racks out during focussing.
I paid about GBP60 about 1 year ago to have it repaired at an independent repairers. I'm in the UK.

HTH
 
I have the same problem on my M7ii, but unfortunately it does not seem related to one lens, as the light continues to blink for all my 3 lenses.

I assume its a problem with a contact in the body but have not had the chance to get it professionally assessed yet.

Very annoying....
 
MichaelW said:
........My main question now, which can only be answered by visiting a service centre, is whether this is a major or minor problem to get fixed. The thing is, I'm not really interested in buying a camera with problems. I think I'll return it & look for one in perfect working order.
Click to expand...

As far as I know there is no such thing as a minor problem, except:

It's possible that the electrical contacts between the lens and body are not clean. Clean them with a cloth (no abrasives!). This has happened to me with a Mamiya 6 (rather similar camera).
 
Turns out that MTH was right. The flexible cable allowing the lens to move in and out while focusing had a short. $280 later the lenses are good to go.

Cheers, Blair
 
Hey guys thank you all for your responses! Perhaps its just my eye, or what I'm accustomed to, but I see a convex effect in the images that is getting under my skin. The subject matter doesn't help I'm sure, however it does seemed bowed in the centre. Perhaps this is because I'm on the shorter side, so I sometimes have to tilt up slightly to get my compositions. Normally, I try very hard to hold the camera level with the ground, however. Maybe the light fall-off is also contributing to the effect? The fall-off however seems more noticeable to me, and is more than I'm accustomed to. Maybe it's just in my head because I'm too close to the work, or have spent too much time working on it, but on many of my Mam 7 images, its one of the first things I notice.

@Doug - No lens hood I'm afraid.

@Karlovak – Nothing done in post to these, just converted to jpeg form the scans. Thanks for the tip about PTGui sounds great! I'll definitely check it out.

@FujiLove – I might have a brick wall pic haha. I'll check my hard drive and get back if I do.

@kram – Its the 65mm.
 
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