Mamiya 6 winding problem?

I bought a mamiya 6 with the 75mm lens from KEH rated EX. I took it out to shoot today (outside) and i noticed that when i took a picture and the shutter clicked it would take up to 10seconds for the second click to happen to allow the film winder to advance. It doesn't do this when there is no film in the camera and the back is open, then the second click happens within a second and you can advance the winder. I shot another roll inside and the second click happend a lot faster than this afternoon outside in the cold. I'm wondering if i should return the camera or if this is normal or what. Has anyone else encountered this problem? or is it a problem at all? I've heard that the winding mechanisms are faulty and i don't want to get stuck with a broken camera after spending a ton of money.
thanks.

Sounds like a problem to me. Contact KEH right away.

check to see what your shutter speed is set at. It sounds as if it is on auto.

jd callow said:

check to see what your shutter speed is set at. It sounds as if it is on auto.

Click to expand...

Shutter on Auto and you forgot to remove the lens cap? That's my favourite trick after I've been using an SLR for a while ...!

the shutter was set at 125 when i was having this problem.
Does the Mamiya 7 tend to have winding problems as well?

hmmm, maybe the self-timer is switched on?

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Bryan Murray said:

I bought a mamiya 6 with the 75mm lens from KEH rated EX. I took it out to shoot today (outside) and i noticed that when i took a picture and the shutter clicked it would take up to 10seconds for the second click to happen to allow the film winder to advance. It doesn't do this when there is no film in the camera and the back is open, then the second click happens within a second and you can advance the winder. I shot another roll inside and the second click happend a lot faster than this afternoon outside in the cold. I'm wondering if i should return the camera or if this is normal or what. Has anyone else encountered this problem? or is it a problem at all? I've heard that the winding mechanisms are faulty and i don't want to get stuck with a broken camera after spending a ton of money.
thanks.

Click to expand...

Bryan,
The Mamiya 6 seems to be notorious for winder problems. I have an M6 I bought used but not before I'd returned 2 others from different dealers, both marked up as EXC. condition. In each case they refunded my money without questions. (KEH was NOT one of them). Mamiya has it's own forum for questions like this. Dead Link Removed
I'd return the camera and keep looking. When you get a good one, you won't regret it. They're great cameras.
Keith.

I returned the camera back to KEH today for a refund. Does anyone think that a Mamiya 7 would be a better choice since it's a newer camera? does it have problems with the winding mechanism too?

Having read this I don't think this is necessarily a winder problem, it's possibly a shutter problem that can be traced back to ageing electronics or possibly to the cold weather outside or to insufficient battery power. I think you were right to return it though.

I had something similar happen where the shutter wasn't closing in extreme cold (-15c) and the camera was on a tripod for long periods of time. I think this was down to insufficient battery power to close the shutter. In those temperatures the film advance would also freeze up after 20min or so sitting on the tripod. After a few hours inside the camera continued working properly.

I think I've mentioned this before on this forum but a respected technician once told me after servicing my "6" that there was nothing particularly frail about the wind mechanism, the real problem seems to be that certain parts can be hard to find if the mechanism does get damaged. I guess I was lucky that in two years of using mine I didn't have any film advance issues apart from freezing the camera.

I would still look for a good 6 over a 7, the collapsing lens binacle and the built in finder with frames for 50, 75 and 150 make it a much more convenient camera than the 7.

Bryan Murray said:

I returned the camera back to KEH today for a refund. Does anyone think that a Mamiya 7 would be a better choice since it's a newer camera? does it have problems with the winding mechanism too?

Click to expand...

Bryan what you described was not the winding problem that Mamiya's suffer from. On the 6 the gears eventually strip and the winder will either take multiple pulls to advance the film or wont advance the film at all.

It sounds like what was wrong with your 6 had to do with the shutter staying open for ~10secs when it should have fired @ 1/125th. The shutter being in the lens, it might have been a bad shutter or issues with the contacts between the lens and body.

Mamiya 6 winding problem solved

May 2015 - I have just had my Mamiya 6MF winding mechanism repairs by Sendean camareas in London. I believe they are having the necessary parts manufactured.

Not cheap (just over 400GBP) but less than replacement body with unknown problems