Mamiya C33 troubles

Hey Everyone,
For the past couple of years I've been shooting on a Mamiya C33 and more recently have developed a problem with the camera. The camera has been jamming when I try to advance the roll. It happens pretty randomly and is hard to get it the film to advance. During these situations I've tried switching the camera to multiple exposures as I've read that can help, though I find it is pretty hit or miss if it will un-jam. Sadly what works is opening the back of the camera which allows me to advance the jammed film and crank wheel. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if they had solutions? I should add that I got it serviced about a year ago, so if my faith is in the guy who fixed it, it should be in working order. I've been thinking it might be the pressure plate on the inside of the backlid, lemme know if anyone has some ideas.

Oh and Happy Holidays!

ewernotme said:

Hey Everyone,
For the past couple of years I've been shooting on a Mamiya C33 and more recently have developed a problem with the camera. The camera has been jamming when I try to advance the roll. It happens pretty randomly and is hard to get it the film to advance. During these situations I've tried switching the camera to multiple exposures as I've read that can help, though I find it is pretty hit or miss if it will un-jam. Sadly what works is opening the back of the camera which allows me to advance the jammed film and crank wheel. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if they had solutions? I should add that I got it serviced about a year ago, so if my faith is in the guy who fixed it, it should be in working order. I've been thinking it might be the pressure plate on the inside of the backlid, lemme know if anyone has some ideas.

Oh and Happy Holidays!

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The C33's winding mechanism was updated many times over the lifetime of the production, so it was a sensitive part of the camera. However it should be repairable. I'd try another camera technician!

Time to visit your favorite camera repair place or send it off to KEH for a tune up.

Is this at the start or end of the roll, or just random? The only things that are affected by opening the back are the film counter reset (upper right of the back - the 120 one is a brass shim in the light trap, the 220 one (if the camera has it) is closer to the outer edge of the camera and matches a big chrome stud on the 220 back), and the film counter wheel mechanism, which is the pivoted gear that runs on the back of the film under the take-up spool

The C33 has a fixed pressure plate - you change the back for 220 - so unless you have damaged it somehow that should not be the issue.

Does the frame counter reset to zero with the back open? Is the take-up spool seating correctly, and is the film winding tightly?

Is the film transport tracking gear still sprung? It should be pushed down as the spool takes up the film and backing paper, and spring back when the full spool is removed.

Since the advance is stopping early, then we can rule out incompletely latched back and the short wind off feature, which have the opposite effect. Sounds like a film counter mechanism fault, but it might be due to how the film is being loaded.