Mamiya 7 questions - problem?

I have a Mamiya 7 on trial, I'm thinking about buying it. A couple of things have me confused.

1: Sometimes the meter reading is displaying what seems to be a correct shutter speed. ie in Auto mode it chooses a credible number, or in manual mode it is suggesting what is a credible speed. But most of the time it is blinking the overexposure warning, even when it is nonsensical. eg in a dim room at night, f/16 at ISO 100 it blinks the overexposure warning. I just shot a roll of 120 & it was playing up for awhile & then just started metering OK. Then at the end of the roll it started blinking overexposure again.

Is this a known problem with the M7? the battery is brand new. Is this a fault or is the camera trying to warn me of something?

2: The positions on the shutter dial for A and AEL.
According to the manual when the dial is in either of these positions it should be locked & I need to press the top release button to free it to move to other positions. I do need to free it to move from AEL to the manually selected shutter speeds, however it moves quite freely between the A & AEL positions. Is this how it's meant to be, in which case the manual is inaccurate, or is something broken?

#1 is not a known problem, my meter has always worked very well and in low light situations is blinks the "low light" warning. It might be a problem with your specific camera.

#2
that's normal. i can switch between auto & ael without pushing the little button.

Yup, #1 not a known problem...sounds like your meter is wonky.

Thanks for the replies.
Today I walked around in nice light & shot 3 rolls of 220 Provia. Most of the time the meter was functioning correctly in both A & M modes. But on 2 of the rolls, out of the blue & for no apparent reason the over exposure warning light started to blink. Out of curiosity I shot a couple of frames in Auto mode when this was happening & they came out very under exposed. I also shot a couple of frames in manual mode using my other camera as a meter & they were spot on, despite the fact the Mamiya meter had been frantically warning me that I was over exposing. I'm pretty sure now that there is probably some electrical fault that is coming & going. I will most likely be returning this camera & looking for one with no issues.

It does seem that yours has an intermittent electrical connection.

My Mamiya 7 developed intemittent elctrical problems also, although in my case the camera stopped working entirely. It was fixed with a thorough cleaning of all the switches and contacts. This happened about 6 months ago and it's been fine ever since.

Richard Wasserman

Carbon on the valves!