new user of mamiya C3 , a question and some hints/tips ?

<p>hello everyone , a short intro of myself here.<br>

My names Ben , resident of Sydney Australia and have been playing with pentx spotmatic 35mm for a few years now , collected a few nice lenses a nice bellows etc. Recently tried out some medium format with a holga pinhole and quote liked the extra clarity and resolution of 120 , so ive grabbed a mamiya c3 off a ebay seller.<br>

Firstly , camera was alittle dirty with dust and surface rust but the package was not bad. Bellows fine lenses needed a quick clean , all buttons slides etc work without hesitation.<br>

This brings me to my question/problem.<br>

I loaded a B/W roll of shanghai 160 (cheap stuff) for a test roll - placed the roll down the bottom clicked it itno place , pulled the roll up and fed it into the upper roll. Closed the hatched , put on LOCK - wound and ready to go.<br>

Composed a shot , cocked the lens and took the shot. Now...everything has locked. The film winder is locked , the trigger is locked ( but the lens ofcourse can still be manually trigged with a finger nail). Im stuck as to what the issue might be. Ive tried sliding back onto UNLOCK , tried turning from film to roll etc nothing seems to work.<br>

Is there a simple thing ive missed ? Im learning this camera by touch and mistakes so Im sure there could be something ive missed.</p>

<p>Thanks for any thoughts ! ! ! !Ben</p>

<p>Here is the instruction manual:</p>

<p>http://www.cameramanuals.org/mamiya_pdf/mamiya_c3.pdf</p>

I had a C330 that would lock up from time to time, for no apparent reason as far as I could tell. Sometimes it would unlock after fiddling with it a

bit, sometimes it wouldn't and I'd have to take the film out before it would. I never could figure it out. Other than that it was a nice camera.

<p>Ben, I have Mamiya TLRs which, to my shame, I never use anymore, but I dug out my C3 to check this. I think your problem is both interlocks are locked (the shutter interlock and the film transport interlock), and you need to free them up. </p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10804294-lg.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Here is the background. First off, when you release the shutter of a C3 using the sliding bar <strong><em>A</em></strong> on the right side of the lensboard (the one with the little knurled knob), it does two things. The first is it pushes the shutter lever on the taking lens. The second is, at the end of its travel, it releases an interlock that lets you crank on to the next frame.</p>

<p>Then, when you wind the crank of a C3, it also does two things. It transports the film, and then at the very end of its travel, it releases an interlock that lets you actuate the shutter using that sliding bar. I guess this interlock is somehow disabled when the selector switch <em><strong>B</strong></em> is set to 'sheet or multi-exposure'. (If it were a C33 or a C330, the crank would also cock the shutter for you, but not on a C3 or a C220.)</p>

<p>So I <em>think </em>your problem is both interlocks are closed, and you need to find a way to unlock one of them. What happened (I think) is that when you pressed on the sliding shutter release <strong><em>A</em></strong>, it went far enough to trip the shutter, but not far enough to release the film transport interlock. I think I remember this happening to me in the past, when I used a cable release that didn't have long enough 'throw'. If this is correct, then you are in a state of limbo, and both interlocks are locked.</p>

<p>Try the following: turn the selector switch <strong><em>B</em></strong> to 'sheet or multi-exposure'. Then cock the shutter (manually, of course, because it's a C3). Then see if you can trip the shutter using the sliding shutter release <strong><em>A</em></strong>, like usual. Make sure you press it down firmly, so it goes all the way, far enough to release the film transport interlock. Then crank to the next frame, and if you can, Bob's your uncle.</p>

<p>If you still can't budge the sliding shutter release, you might try jiggling the crank a bit to see if you can unjam the shutter interlock. Then try the above again. And if that doesn't work, a CLA might be in your future.</p>

<p>Let us know how you get on. These are good cameras-- simple and robust, and I hope you can get yours working again.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>thanks for the time and effort put into these responses.....</p>

<p>I ended up undoing the film back ever so slightly - heard a faint CLICK and that released the "locked part".<br>

From there on in , the camera worked fine. Wind on , compose , cock the lens and shoot and repeat.<br>

So - my guess is since this camera came from someones attic ( estate sale ) and probably hasnt been used for 10 , 20 maybe 30 + years it was a freak instance. Perhaps a dried up cog or guide somewhere ?</p>

<p>Excellent, keep the moving parts moving, and keep us posted on how you get on with the camera!</p>