Mamiya TLR Lens Repair (a good DIY website perhaps?)

[arealitystudios]

Hello Everyone

So I have a Mamiya C330 that I've been using for the better part of two decades now. I've had it since High School in fact (I'm 34 now) and it's pretty much become that one camera I would never get rid of. Sure I use other camera and I like them too, but the C330 is that one instrument I always find myself going back to.

(my goodness, this sounds like a bad romance novel)

Anyway... I have two lenses for it, a chrome 65mm and a black 80mm. The black 80mm by far gets the most use.

Over the past three months however, both lenses have developed the same problem. It first happened to the 65mm and when I noticed it I just put the lens in a drawer to deal with at a later time. About a week ago it started happening to the 80mm.

What happens is no matter what shutter speed I set the lens to it seems to fire at the same speed. Just visually looking at it I'm guessing it's 1/500th of a second because it's lightning quick. The only shutter speed that seems to do anything different is the Bulb setting, which of course leaves the shutter open. Every other setting, from 1 second all the way up to 1/500th of a second all fire at the same speed. Both lenses now have the exact same symptoms.

I know I could easily replace both of them for very cheap. Mamiya TLR lenses don't exactly command sky high prices, but I've had these for so long I'd much rather repair them. I'm guessing since both lenses now have the same problem this is something other people have experienced as well and I'm hoping it's an easy fix, even better if I can do it myself.

Does anyone know of any websites that detail taking apart a Mamiya TLR lens? I tried a Google search but didn't come up with anything that looked very clear. I'm not the most experienced camera repair person but I have fixed a few lenses before, namely Kodak lenses on a Speed Graphic or two.

Thanks!

 

[Too old to care]

I've owned 3 Mamiya TLRs since 1970, still have a C330f. I also have taken apart the lenses without the aid of a manual and repaired them. One one I replaced a broken spring, on another one repaired the release pawl, and another cleaned the oil off the blades. The front reading and side reading lenses are almost the same inside. I found two sites that may be of help to you. One is a flicker account and the other the manual is in French. Maybe a translator can convert it to English. Good luck.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jones-ben/3156444887/in/set-72157612018312116/

http://tlr-mamiya-c.blogspot.com/

 

[PeterB]

http://www.flutotscamerarepair.com/

 

[Jordan Rafael]

Tengo el mismo problema, ¿pudiste reparar tus lentes?

 

[Christiaan Phleger]

The Mamiya TLR lenses are very robust and well built; and can be rebuilt quite easily by DIY or any reasonable repair person. I've done a simple flush on them

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Mamiya TLR lenses really are one of the easiest to take apart. But don't flush them! All that does is dissolve gunk and then redeposit it EVERYWHERE. It may temporarily fix a problem but is bound to cause a new one on the order of weeks. Although each design may be slightly different the Seiko shutters in them are quite similar to Copal shutters. Several repair manuals for those are available here: Copal | Service Manuals | Learn Camera Repair. By the way, what is wrong with your shutter is almost certainly a sticky escapement pawl (I think that's the right name?) and probably something you can fix yourself without a full disassembly. As you rotate the shutter speed selector there's a dial with a bunch of cut outs in it and a pawl that gets moved closer to the center or farther from the center depending on the position of the shutter speed selector. When its disengaged there is no slowing of the shutter (it fires at 1/500) and as it gets more and more engaged the shutter goes slower and slower, until it is at 1s. If this is not moving (from dirt, grime, or disconnected spring) when you rotate your shutter speed ring then it would cause the symptoms you describe. I'd suggest taking a look by unscrewing the front lens group (I have a chrome 80mm and it just screws off, I don't know if the black is the same way) and opening up the shutter to take a look. If you do find gunk, you can remove it carefully with a q-tip dipped in naptha or some other degreasing solvent. Just so long as you're removing the gunk rather than redistributing it, naptha (lighter fluid) can be a useful tool.

 

[reddesert]

The Mamiya lenses are in Seiko (black) or Seikosha (silver) shutters. There are some pictures of a disassembly here:
http://www.pheugo.com/cameras/index.php?page=seikosha
and an exploded view here:
https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=691&category=2&secondary=22

The phuego.com link shows a disassembly of a shutter from a 35mm rangefinder, so the first few steps are omitted. For the silver Seikosha shutters, you can get to the insides in a few steps: unscrew the front lens cell. This reveals a toothed ring that is kept from turning by a tiny screw. Note the position of the ring (draw a mark on it), then unscrew the tiny screw, and loosen the toothed ring. You can now lift off the front chrome ring and then the speed setting disk that has all the notches for various cams, pawls, etc, which is part 791-0005 in the exploded view above. I think the black Seiko shutters are fairly similar.