mamiya RB 67 camera shake

Hi,

has anyone had a problem with camera shake on the mamiya's. I hired one the other week and when I got my shots back they looked a little soft, not the pin sharp I was expecting. I was using an 80mm lens i think. In hindsight the camera made a huge clunk everytime i took a shot which for the size of the camera I thought may of been normal, but now I'm not so sure. My focus on the subject was fine and it was mounted on a heavy manfrotto tripod. The fact it was hired may of had something to do with it.......

ta for your input,
ade

I used a pair of rbs for years. Only had a few problems with shake, and only when doing multi exposure shots. It sounds like the one you got wasnt in tip top shape. You can always use mirror prefire if you want. That should avoid it.

I haven't used RB much but is it possible that the film wasn't loaded correctly. On the Hasselblad if the film isn't slid under a ridge, the film won't sit directly onto the backing plate, (sorry about these terms) causing the film to be out of focus.

I use one on a Manfrotto and do not experience any lack of sharpness that was not my own fault !

Thanks for the answers,
I have never heard too many complaints about the mamiyas myself, this one looked like it had been put through the ringer though. Its hard not too load the film correctly as it sits up hard against the backing plate (that crossed my mind too !) for flatness. when you mamiya-ites trip the shutter does the whole camera go clunk and shake as this one did, or is that not normal !!!!!!

ta for your answers,

ade...

It's normal (within reason) and it usually doesnt have any effect on sharpness.

Well, I think it's normal for the camera to make a fair amount of sound when the mirror goes (both of my RBs do), but vibration should be at a minimum. I can hardly feel the vibration at all with either of mine. My guess is that some of the foam in the body that helps cushion the mirror was shot.

I used both the RB and RZ for studio work several years ago and at the time purchased the Mamiya double cable release which was designed in such a way that the shorter plunger cable operated the mirror and then a fraction of second or so later the second cable fired the shutter and no vibrations. A single plunger fired off both. I don't know if Mamiya still make them but it worked very well.

Recently I purchased a new manfrotto 3221wn tripod and a manfrotto 3047 head for my RB. Today I had raised the tripod to its highest limit without raising the center column just to see if I could detect camera shake. I may have noticed very, very little, without using the "mirror up" function, even at that height. So, I know that using the mirror up feature will take care of any movement that may have been there. Even still, I can't imagine me not using the mirror up feature when I'm using a tripod.

I think the noise is to be expected but I would be suspicious of any real detectable shake that can be felt.

Chuck

Any time you move a mirror that large quickly, there's bound to be some noise. (Personally my RB67 - the Pro-S version - is quieter than my Bronica S2a which is a 6x6 camera.) Having said this, I find the mirror dampening on the RB to be extremely effective. I've shot quite a bit hand-held with mine (something that's best avoided if possible, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do...), and have never detected a loss of sharpness.

Like jdef, I can get away with 1/15th pretty regularly with no noticeable lack of sharpness. The "trick" that I use is to put a wide strap on the camera, put the strap over my neck, then pull down a little bit on the camera while pulling up a little bit with my neck. This seems to give me a very stable platform for hand-holding the camera.

One question: Were you using the waist level finder or a prism? I've only used the waist level hand-held...using the prism might be problematic because you'd be holding a pretty heavy camera up to your face. Just a thought...

Hold it... hold it... hold it...

Many new users of Mamiya RBs tend to fire the shutter, and as soon as they hear the mirror go up they move. I see this all the time with my first time MF students. It doesn't work as fast as 35mms.

What you don't realize is the shutter fires after the mirror goes up. This lag time is what causes your out of sharp pix. Hold on one more second after you hear the mirror and your shots will start to clear up imediately.

Maybe the mirror cam is out of whack. I had a pro s and an RZ and they both have an extremely smooth mirror action. If yours is really whacking, you probably need to let someone look at it or just buy another body.

I went out shooting my RB pro s at 1/60th hand held and it was fine.

paul ron said:

Many new users of Mamiya RBs tend to fire the shutter, and as soon as they hear the mirror go up they move. I see this all the time with my first time MF students. It doesn't work as fast as 35mms.

What you don't realize is the shutter fires after the mirror goes up. This lag time is what causes your out of sharp pix. Hold on one more second after you hear the mirror and your shots will start to clear up imediately.

Click to expand...

Very good suggestion. Are you sure the ground glass is in correct position, BTW? Sometimes movement blur and out-of-focus blur look exactly the same.

The mirror runs on a govonor so there is very little vibration. Faster shutter speeds and a tripod are always a help of course but it's the lag time that screws up focus more that anything else.

I'd problably want to check the focusing accuracy the film plane to be certain everything is aligned but that is not not usually the cause in a working camera in the hands of someone unfamiliar with the equipment.

I had an RB67 ProS years ago and never once experienced any blur due to vibration. I shot hand held quite a bit too. Which film back are you using? If you are using the motorized one, there is a film plate adjustment that switches the back from 120 to 220 operation. If it's not on the correct setting your film may not be flat. That would not be good.
Ara

It would be interesting to find out how long the mirror shake vibration lasts before it dies down. It would appear that longer exposures would have less of a problem since the shake would take up less time of the total exposure. Also, your expectations for sharpness are less from a handheld.