Mamiya Six 120 folding rangefinder

[Albania]

I recently inherited three old (late 1940's / early 50's) Mamiya Six folding rangefinders from my dad. His work with these cameras still graces the walls of my home and the prints are positively stunning. While cleaning the two earliest versions, I realized that when cocking the shutter, the aperture blades actually open briefly during the process. I can accept that possibly one camera has a broken shutter, but with two exhibiting the same results, I am beginning to have my doubts. The later model does not do this at all, yet on all three I cannot see anything that would cause this to occur (or not as the case may be). The camera itself is relatively rare.... (It focuses by moving the actual film plane back and forth, so the lens itself does not move at all).
Can anyone assist me with operations questions or perhaps refer me to someone who would be willing to either share some knowledge or even work on them for me? Thanks... GH

 

[FrankS]

Hello and welcome GH. Those are fine cameras. Cameras that age often can use a little TLC (tender loving care) AKA (also known as) CLA (clean, lube, adjust). Definitely worth doing. Sorry, can't recommend anyone.

Are you sure the shutter blades actually open? Open the camera back and look at the back of the lens with the camera facing a light source like a window, to check.

 

[Albania]

Hi Frank....and many thanks. Yes I'm sure about the blades opening...it was the first thing that I checked. The strangest thing is that not only do both of the inherited cameras exhibit the symptoms, but an identical model that I got on eBay does it as well. I'm beginning to think that it is a design flaw and common failure point. Sure wish there was somebody in the forum who could read Japanese..... it seems that there is a wealth of info about lots of rangefinder issues that is addressed on Japanese websites only, but without translation, I am at a total loss. Maybe someone will turn up with a suggestion at some point. Hope springs eternal....patience evidently does not.

I did run a test roll through one, simply covering the lens with my hand and with the speed set to max and aperture set to 22 (to minimize light entry) every time that I cocked the shutter. Simply outstanding results....kind of takes your breath away to see what is regularly being missed. With all the computers and all the modern technological advances, there is a certain "something" that was lost along the way in the process of lens manufacturing.

Glenn

 

[jlw]

I assume you mean that the shutter blades (not the aperture blades) open slightly when the shutter is being cocked?

The shutters on these cameras were off-the-shelf items (mostly from Seikosha) and I've found them to be tremendously reliable on the various cameras I've owned that used them (they're also found on many Minolta Autocord TLRs, for example.) Any mechanical-camera technician who is capable of working on leaf shutters should have no trouble stripping them down and finding out what's wrong. I'm guessing that they're all just dirty from decades of disuse, and that friction from the cocking linkage is dragging a bit on the blade control ring when the shutter is cocked.

The Six is a cool camera and, once you've disposed of this shutter nuisance, you'll be able to get excellent results with it... just like your dad did back in the day.