A few questions about Mamiya 7

[ltdslip]

Hi there, I just bought a Mamiya 7 body in excellent cosmetic condition and am waiting for the lens in the mail. I just had a couple of questions about the camera.

- Is it normal when pointing the camera at TV screens and monitors for them to appear either blue or purple?

- What is an easy way to tell whether the rangefinder is calibrated properly, or is the only way to check out the results?

- I touched the viewfinder glass with my finger to try and get some dust off of it, and it felt as if it may be verrry slightly loose. Will this cause any problems?

- What tests can I do without the lens to make sure the camera is functioning properly?

(This is my first rangefinder so I'm sorry for the probably stupid questions)
Thanks!

 

[keithwms]

(1) No, the view through the viewfinder should not be blue or purple, it should be clear. Were you wearing polarizing glasses?

(2) To check the RF calibration, you first need a lens. With that mounted, you can open the back, put a piece of ground glass (or vellum) where the film plane would be, and fire the shutter on bulb. (the mamiya RFs will fire with the back open) Compare the sharpness of the ground glass image to what you expect from the focusing mechanism. Repeat this for close and far focus with all lenses. You'll want to do this test on a tripod.

(3) If the VF is a bit loose it can be an issue; also if the patch screen is loose (not the VF you look through but the one beside it which brings in the light for the VF patch) then that is a problem too. Both should be fairly easy to remedy but you don't want to buy something problematic, especially when so many excellent conditions cameras are available at quite low cost.

(4) You can fire the lens with the back open as I described and check out speeds etc. and also put some film through it and check that the take-up mechanism is working properly and winding tightly.

It's a superb camera system, however you may wish to find a nearby apugger with a bit more experience to check it out for you, especially since you are new to RFs. Otherwise just make sure you've got a good return policy and shoot some film!

 

[j_landecker]

-The viewfinder is polarized, so what you are seeing is normal.
- If it's the front viewfinder glass that's loose, it's probably not a big deal, since this is just a flat cover glass. If it's the rear piece of glass, you might want to have a repair shop look at it.

 

[ltdslip]

About the color: no, I wasn't! When I point at either of my iMacs the screen looks purpleish or bluish. Any ideas?

 

[ltdslip]

Yeah it's the rear piece, but I'm not seeing anything move I just sort of heard a sound that made me think it was loose.

 

[keithwms]

About the color: no, I wasn't! When I point at either of my iMacs the screen looks purpleish or bluish. Any ideas?

Well if the viewfinder screen is polarizing, and the light from the monitor is polarized, then you will see some non-neutral colour. But you shouldn't see that when viewing subjects in non-polarized light... take the viewfinder outdoors, everything looks normal, right?

 

[ltdslip]

Yes, everything normal outdoors!

Ok guys, I just was able to borrow a lens for a moment from a local camera store. The rangefinder is definitely out of calibration. All I did was point it at several things in the store and try to get the images to align, and they never would. I could move the image left and right to make it parallel with the real image, but the image in the little patch would always be a little lower down. I tested it with the store's Mamiya 7 and it worked perfectly.

So I guess I need the rangefinder calibrated. This isn't something I should try myself, right? How much can I expect to pay? It looks like - judging by the little plug on the back - somebody tried doing it themselves in the past, is there a way I can tell if they messed something up?

About the eyepiece, I think it's fine. I took the black eyepiece rubber off and the little circular piece of glass that was loose just fell out, it looks like the adhesive came undone is all. It fits into a little socket so I'll probably just find some delicate adhesive to fasten it in there.

 

[keithwms]

I think you should get an official quote from Mamiya and then at least you'll have something to compare to. My guess is that it'll be a couple hundred bucks for a CLA. Offhand I don't know who does CLAs on them but if you don't hear some names here, you could try over at rangefinderforum.com.

I have opened up my mamiya 6es just to have a peek and yeah, I don't recommend it trying to adjust it yourself. It can be done, but as long as mamiya is still doing official CLAs, the camera is well worth getting it done right. Until you can do that, you can scale focus as needed and practice your hyperfocal technique! Do the open back thing I mentioned and see how bad the problem really is.... it may not be much of an issue; the mamiya RF lenses are pretty slow.

 

[ltdslip]

"Your purchase is covered by our 100 Day Mechanical Guarantee, parts and labor, for any defects not mentioned in our description."
That's in their ad so I'll take it up with them now and ask them how to proceed. Hopefully they'll be nice!