Mamiya-6 Folder

I've been having trouble with frame spacing on the Mamiya-6 but have lubed the film advance mechanism so it seems to work better. This model has a switch that allows the user to to go between 6x6 and 6x4.5. What I'm still having trouble with is loading film and having the film advanced to the first frame and have #1 be aligned with that first frame. If one could adjust the knob without advancing the film, this could be set to #1...but this is not the case. Any ideas?

drew

My recollection of how to load an earlier version of this camera is:

Wind the film counter past 12, remove the slide out part of the pressure plate, pass the film through, replace the plate. Then I think you're supposed to have the film counter between 12 and 1 when you load, then wind to 1 and keep winding until 1 appears in the red window. The wind knob doesn't have a stop on the first frame, so it will let you keep going until you get to the 1 in the red window. Then close the window and take the first exposure. Now flip the wind release [back left side near wind knob, you don't have this], and wind to 2. This time it will stop at 2. Take the second exposure, flip the release, and so on.

However, mine is an earlier model and doesn't have double exposure prevention, the "On/Off" switch yours does, or the 6x6/645 switch - it has the wind release where your 6x6/645 switch is. Nevertheless I think the idea is similar. You need to line up the first frame using the red window and only after that does the camera automatically space the frames. Not sure if the "On/Off" switch needs to be used to allow you to wind to 1.

the on/off switch is the lock lever between the two formats so it plays no part. So you're saying to pay no attention to the knob...but use the opening at the rear?

There are a lot of different small variations of this camera and mine is clearly different from yours. Does yours have auto shutter cocking and double exposure prevention? Mine does not have that or 645 capability. Have you looked at this video, which is of a version closer to mine (but his has a start mark, and mine doesn't, it just relies on the red window to find frame 1):


On my camera, the lever on the back with the little arrow is for releasing the wind stop, to allow you to wind to the next frame. The camera doesn't have automatic starting. As I wind the knob until it reaches 1, it does not automatically stop, it will let you keep winding. I look through the red window until the number 1 comes up. That's frame 1. Then I push the lever to the left momentarily and it releases the wind knob, so now I can wind to frame 2 and the knob stops automatically at 2. I take a picture and then flip the lever again to release the stop and wind to frame 3, where it automatically stops again, etc. It should be possible to figure this out by winding the knob without film in the camera, because it only counts turns of the takeup spool.

Such a lever to release the wind knob is also used in, for example, rollfilm backs for Mamiya Press and Graflex.

Note of warning, I've had a few of these, all the same, and operating as reddesert describes above. However, first one I had didn't have a functioning advance (until I fiddled around with it and fixed it) and I relied on the red window. There's definitely enough space in there, particularly when focused to infinity, for tons of light to bounce around the inside from the red window. Even occasionally nowadays when shooting, the cover will happen to open and I'll get a lovely red light leak on a frame or two before I notice. I've taped it shut on the ones I own now.
There _are_ models that rely on the red window advance, but they have a big flexible rubber grommet around the window that presses against the pressure plate, presumably to avoid the situation I describe above.

I had a IVB (a late 6x6 model) and a V (twin format). both stopped at no. 1 frame automatically. the counter has to be at the dot mark before loading and for the V model it has to be set for the right format. please have a look at the page I made for them http://www.120folder.com/mamiya_six.htm

xya said:

I had a IVB (a late 6x6 model) and a V (twin format). both stopped at no. 1 frame automatically. the counter has to be at the dot mark before loading and for the V model it has to be set for the right format. please have a look at the page I made for them http://www.120folder.com/mamiya_six.htm

Click to expand...

Ok, mine is very close to the second one in your photos...now to respond to what you wrote at the bottom...1. there is no "dot mark ...only a wider space between 12 and 1... 2. there is no "white index mark" but I've placed the start arrow in that area (last roll of film will be processed in a day or so...so we'll see how it worked) 3. Once you get the film to that imaginary white dot...and close the door and start to advance the film to #1...it is always some other place...you'd have to be lucky to have it land at #1. There has to be some way to turn that knob without advancing the numbers!!

Drew B. said:

Ok, mine is very close to the second one in your photos...now to respond to what you wrote at the bottom...1. there is no "dot mark ...only a wider space between 12 and 1... 2. there is no "white index mark" but I've placed the start arrow in that area (last roll of film will be processed in a day or so...so we'll see how it worked) 3. Once you get the film to that imaginary white dot...and close the door and start to advance the film to #1...it is always some other place...you'd have to be lucky to have it land at #1. There has to be some way to turn that knob without advancing the numbers!!

Click to expand...

I think your advance mechanism might be borked to be honest. The first one I got used to lock at 1 until I fiddled around with the mechanism (there's a long thread on it somewhere here on APUG). Fixed that, have gone through a couple more in the meantime, and they ALL turn freely at the '1' mark to enable the film to be advanced to the '1' mark as seen through the red window, then subsequently you hit that little lever to advance to the next number where it locks. The method that's described on XYA's page above is different though, but that's a more recent model with double exposure locks IIRC, with a reputedly more complicated advance. If you pop the top off, the mechanism on yours should be comprehensible, a little pawl that catches on a slotted wheel, once you understand what it's supposed to do it should be simple enough to work out what's wrong with it.

Ah, here we go. Pretty comprehensive tear down of the mechanism & how it's supposed to function (and didn't in my case)
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/mamiya-six-folding-advance-mechanism.147030/

I think I can ignore any problems by putting the winding knob on 11, keep the take up spool out of its seat, in your hand and wind the film up to the arrow being near the right side of the take up spool spot, place it back into its place, close the door and advance it two places to the #1. I'll see what happens and report back!

For future travelers that find this thread, I made a YouTube video explaining some of the nuance with using the frame counter on the Mamiya 6 V folding camera.

The mysteries of the Mamiya 6 V frame counter