RZ67 Time exposure, shutter doesn't stay open

Hi,

I recently decided to take the step from 35mm to 120 and bought a used RZ67/127mm combo and I'm having trouble using the time exposure - The shutter doesn't lock open but fires with the mechanical 1/400 speed, when I return the N/T-switch to Normal the body makes a clicking sound after a delay corresponding to the shutter speed dial setting.
All the regular shutter speeds are accurate, Bulb and MLU works as per the manual, battery is fresh and I've cleaned the electrical terminals on the lens and body. Has anyone else had similar issues? Is it worth spending the money to have a professional look at the lens v just getting another one?

/Bengt

The way it should work, slide to the T and release the shutter.
Upon shutter release, the mirror will raise (noisy) and the shutter will remain open until you switch back to N (quiet click as the shutter closes) on the lens.
Cranking the camera will then reset the mirror and advance the film.

If it's not doing that, I'm not really sure what the problem may be, but I don't suspect it is the lens that is at fault. But, there may be another APUG member near you that could have you test another lens.

It sounds like the T catch in the lens is maybe broken, or you're misunderstanding the camera and it's working properly. Do you have another lens you can try it with? The body shouldn't click though...

The order of operations (and sounds) is:
- choose a fairly-high speed on the body speed dial, or even the orange-dot mechanical mode
- insert cable release into lens
- slide switch to T (it must latch in the T position!)
- fire mirror from body, wait 5s for vibrations to stop
- fire lens from cable release (one "ting" of shutter opening)
- wait a while
- put on lens-cap (prevents you bumping camera while closing shutter)
- return switch to N (one "ting" of shutter closing)
- crank

Note that the small noise of the shutter opening is pretty similar to the sound of the shutter at 1/400 - have you taken the back off (use M mode to fire the body) and looked through the lens to make sure that the shutter really isn't staying open? Note that the shutter closes when you slide the switch back to N so if the switch isn't latching properly, you'll not get a T mode. The T switch is a purely mechanical thing that holds the shutter open with no electrical power for as long as you want.

The camera body connects to the lens electrically (except for the 1/400 mode); it provides voltage to hold the shutter open for the right amount of time then withdraws it at the end of the exposure. If you're using T mode, the lens just stays open and ignores the end-of-exposure signal from the camera. Dirty electrical contacts etc will have no effect on T mode. This also means that there is nothing mechanical happening inside the body at the end of the exposure selected on the body-dial, which leads me to believe the click you're hearing when you slide the switch back to N is actually the shutter closing, and that it's maybe working properly.

I've tried removing the back and looking through the body in multiple-exposure mode and I'm certain that the shutter doesn't latch open but fires with the mechanical 1/400 speed. The N/T-switch is distinctly latched in the rightmost position and some gentle prodding with a multimeter shows that the electrical N/T-switch works, perhaps the click I'm hearing is the shutter solenoid - it disappears when in mechanical mode.

And just as I was writing this parts of the flash sync switch decided to leave the lens, I should have stuck with 35mm.

Thanks for the help anyway gentlemen.

/Bengt

Sounds like you have a dud lens then.

Could it be that the battery is dead? Doesn't the lens fire at the mechanical speed of 1/400 when the battery does not work?

OP says the regular (body-timed) speeds are accurate, which would indicate the battery is fine. And I think (but am not sure) that you have to move the power selector to the orange dot to get mechanical actuation with the dead battery. And T mode is mechanical, so it should not be affected by a dead battery.