Mamiya c330s problem with 55mm lens

Man from moon · Jul 15, 2019

Dears all

I have a problem with my mamiya c3‪3‪0‪s camera

I bought this camera from one year ago and its clean and work perfict with 8‪0‪mm f/2‪.8‪ S lens

Last week i bought a mamiya 5‪5‪mm f4‪.5‪ lens in great condation

But i am facing a problem once i try to cook the shutter

The shutter lever on the camer is not pushing the shutter knob in the lens to all the way , beacuse of that the shutter lever returen back and fail to cook the shutter

I tried soo hard but there is nothing , once i put my 8‪0‪mm lens back its just work great، and there is no warp or defect at all in the 55mm lens .

Now , i just make it by hand , cooking the shutter knob with my hand all the way and moving the crank on the body of the camera

If any one can help me with this problem it will be much apprecheated

cramej · Jul 15, 2019

How about gluing a shim on the shutter cocking lever?

Luckless · Jul 15, 2019

To help trouble shoot, I suggest the following:

1. Put the 55mm lens on, and take a photo of where its cocking lever and the camera's cocking arm sit.
2. Crank the camera till the shutter level is at its lowest point, and then take another photo.

Measure how much farther you need to push the 55mm's lever to get it to cock properly.

[There are also the earlier A/B series of lenses for the even older cameras which look nearly the same as the older chrome 'C3' series, but don't actually 'fit' with the body's cocking lever. I may have accidentally bought one a few months back, but forget how it lined up when actually on the camera. So clearly I have to eventually buy a body for it?]

Sirius Glass · Jul 15, 2019

It sounds like the cocking lever has gotten gummed up with dirt and debris, so time for a CLA [Clean, Lubrication and Adjust] by a camera repairman. This is not an unusual problem and it can easily be remedied.

grahamp · Jul 16, 2019

This is not unknown with the Mamiya TLRs. The cocking lever moves through an arc, and at the end of that arc has to push the shutter cocking lever past the critical point.

One possibilty is the 55mm shuttered lens is slightly missed placed. If that is the case, loosening the taking lens retaining ring on the back of the lensboard a touch, and twisting the shutter to bring the arms closer together might work. Now there is not a lot of rotation permitted, so if the gap is large this will not work. Use a proper lens wrench to loosen and tighten the retaining ring. If your tool slips, the rear element will suffer.

If the 80mm has a little extra travel in its shutter cocking arm, then an alternative is to slip a bit of wire insulation over the tip of the camera arm to make it thicker.

This is all based on the difference being a millimeter or so. What you want to avoid is having the camera arm over-force the shutter arm on one of the lenses. There is quite a bit of mechanical advantage in the crank.

Man from moon · Jul 17, 2019

Thanks a lot guys for helping me
Another thing , how much it will be cost ? If need to send it for a repair

Grim Tuesday · Jul 17, 2019

I don't know who does repairs on Mamiya TLR lenses but I don't see why it wouldn't be easy to just put a shim on there. A strip of paper rolled around a few times, followed by a few layers of tape would probably work. I use this type of shim in many of my cameras with great success. Most recently on a shutter release for a Koni Omega lens. Yes, this is the kind of thing that should be sent to someone for a CLA. But you will probably be looking at a $250 bill if it's someone good. If it's someone local, they'll probably just bend it a bit and charge you $75.

Luckless · Jul 17, 2019

Repair costs will likely be flexible, and may depend on where you are. [Shipping stuff back and forth adds up after all]

Does the shutter assembly wiggle?

Is there a gap between the camera's shutter cocking arm, and the lens' shutter cocking lever?

bernard_L · Jul 17, 2019

Shooting with Mamiya C-series is not point-and-shoot anyway. I've had my C220 for 40 years; manual cocking from when I purchased it new (a feature, not a bug), perfectly happy and made great (to me at least) photos.

I suggest that live with it. A repair might cost more than your initial purchase cost of the lens. And, a repair of what; what is out of spec, the C330 body, or the 55mm lens? all you know is they don't play together, and the fact that the body works with the 80mm does not prove that it is within spec; might be that the 80mm is just a little more tolerant.

You have a light-tight box, a nice viewfinder, great glass, and the shutters are working; enjoy your blessings.

Sirius Glass · Jul 17, 2019

Getting the lens repaired will include fixing problems that you did not existed and extending the life of the lens. I just sent off a lens that I could replace for $400US to $600US to be repaired for $500US, why because I know that the lens is good and that it will be fixed and better. Its a known quantity, if I were to buy and other it is very likely that I would still have to have the new one worked on.

Mamiya c330s problem with 55mm lens

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