Refoaming a Mamiya 645 1000s with USCamera kits (opinion)

[Kino]

Just finished refoaming my Mamiya 645 1000s with 2 kits from USCamera.

While the Mamiya M645 Body Custom Light Seal Kit worked fine, I cannot recommend the Custom Mirror Cushion Kit.

There are 3 strips in the kit; a front mirror bumper and 2 side mirror bumpers. The front mirror bumper is a simple, skinny rectangle and it works fine after you laboriously scrape off all the rotten foam and adhesive (and let me tell you, that's a trick!).

However, the 2 side bumpers are for some strange reason, wedge shaped and, in my opinion, simply too thick at the leading edge for the task at hand. After I installed them and engaged the MLU, the mirror was under a pretty big strain to lock-up and the foam was being pushed up above the nylon skirt that sits directly above the bumpers.

No matter how I tried to reposition them, they simply did not work for me. Maybe I am an idiot, but I gave up and installed two thin rectangles of denser, self adhesive foam I got from Michael's craft store in their place and the camera was happy.

Adding to my frustration was a lack of good documentation on their website. The text only page was not real helpful and gave no indication of the wedge orientation, although it could only have been large edge to the front of the mirror box with the taper toward the hinge of the mirror. Interestingly, on the kit instructions page, there was an inquiry asking for assistance in determining the orientation of the wedge-shaped foam bumpers that was posted back in February with no corresponding answer from the company or owner.

I think I will look elsewhere for my next refoaming kit...

 

[Jon Goodman]

Please avoid these imitation kits. The seal pieces and pads in the 645 (there are a total of 12 if the kit was prepared---or copied correctly from my work) are in some cases less than 1mm different in length and the side damper pads look nothing like the above. I've gone to great lengths to make it as easy as possible to identify and use these seals. If you're curious, please contact me at jon_goodman@yahoo.com

 

[Kino]

Jon,

Thank you. I will be getting in touch with you soon. I have quite a few cameras in which to replace light seals...

 

[MattKing]

Please avoid these imitation kits. The seal pieces and pads in the 645 (there are a total of 12 if the kit was prepared---or copied correctly from my work) are in some cases less than 1mm different in length and the side damper pads look nothing like the above. I've gone to great lengths to make it as easy as possible to identify and use these seals. If you're curious, please contact me at jon_goodman@yahoo.com

Good to see you posting Jon - your name comes up regularly here, and I for one was worried that the contact info I had was outdated.

 

[Jon Goodman]

Hi Matt (and everyone else). First of all, thanks for your support and for remembering me. I'm still fine, but I've retired and that's meant I have had to re-task myself toward a whole bunch of other work which needed to be done for over a decade. Aside from a couple, I sold all my cameras, parts cameras and replacement parts and am no longer taking in camera repair. I finally had to admit I'm too much of a perfectionist and I work too slowly. Plus my wife didn't appreciate the clutter, and I don't blame her. "The Light Seal Project" will be kept going as long as there's demand and as long as I can do it. Scientists say the first person to live to 200 has already been born. I don't think it is me, though. I already consider it an accomplishment if I can put my blue jeans on without snagging one foot, falling over and knocking myself unconscious. It is odd how your brain still thinks of you as being about 20 or 25...no matter how old the mirror says you are. I've never quite understood that, but I'm sure there's a good reason. Maybe it is a natural thing to keep you from being depressed.

Some of the kits for cameras which have very small to zero consumer demand or interest or those which trade so thinly the result is the same (example: all Bronica models, Topcons, the Autocord, Chinon, many Ricoh, Fujica, some Yashicas, etc) have been discontinued. Also any of the plastic fantastic auto-everything SLRs of any make. If the pirates want to make kits for those, that's fine. They'll sell 1 every two years. And I should mention kits for some of the confusing cameras (the 645 Mamiya by convenient example) have been improved and simplified from the user's point of view. Since the tsunami did so much damage (lasting damage) to the custom foam market in Japan, I now have all foam made here in the USA to my specs and it is greatly more costly. But it is a better product, will last much longer and accomplishes some of my responsibility and dedication to support industry here at home.

That's about it for me and the light seal stuff. As an aside, in 1958 I began learning watchmaking from a German gentleman and I have in idle evening hours returned to some of that work (after a 20+ year hiatus). It has been rewarding to discover the passage of time hasn't altered that discipline one iota. It is still just as aggravating, irritating, confusing, tedious and at the same time rewarding. Tiny screws and gears dropped on the floor still make a tiny noise but continue to disappear into some alternate universe. Currently I'm working on a 100 year old WWI military watch in a nickel case. Humbling to see something that old and historical still keeping time very well.

I still have 2 email addresses: jon_goodman@yahoo.com and jgood21967@aol.com Please feel free to contact me at either of those and I'll answer as soon as I can. The yahoo address probably gets checked more often.

Oh, I should mention I am still making and selling the battery converters. These are the ones which transform a #675 hearing aid cell into a clone of the old PX-13 type mercury battery. I still believe Occam's Razor applies to the whole mercury battery situation. In as few words as possible "the simplest answer is the best". Nobody has been able to provide any better solution to this problem and after all, Occam's Razor is the underpinning for all scientific theory anyhow.

You can see the converter at my friend Rick Oleson's page: http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-111.html

Jon

 

[GRHazelton]

Good to hear from you, Jon!
Jon's name is truly descriptive: "Good man." Some while ago I queried him about a seal kit for my Olympus OM-10. He replied, I ordered it, and he sent it on before I'd sent the check. Good to see him back! Jon, since you're scaling down the seals biz, I'll have to inventory my cameras and order those I need. Is there any list of those cameras which require foam light seals? I know some older cameras used yarn, which should last far longer than foam, barring moth attack!

 

[Jon Goodman]

A list of the cameras...well, I can still make kits for about 200 makes and models. The scaling back situation is simply to keep me from wasting time (and foam now that the cost is so dear). What I have learned is the kits being bought are predominantly for a group of between 20 and maybe 40 cameras that many people here could name without thought...Nikon FM, FM2, FE, FA, F3, EM, FG, F2, Canon AE-1, A-1, EF, FT, Canonet, Olympus, Minolta, lots of the Pentax models, RB67,...you know where I'm headed. All I'm saying is cameras (like the Kowa for example) for which I'll sell one kit every decade just need to be shelved. Sad because a lot of money and time went into the templates, cutters, etc but they're like the AMC Gremlin and how many of those do you still see driving around? Thanks much for the compliment. Just "golden rule" stuff, you know. Can't help with the moths, but experience has taught me they're persistent little creatures. Hope all is well with you.

 

[GRHazelton]

A list of the cameras...well, I can still make kits for about 200 makes and models. The scaling back situation is simply to keep me from wasting time (and foam now that the cost is so dear). What I have learned is the kits being bought are predominantly for a group of between 20 and maybe 40 cameras that many people here could name without thought...Nikon FM, FM2, FE, FA, F3, EM, FG, F2, Canon AE-1, A-1, EF, FT, Canonet, Olympus, Minolta, lots of the Pentax models, RB67,...you know where I'm headed. All I'm saying is cameras (like the Kowa for example) for which I'll sell one kit every decade just need to be shelved. Sad because a lot of money and time went into the templates, cutters, etc but they're like the AMC Gremlin and how many of those do you still see driving around? Thanks much for the compliment. Just "golden rule" stuff, you know. Can't help with the moths, but experience has taught me they're persistent little creatures. Hope all is well with you.

All is well at Stately Hazelton Manor, Jon.
Live Long and Prosper,
GR