Mamiya M645 shutter trouble...

Hi all


I am very new to medium format cameraes and a week ago I bought a Mamiya M645 with a Sekor 80mm 2,8 for the right price.

The problem is that when I picked it up, I never inspected the shutter mechanism visually, I just advanced the film, pressed the shutter release and it made the "right" sound.

The result was that the first film I shot came out unexposed, so I took off the lens and the film cartridge and discovered that the shutter curtain does not open. It stays closed when I depress the shutter release button.

My question is: is this a major problem (expensive to repair) or is it something that a local camerarepairshop can repair?

If it is a small unexpensive repair I will do it and never involve the seller, but if it is expensive I will have to go to the seller and demand my money back.

Please advice!

Thanks

Stein Andre Hovden
Oslo, Norway



Thanks for

Hello;
If you bought this as a working camera, I would not hesitate taking it back. Even a simple repair can be costly. Did you check the battery on this? The film insert needs to in the camera with the take up spool in place for operation. Checking with the lens off sounds good, Steven.

Without film in the camera the M645 shutter won't operate unless the Multi-Exposure Lever is set to "Multi." Additionally, with film in the camera, the film won't advance unless that lever is moved away from "Multi."

Bob has a good suggestion, plus make sure you loaded the film correct through the rollers, do you have the manual?

Hi and thanks for your answers/suggestions

snederhiser: I have changed the batteries, so they are fine. I also found out, by trial and error, that I needed the film insert and the take up spool in place to make the filmadvance system work. That is how I found out that the mirror moved and that the curtain closest to the lens opened when I advanced the film and shut when I depressed the shutter release button.

bobD: yes, you are right. I also found out that I had to set the multi exposure lever to multi to get the shutter release machanism working without the film insert insertet. This is how I found out that only one curtain is working, the other one, the one closest to the film, stays shut.

zsas: I have downloaded a manual from "butkus" and there is a very informative drawing on the filminsert on how to tread the film, so I pretty sure that I did it right. Anyway, that does not change the fact that the camera does not let any light through the shutter to expose the film to light.

I bought the camera as a working camera, so I guess that I will pay the seller a visit during the weekend.

Thanks for you help!!

Stein Andre