Mamiya 645 Super power winder problem

[jamesrodkey]

Hey all. I've got a 645 Super that I was all excited to attach a powered winder to (model N, the 6 AA one), but it might have a problem.

The good: the BC light comes on, and when I press the shutter button on the grip, the AE prism shows a meter reading.

The bad: the winder neither fires the shutter (pressing the button down the whole way won't actuate it) nor, more importantly, winds the film. When I load a new roll and switch the grip to "start", nothing happens. The bottom switch is correctly set to the white square (not multi) and the camera body is also set to the white square on the shutter button (manual says this is correct I think). My powered winder does everything but power-wind. Ideas?

 

[jamesrodkey]

I assume you have looked at the manual: http://www.cameramanuals.org/mamiya_pdf/mamiya_m645_super_power_drive_n.pdf

Right?

Maybe an interlock or safety feature is preventing it from firing.

Yes of course, I was following the manual step-by-step. Where it says "the film automatically advances to the first frame..." is where my experience diverges from normal operation. As far as I can tell everything else is set as it should be.

 

[Kino]

Sorry, I should read more carefully.

Can you get it to trip and wind off of the camera body?

If it has been sitting for a long time unused, it might be "gummed-up" and stuck.

 

[jamesrodkey]

That's a good thing to know from people who have a functioning one - if you take it off and switch it to "start" does the disc start rotating? Mine definitely doesn't do that. Even if I hold down "start" and poke at it a bit, it's not spinning a millimeter.

 

[Kino]

I only have a 1000s Super and no experience with the winder; Sorry!

I don't even know if manually turning the motor advance while pushing down the shutter release (off the body) is a prudent thing to do.

In general, if everything else seems to work other than actually advancing the film, it must be an electrical or mechanical issue with the motor; not enough amperage getting to the motor or a switch not working, but that's just speculation...

Have you tried cleaning all battery contacts within the grip and those between the mating surfaces of the camera and the winder?

Hopefully someone with experience will join in soon and give you better advice.

 

[jvo]

just moved my mamiya 645 equipment to it's new owner so i can't test. i'm not sure we're talking about the same winder because mine didn't use 6 aa batteries, but a double barrel-type one.

in use my wg401power winder worked as described on my pro tl. that is, mounted to camera, loaded film and it automatically advanced to frame 1. then easily advanced to next frame after shutter release. never a hestation. i never tried it off-camera, because it always worked flawlessly.

i'd use an eraser on all the contacts - camera and winder.

welcome to photrio...

 

[jamesrodkey]

Just to follow up on this in case anyone finds this thread later - I've now got a functional grip for the 645 Super and can confirm that it does NOT spin the winder when it's not attached to the camera body. Once attached to the body, it'll wind the spools even if there's no film loaded.