Mamiya RZ67 MLU no cable

Good evening,
I bought a nice RZ67 Pro I from eBay and have tried everything to get it fired, but it just won't do it while in a regular setting (only with the shutter dial pointed to the orange dot). After reading countless forums, I stumbled upon the fact that my mirror-up socket is showing the red line. Problem is that I don't have a release cable, nor can I find instructions on how to get it to retract without a cable. Can anyone help me?

Welkom !

I am ignorant on this very issue, but as you refer to a cable release: any kind of release that is made to take a cable release can be triggered by just pushing into a pin of same diameter as that of the cable release.

AgX said:

Welkom !

I am ignorant on this very issue, but as you refer to a cable release: any kind of release that is made to take a cable release can be triggered by just pushing into a pin of same diameter as that of the cable release.

Click to expand...

Yes, I know. It is not about actually releasing the shutter. You need to screw it in and out to turn the setting on and unfortunately when it isn't screwed off correctly, the setting stays on. Which probably happened before the seller shipped to me, a person without a cable. But thanks!

You mean the female thread of the release has to be pulled out a bit? And thus you need cable release?
I guess I have to read the manual, this is going to be interesting.

AgX said:

You mean the female thread of the release has to be pulled out a bit? And thus you need cable release?
I guess I have to read the manual, this is going to be interesting.

Click to expand...

Yes, right now it is pulled out, but you can only make it retract by using the cable release for as far as I can find anywhere

So, it is a bayonet mechanism.

The best advise that I can give is to buy one, either at a local, better camera store that still got old stuff around, or order one.

The second best advise would be to take a respective sized rod of wood and angle its tip with a sharp pencil sharpener. A rod of the new non-plastic cotton buds may work too. Hold the release down so that any debris can fall out again.
(I guess some guys here now want to tarr and feather me for this advice...)

If you got a solid-wire mains cable at hand, you can cut off one of its wires and shape the tip as described above. I tested it on a bayonet-locking release and it worked fine. But your release may be different in operating.

The socket is under very light tension, all you need to do is put a slotted screwdriver (2.5mm width) in the socket and turn counterclockwise.

Or so...

What you have described in post #1 is normal. What happed is: the last time a cable release was threaded into the auxiliary socket on the side of the lens, it was slightly loose. Then it was unscrewed. That leaves the socket in the extended position—which leaves the red line visible and prevents normal shutter release via the main shutter release button.

All you need to do is to thread a cable release into the auxiliary socket and snug it firmly. Then, the socket will retract into the lens barrel and the len’s shutter will return to normal operation when the cable is unscrewed from the auxiliary socket (you can see the socket retract as you unscrew it).

Mirror-Up operation is covered on page 29 in the manual as presented in the following link.

The problem is specifically mentioned in the left-hand column on page 30 under CAUTION.

"If the red line around the Mirror-up Socket is still visible when the cable release is removed, the camera is still set for mirror-up operation. If such is the case, reattach the cable release, making sure that the socket retracts as you remove it once again.”

The key idea is to firmly snug the cable before unscrewing it.

RZ67_Pro_v4.pdf (mamiyaleaf.com)

I had difficulties understanding what is going on at that release, until I realised that what the OP was hinting at is quite similar to the release-button lock of the Zenit E for achieving shutter T-mode.