RZ67 Mirror/Baffle Stuck In Lowered Position

[gus.]

Hello all!

The other day I went to cock my RZ and noticed the lever wasn't 'cocking.' Upon further inspection I realized my mirror and light baffle were not rising. So, my issue is that upon completely cocking the RZs lever, the shutter is not cocking nor is the mirror being set. Haven't dropped it nor (hopefully) mishandled the body. I've tried different lenses and backs (Polaroid, 120) to see if that kicked it into gear somehow (newbie desperation moves!) to no avail. I do notice something by the mirror that I am unsure of being normal or not; two little arms within the body wall seem 'unhinged'. I attached some photos of the body field stripped and of two metal 'arms' that make me raise an eyebrow.

Any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks all.

 

[gus.]

Help! Haha. If someone can point me to another forum where I can pick some folks' brains regarding my issue that would help a bunch as well.

 

[MattKing]

Have you checked the battery?

 

[polyglot]

Mine did something like this once about 2 years ago; the mirror was almost but not-quite all the way down. It caused the viewfinder image to be tilted and grossly misfocused at infinity.

IIRC in my case, the lens got cocked and was preventing me from pushing the lever and cocking the body completely. So I probably removed and fired the lens (you can do it from the pins in its mount), reinstalled the lens and then recocked the whole thing. But I could well be misremembering - don't blame me if you break it!

I hear that a Hasselblad can jam if you install an uncocked lens but the RZ doesn't seem to have that particular stupidity.

 

[gus.]

Have you checked the battery?

New battery. Thanks Matt!

Mine did something like this once about 2 years ago; the mirror was almost but not-quite all the way down. It caused the viewfinder image to be tilted and grossly misfocused at infinity.

IIRC in my case, the lens got cocked and was preventing me from pushing the lever and cocking the body completely. So I probably removed and fired the lens (you can do it from the pins in its mount), reinstalled the lens and then recocked the whole thing. But I could well be misremembering - don't blame me if you break it!

Yeah, tried firing the lens manually. There's plenty of advice online regarding the mirror being stuck open but little if any of it stuck closed. I wish I had more experience with this guy. Lever works fine, shutter release button also depresses fine, just can't get the darn mirror to cock! I tried this with different lenses and my Polaroid back (knowing the absence of film-forwarding mechanics on it allow me to cock and expose at will as opposed to a 120 back) but no luck. When I advance the cocking lever forward I can see the film advance coupler moving freely, too.

Oh, and I can manually lift the light bellow/mirror with my fingers and they move to the open position fine.

Thanks Polyglot.

 

[Kevin Kehler]

Can't say I ever had this problem

You are not trying to fire it with the lens off are you? It generally does not want to fire with the lens off. Also, if the remote cable switch (where you screw the remote cable in) is up in the least bit, it can cause problems. What is the light colour in the waist level finder when you push the shutter release? I know it will not fire without film in the holders, which is why I had a couple of way expired rolls I used for testing. The only other thing I can think of is that the shutter is 99% cocked but not 100% which can cause problems.

 

[Ross Chambers]

Awful defeatist advice--having been through the mirror stuck down experience on a RB67: Unless you can figure a way to do it yourself or have a free tech available, toss it and buy another body. In my case KEH sold me a body which was in far better condition than my dud for substantially less than the repair would have cost.

 

[gus.]

Ok! Read my battery with a voltmeter and I'm only getting two volts from the 6v that I JUST purchased. I'm not getting anything from the monitor lamps either. Could that be the culprit? What gets me is that even without a battery I should be able to shoot at 1/400. I'm gonna get another battery and cross my fingers. Thanks all.

Can someone with an RZ reference their own based on that last photo from my original post? Those two little arms just seem askew somehow. Would help a bunch if they looked the same on a working RZ.

 

[polyglot]

While the battery may well be dead, as you say the camera will work without. You need to put it on the orange dot to make it fire though...

 

[gus.]

While the battery may well be dead, as you say the camera will work without. You need to put it on the orange dot to make it fire though...

Polygot. You beautiful, beautiful soul! I got it to fire! I didn't realize you had to turn the collar stop level for emergency firing operation. It's firing! (On emergency mode.) The baffle sounds a little weird when I cock it but the sucker fires! Will report back with new battery. Thanks all!

 

[polyglot]

Ah. So maybe it was the battery after all!