Mamiya RZ67 body damaged, repair shop wants up to $500 - what would you do?

Long story short: bought a RZ67 Pro II + 110mm lens on eBay in excellent cosmetic condition for $700, kept it in storage for 6 months (first bad move). Description said the seller was not a photographer, friend gave it to him, and it had been sitting in the closet for a long time (red flag apparently to experienced people, but gullible me had no idea at time of purchase). Shot some rolls with it in a studio setting only using flash and 1/200 shutter speed and everything appeared to work fine. Then, I tested it out outdoors for once, using all varying shutter speeds available and (there was a url link here which no longer exists). Strange, so this whole time everything has been shooting at 1/400th speed (even in a studio) and I didn't notice because I never tried slower speeds. Made a video on this for proof. Repair shop inspected/tested it, and they said the lens is working fine, but its actually the body that has a damaged circuit board which replacing (parts, labor, etc) could cost anywhere from $320-500 depending on if it needs an "old" or "new" board, as a new one would have to be ordered from the manufacturer and cost more/take more time.

At this point I'm really bummed out that I had to learn this lesson the hard way, if you're going to buy a used camera thats been sitting for a long time it MUST be inspected and serviced/CLA'd. The guy there (at Nippon Photoclinic in NYC) told me it would be best to put the money into repair so you know the camera is a working one rather than buying another one on eBay and being uncertain of it's condition. I'm not sure what to do, what would you do?

but the body has a damaged circuit board

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'splains why it was given away.
Too late to return it? Ask for a partial refund? Otherwise look for another body if you don't want to spend the $$ to repair this one. Check the repair cost at other Mamiya capable repair shops.
I skip listings that say " I'm not familiar with or I don't know how to operate this........ unless I'm very familiar with that piece of equipment and its at a low price and I know I can fix it if it is broken.

I would just buy another kit with a different lens. RZ67 kits are going for apx $350 and this way you will have another body and an extra lens. Or contact Mamiya and see if they will sell you a board, they cant cost much and the installation of it should be very easy.

I'd get another one from Ebay. I have 2 RZ bodies. One I got over 30 years ago and one I got recently from Ebay for way less that $500. Here's one for $180. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MAMIYA-RZ67-Pro-Medium-Format-SLR-Film-Camera-Body-/221826897943

While I'm generally of the "better fix as you then know what you get vs gambling on an internet purchase if it costs the same or even a bit more to repair" opinion in this particular case the you're looking at 2-3x the cost of a replacement body so you'd have to be unlucky twice or three times vs fixing it. On the other hand that $500 gets you a guaranteed body which in theory should keep going for a few years. Not sure what I'd do, probably buy another one. If the repair was $300 then I'd probably get it fixed.

And yeah, if I saw a listing for something that is brand new never opened sitting on a shelf for 20 years I'd just skip. Especially if the seller claims they know little about it.

shutterfinger said:

'splains why it was given away.
Too late to return it? Ask for a partial refund? Otherwise look for another body if you don't want to spend the $$ to repair this one. Check the repair cost at other Mamiya capable repair shops.
I skip listings that say " I'm not familiar with or I don't know how to operate this........ unless I'm very familiar with that piece of equipment and its at a low price and I know I can fix it if it is broken.

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Definitely too late, bought it a year ago and made the mistake not to inspect it right away. I'm never buying a camera from someone who doesn't know about the equipment ever again...

Jim17x said:

I would just buy another kit with a different lens. RZ67 kits are going for apx $350 and this way you will have another body and an extra lens. Or contact Mamiya and see if they will sell you a board, they cant cost much and the installation of it should be very easy.

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Well it's a Pro II body so they go for quite a bit more than that if it's in good condition. My lens and back are fine, just the body needs replacement.

Mainecoonmaniac said:

I'd get another one from Ebay. I have 2 RZ bodies. One I got over 30 years ago and one I got recently from Ebay for way less that $500. Here's one for $180. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MAMIYA-RZ67-Pro-Medium-Format-SLR-Film-Camera-Body-/221826897943

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Slight correction, it's a Pro II body. At this point I'm really hesitant to buy anything off eBay that looks murky.

film_man said:

While I'm generally of the "better fix as you then know what you get vs gambling on an internet purchase if it costs the same or even a bit more to repair" opinion in this particular case the you're looking at 2-3x the cost of a replacement body so you'd have to be unlucky twice or three times vs fixing it. On the other hand that $500 gets you a guaranteed body which in theory should keep going for a few years. Not sure what I'd do, probably buy another one. If the repair was $300 then I'd probably get it fixed.

And yeah, if I saw a listing for something that is brand new never opened sitting on a shelf for 20 years I'd just skip. Especially if the seller claims they know little about it.

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Yeah I learned my lesson the hard way man, feeling the hurt in my wallet right now. Okay so KEH.com sells an Ex condition body for $450 and they said it comes with a 6mth warranty. I was thinking, what if I bought that (because KEH bodies should be gauranteed to work right?) and then sold my faulty one on eBay to get some money back? Not sure what it would be worth...is $200 too much?