Mamiya M6 Newbie Questions

R

Rich Silfver

Guest
Some questions based on the first day of 'playing' with this camera:

1) I can only release the shutter when either the back is open - or there is film in the camera. Is this normal? I could have sworn that the M7II releases the shutter when the camera is closed and no film in it.

2) When loading the film and winding it onto the take-up spool I have to give it some 'slack' otherwise it just slips off the take-up spool and doesnt go onto it. Is that normal behaviour?

3) Going back to #2 - when there is film loaded the film advance is quite tough to move forward - not impossible or anything but there is just some apparent 'reistance' when advancing the lever. Normal behaviour?

4) Both on the feeding and on the take-up side there are small metal plats that are there to make sure there is tension applied to the spools as the film goes through it. Do you guys adjust these yourself or simply never touch them? Both of mine are sort of 'squeaky' and when advancing the film it is not a silent operation - there is some 'metal squeak' coming out of it.
Normal?

The camera is in absolutely wonderful condition cosmetically so I'm hoping these may be 'normal quirks'?

Oh, 5:
The 75mm lens takes 58mm filter I believe. What filter do you normally keep on your lens all the time to protect it? B+W UV, etc?
 
#1 that's normal

#2 normal - it's easier to load with a bit of slack. after shooting several rolls in a row it seems to feel easier to load, but that's user feel as i don't think the camera changes.

#3 be careful if there seems to be too much resistance. this is the knock on these cameras, the film winder mechanism. that said, i thought one of mine was kinda stiff and sent it in and was told it was fine.

#4 have not touched the plates - no problems to date.
that squeak drives me crazy. i sent it in for 'repair' and they said i was crazy - that there was no squeak that they could hear. but it still does it. does not seem to be a problem afa as shooting and resulting images.

#5 i also use a B&W uv filter. excellent quality, brass ring.

hth

joe
 
Joe,
somehow I knew you were going have the answers :)

I'm on B&H in the 'other window' and ordering a 58mm B+W UV Haze Filter 010 MRC filter. USD 33.50. Cheaper than scratching your lens :)

And yes, that squeak is kind of annoying..I'm 'happy' I'm not the only one though ;-)

What was interersting was that first I loaded a Velvia 100F film in it and it squeaked like crazy - then I loaded a Tri-X 400 roll in it and it squeaked significantly less...

Odd...
 
I concur with bp on everything except the squeak, which I have not experienced with any type of film in 120 or 220. Also, while I, too, favor B&W filters because of their superior construction, I have never found noticeable optical problems with any brand of filter.
 
i'm not saying the squeak is supposed to be there, only that it is there and the canadian distributor said they could not hear it when i sent it in. it only squeaks with film in it btw.
i also agree that most good quality filters will do the job. i feel more comfortable with b&w because of the brass ring hoping it would not dent if banged by accident.
 
Another advantage with brass rings is they don't bind when screwed into an aluminum lens mount.
 
A new thing I discovered is that the camera doesn't seem to 'stop' after exposing the 12th frame - it allows me to continue shooting... Normal??
 
Normal? I don't think so. If after 12 pix you can still keep snapping you may have the pressure plate in the 220 position. One of the Mamiya 6 features is that it doesn't let you make any mistrakes. When I first got mine, one of my most frequent thoughts while getting used to it was "what now?" That would be in response to not activating the "on" switch, forgetting to release the light shield curtain after changing lenses or not putting film in the camera. After 12 exposures in the 120 mode, you should not be able to activate the shutter. Check the pressure plate position.
 
The 7 is similar about the interlocks.

The one they missed- if you advance the film in multiple strokes, you can wind through to the end of the roll without cocking the shutter and advancing the frame counter... DOH!
 
maybe i read that wrong.
after the last frame, you continue to 'advance' the film to wind it all the way through to the end.
what am i missing?
 
Nonono- if you start on the first frame, click the shutter, then wind on only using 1/2 strokes on the 7, you'll get to the end of the film, the counter will still say '1' and you'll have only taken one picture.
 
What I meant in my original post was that after I've taken the 12th exposure I could still press and release the shutter for a '13th' frame, etc.

Let me double-check that on the next test roll....

(And yes the plate is set to 120).

Questions:

a) When the camera is not in use do you keep the lens retracted - and the darkslide open - or how?

b) Is the 'square' outline in the viewfinder showing 100% of what will be captured on the film? If not - does that percentage change with the distance of subject-to-camera?
 
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For me, I'm kinda hard on my cameras, I guess- I'd rather use 'em as much as possible, and send them to the shop when they break, so:

a) I keep the camera in the "camera closet," cocked, ready to go. No darkslide, nothing- if I turn it on, the shutter will fire.

b) It's around 85% at close focusing, approaching the full square as the lens gets closer to infinity. The Mamiya Universal was interesting in the way it handles the viewfinder and I follow suite- because the focal length of the lens gets longer the closer you focus, the smaller the actual image is in the view-finder, so use the inside of the bright lines to focus closely, use the outside of the lines for long distances.
 
rsilfverberg said:
What I meant in my original post was that after I've taken the 12th exposure I could still press and release the shutter for a '13th' frame, etc.

Let me double-check that on the next test roll....

(And yes the plate is set to 120).

Questions:

a) When the camera is not in use do you keep the lens retracted - and the darkslide open - or how?

b) Is the 'square' outline in the viewfinder showing 100% of what will be captured on the film? If not - does that percentage change with the distance of subject-to-camera?
Click to expand...
 
rsilfverberg said:

Questions:

a) When the camera is not in use do you keep the lens retracted - and the darkslide open - or how?

b) Is the 'square' outline in the viewfinder showing 100% of what will be captured on the film? If not - does that percentage change with the distance of subject-to-camera?
Click to expand...

Ooops. Screwed up the last reply, so here is version II:

a) I keep the lens retracted, the film shield (is that what you mean by dark slide?) open and the camera in its case along with accessories ready to go. There is no reason to close the film shield unless you want to change a lens.

b) The viewfinder square shows about 85% of the image on film at infinity. When focusing at close distance, it corresponds more closely to the actual image because of the change in focal length. For closeups I pretty much assume WYSIWYG. At distances, such as groups, I compose with the subject touching edge to edge, confident that there will be enough space on all sides of the image for purposes of adjustment to machine printing, cropping to format etc. After a few rolls it all becomes second nature.
 
rsilfverberg said:
What I meant in my original post was that after I've taken the 12th exposure I could still press and release the shutter for a '13th' frame, etc.

Let me double-check that on the next test roll....

(And yes the plate is set to 120).

Questions:

a) When the camera is not in use do you keep the lens retracted - and the darkslide open - or how?

b) Is the 'square' outline in the viewfinder showing 100% of what will be captured on the film? If not - does that percentage change with the distance of subject-to-camera?
Click to expand...
 
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