Problems with RZ67

blankk · May 20, 2010

Hey guys, I'm not actually having these problems. I just sold my RZ to someone on ebay, and the last I knew it was working perfectly. Used it for my last class assignment last week and only sold it to buy a Mamiya 7. Anyway, the buyer contacted me on ebay and said the camera would only fire in emergency mode at 1/400th. I called him and we were able to get it to fire at other speeds, but it was confusing not being there and seeing the camera.

Anyway, he doesn't have film in the back and says that the back is showing 'S' and won't advance to '1'. I think he's going to try and find a roll of film to load into the back.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if there's something we're missing. A couple times I got the camera into some position where it wouldn't fire but I just pressed a few buttons and moved stuff around and eventually figured it out. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what we're missing? I really doubt anything is wrong with the camera since it was working the day I sent it. I don't know enough about the camera to be a big help to the guy but I'd like to get things working for him.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have!
Joe

kauffman v36 · May 20, 2010

battery low possibly?

blankk · May 20, 2010

He put in a new battery and the same thing. He was able to get the camera to fire by sliding something on the lens, I think. Does the camera cock fully when the back isn't on?

kauffman v36 · May 20, 2010

yes it can cock and fire without a back attached. my RZ gives me the occasionaly problems/glitches as well. playing with it, hitting it, moving all the parts a couple times usually fixes whatever was wrong.

blankk · May 20, 2010

Yeah I mean I never had any problems with it other than once or twice and I usually just played with a button or something and it worked itself out. Could it be related to the fact that the camera had no film in the back and the indicator showed 'S'?

Rudeofus · May 21, 2010

blankk said:
Yeah I mean I never had any problems with it other than once or twice and I usually just played with a button or something and it worked itself out. Could it be related to the fact that the camera had no film in the back and the indicator showed 'S'?

My RZ67 was acting up badly once (turned out my battery was dead) and I diagnosed the problem as this:

- took the back off
- camera wouldn't fire that way, had to switch it to M (I mean the switch on the side which allows you to take multiple exposures without advancing the film). In this mode it doesn't seem to care whether there is a back attached to the camera.
- set a slow shutter time (1s or so), trigger shutter, see whether shutter opens and aperture works.

If all that works there's not much chance that this camera is broken ...

SuzanneR · May 21, 2010

The counter won't advance unless there's film loaded in it, and it's possible he forgot to take the dark slide out, and that may be why the shutter won't fire??? I found similar problems when I first bought mine until I had a fresh battery and film IN, and the dark slide OUT!!

kauffman v36 · May 21, 2010

ive had problems where the camera thinks the darkslide is in but its not so it wont let me fire. these seem unrelated to the OP's problems though, "/

martinhughesireland · May 21, 2010

You really need to sit down with them at the start and go through the manual page by page and learn every knob on the RZ ...

Any how if its only firing at a 400th and the battery is good go to the shutter release button front bottom right. There is a lock swivel type thing around it. Make sure its not set to max anti clock wise if you were looking straight in at it from the front...

M

Chazzy · May 21, 2010

Is the RB any less prone to these lockups than the RZ? I've been trying to make my mind up about choosing between an RB and an RZ, and I just can't make up my mind.

Jeff Kubach · May 21, 2010

Chazzy said:
Is the RB any less prone to these lockups than the RZ? I've been trying to make my mind up about choosing between an RB and an RZ, and I just can't make up my mind.

I had my RB67 for about 6+ years. So far no problems as far as locking up. (my mind locks up sometimes!) I guess the RB67 is simpler.

Jeff

tim k · May 21, 2010

You can eliminate the battery problem on the RB.

Chazzy · May 21, 2010

I guess the electronics on the RZ mean that there is more to go wrong. But someone said that the 110mm lens for the RZ is spectacular. If I went with the RB, I would probably start with a 127mm.

blankk · May 21, 2010

I only had problems once or twice in several months of ownership, and I'm not sure whether they were user error or not. I was under the impression they were simply my fault.

Rudeofus · May 21, 2010

Chazzy said:
Is the RB any less prone to these lockups than the RZ? I've been trying to make my mind up about choosing between an RB and an RZ, and I just can't make up my mind.

In my experience these were not lock ups, the camera just refused to take a pic because I did something silly (forgot dark slide, battery dead, film not advanced, .....). So you basically have the option of going nuts because the cam won't fire for some reason (RZ) or taking a pic anyway which turns out completely black (RB). It's entirely a personal decision which form of abuse suits you better

BTW: the 110/2.8 (only available for RZ) is indeed an incredible lens, its bokeh is just surreal.

TimmyMac · May 21, 2010

Don't you have to flick it to M to get the shutter to fire with no film? Also the film counter won't advance without film under any circumstances.

brucemuir · May 23, 2010

TimmyMac said:
Don't you have to flick it to M to get the shutter to fire with no film?

Yes, this is true.

Problems with RZ67

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