Film Advance Lever Jamming on Mamiya 7

[SuzanneR]

Anyone experience this? One of my Mamiya 7's won't let me "complete the stroke" (not a technical term, I know), but I can move the advance lever up to a point, but not all the way. I can no longer fire the shutter, and, more importantly, I can't close the curtain to release and remove a lens. I want to be able to use this lens on the other body I have.

Any ideas what's wrong? And who is good with Mamiya repair? TIA.

 

[BobNewYork]

Shutter and film advance are interlinked. Couldn't be that the batteries died, could it? I've seen other cameras get stuck halfway through a cycle because of deceased batteries. The shutter curtains are reset by the film advance so if that won't move nor will the shutter curtains. Failing that, it could be grit in the film advance gears. Taken any beach pictures with it? I had a camera that seized on me 5 months after I'd done a beach shoot - the sand grains finally found their way into a fatal nook!!

Bob

 

[colrehogan]

I had this happen to me while using the 35 mm panoramic adapter. EEK!

 

[rpsawin]

Suzanne,

Try these guys Dead Link Removed . While I have not had to use them myself I'm told that they are the experts.

Best regards,

Bob

 

[Shane Knight]

Suzanne,

A couple of questions:
1. Is there film in the camera at this point?
2. Do you use 220 film?

Whatever you do, DO NOT try to advance the lever with any force, as it will snap easily. About $500 to fix if broken.
I have had this problem in the past when using 220 film. I no longer use 220 as it is very hard on the system. If there is no film in the camera and it is still doing this problem, than, you have a major problem. The repairs are very expensive. It is not likely that it is a low battery, but let's hope.

Good Luck!
Shane Knight
horse photography
www.shaneknight.com

 

[SuzanneR]

Thank you, everyone. I fear this poor camera may be a goner, but I really want to get the lens off! I had just replaced the battery shortly before this happened, so I don't think that's it. And you can usually advance the lever with or without the battery. There's no film in the camera, and yes, I have used 220 film in it, though the last few rolls were 120. Maybe it was cumulative.

Thank you, Shane. And Bob, I will check those guys out.

 

[hka]

It could be some debris (very small peace of metal) between the filmadvance gears. If this is situated on the bottomside of the camera you can reached that by removing the backplate. Look carrefully with a magnifying loup at the gears for a peace of metal between the gears. Move the advance lever to the point its stops at that point between the two gears will be it. Remove it and ploblem solved. In the worsed case you can't find anything. When this is happened the filmadvance mechanism is blokked at the topside under the shutterbutton. In that case you can't do it yourself because the need of specialized tools.

 

[panastasia]

Anyone experience this? One of my Mamiya 7's won't let me "complete the stroke" (not a technical term, I know), but I can move the advance lever up to a point, but not all the way. I can no longer fire the shutter, and, more importantly, I can't close the curtain to release and remove a lens. I want to be able to use this lens on the other body I have.

Any ideas what's wrong? And who is good with Mamiya repair? TIA.

I don't own the Mamyia 7, but had something happen with a 35mm SLR that may have been a similar, mechanical, problem. It only happened one time, and never again.

It was a multiple mechanism jam when one function failed and prevented the remaining functions from completing there action. The mirror was stuck halfway; preventing film advance, shutter release, and viewing through the finder. I fixed it on-the-spot by wiggling the mirror slightly, dislodging the jam. The problem was mechanical in nature, the sequence of mechanical actions, one following the other, simply went out of sync..

Regards,
Paul

 

[hka]

The M7 II is a RangeFinder camera and doesn't have a mirror! In this it is not the case.

 

[panastasia]

The M7 II is a RangeFinder camera and doesn't have a mirror! In this it is not the case.

I didn't say the mirror was the problem - the mechanics went out of sync., i.e. they jammed, or got hung-up.

 

[John Koehrer]

Suzanne,
It does sound as if something has gotten into the advance mechanism sometimes it's something as simple as a loose screw or piece of grit.
Unfortunately the only way you know for sure is to have someone pull the cover & check it out.
The funny thing about repair shops & their charges is that a more expensive camera always seems to be more expensive to repair than a less expensive one.
When I was in the trade we would do a CLA on a Canon or Nikon 35mm for around $65 and twice that for a Leica. The Leica was a simpler machine to work on but the shop made extra $$$ because of the name.
Working on the Mamiya is no different than a sophisticated 35. You're just being penalized for using the less common camera.
It would be nice if you could find a shop that charged hourly rates for repair but most just use their own rate book where camera X=$65 and camera Y=$125.