mat_nikon

Wow that is fantastic info Mr Butler. My current 4LR44 battery stash stands at 8 pieces (including the new one just inserted in the camera). At 5000 exposures times 8 divide by 15, thats 2,666 rolls of 120 film !!! I'll be dead before all the batteries are used up!!! Unfortunately my current stash of 120 film is only about 15 to 20 rolls give or take. That is a significant imbalance of stashes. Unfortunaltely, film is more expensive than batteries to tilt/correct the imbalance. I have zero stash of the mirror damper/stopper thingy, and I have no idea where to start . That could be a problem.

I just bought a Mamiya 645 pro too. Your post now makes me worry. I think I've seen three or four post on these broken mirror stop thingy in this forum. Hopefully it all works out for you finally and you have a good experiences with MF.

Thank you for your input Joe. The old battery is a 4LR44, alkaline I think. So is the new one. I have installed the new batt in camera. Hopefully its a one off low batt problem and not some electrical gremlin. I also posed a question in another thread on how many rolls can you expect for a fresh 4LR44. Ballpark figure. Less than 5, less than 10, around 20, more? Then I will adjust my battery stash accordingly. :-) They are getting harder to find over here with prices triple that of Ebay. The button type single LR44 are plenty.

Ok then. I will happily crank away and take some hassle free pictures. Woot!!

Mr Cappai, thank you for your reply. I took a picture of my cat today, so far so good ... "The camera understands the status of each one and behaves accordingly i.e. it will wind whichever part is unwind." I am trying to understand this. It will work only if the power winder is attached? At the moment, I am using the manual crank, so it will be me doing any winding at all if required, not the camera. Anyway the manual is pretty thin on explaining these things. Further, you have to read separate manuals for finder, back, grips.

I received my 645 recently and have been taking pictures with it. Picture turned out sharped (two rolls done on the third), so I don't think the mirror stop is broken/damaged. Yesterday, while I was taking a picture, the mirror did not return. Setting was A-S metering with AEL on shutter dial. Everything was black in the viewfinder, but I can still see the meter reading in the prism. I tried removing the battery and inserting it again, the mirror did not return. Also I see LT in the viewfinder (Long Time exposure?). I took it home suspecting that the battery was weak (it came with the camera) and replaced with a new one. Once I put in new battery, the mirror came down ok. Relief!! I took a reading using a meter and the voltage of the old battery was around 5.8v. It was not too low. The new battery that I just put in was 6.1v. I decided to retest the old battery. I removed the film back shifted from AEL to manual and shutter tripped fine, mirror returned normally. The fault did not repeat itself with the old battery. Question, do I need to switch off the camera after use? Turn the collar around shutter to red dot, else there will be battery drain? So far, I left it on but stuck put in the dark slide. Does 5.8v signify weak battery? Or this is some other circuit problem (prism contact, back contact needs to be cleaned)? Anyway, I have replaced the battery with a new one, and I wait and see if the problem reappears. My second question: How do I know the wind state of the back? As per the Hasselblad, you have dos and don'ts when putting it together ... i.e. body must be wound, lens must be cocked, back and body must be in same state or your lose one frame ... or worse, you could damage something. Is the Mamiya similar? Since the lens has no leaf shutter, would it matter if body was not cocked? Also, can you damage the body if lens was not cocked, but back is advanced. I did not use power winder, I use the manual crank, so I forgot whether I have advanced the film before taking the back off. He he .. I read a post about back pin determines wind state, but it was unclear to me.

I have a question on the 645 Pro. (sorry if this is M645 topic, but the batteries mentioned above seems to be similar). Do you still need the teeny battery in the body when you attached the power winder 401? Does the winder only power the wind motor, or does it also supply power for the meter and shutter circuits? Also how many rolls of film for one set of 4LR44 batteries? Doesn't seem to have this info in the manual.