AE Prism Operation

[jerry_plemons1]

I got my AE Meter today. It is an AE meter (see pictures) and it fits my 1000s

(according to KEH). There is no shutter speed dial so it is am aperture-

priority meter. And according to my downloaded 1000s manual, this isn?t a PD

or PD S or CdS meter. There's no mention of this meter prism.

 

The meter seems to be functional, but when I fire the shutter, the shutter

stays open for what sounds like 1 second, no matter what shutter speed the

meter needle is point to. The Internal display in the meter is at the top of

the view finder and is in shutter speeds so I expected the camera shutter to be

set to the speed the needle shows. I have the camera speed dial set on the

round red o. If I move it off that setting, the meter shuts off. As you can

see in the attached photo, there is no battery compartment, so I assume it

isn?t a CdS type meter. There is a white button in the middle of the off-on

switch. Any idea what it is supposed to do. As far as I can tell, it doesn?t

do anything. KEH listed it as an AE Meter for the 645 and the 1000s. The

sales person I spoke to (after returning a defective PD prism) said it was for

the 1000s camera. I?m beginning to think I?m snake-bit on metered prisms.

 

What do I need to do to make the camera understand the prism meter? Am doing

something wrong, is this the wrong meter for this camera and did KEH mess me up

again? Any assistance would be MOST appreciated.

 

Jerry<div></div>

[golden]

hi jerry, I have seen this type of meter before but ive never used it, i was thinking that was the PDS meter. i thought i read somewhere that there was a setting on it so you can set the maximum shutter speed for 500 or 1000, but im not sure.. good luck

[golden]

Jerry go to mamiya.com,,, download the instructions for the 1000s, there is a meter there called the CQS prism finder,, it sounds like that may be it. go to mamiya.com click on customer service, then click on instruction manuals, go to the right of your screen click on downloads (pdf files) then 645, that prism is on page 43 good luck

[golden]

that is the cds meter, dang look on page 41, i was reading and there is an aperature priorty method..

[jerry_plemons1]

John,

 

The problem is - there is no shutterspeed dial on this finder. There are only two controls. A dial to set the film ISO/ASA and the Off/On switch. I guess you could count the white button as a third, which is supposed to turn the meter on for a bit, then turn itself off. As far as I can tell, it doesn't do anything. There is also no control to set the highest shutter speed either. No matter what I try, if the meter is attached to the camera - either turned off or turned on, when I fire the shutter, the shutter opens for about a full second, then closes. No amount of fiddling with the ISO dial, the On/Off dial, or the white button changes what the camera does.

 

If I change the camera's shutter speed dial from the red dot to one of the shutter speeds or B, the meter goes to the Off condition.

 

When I had the PD meter, the meter worked fine. It was just that dark horizontal line in the viewfinder that was unacceptable. Since the PD meter worked, I assumed that my camera was ok and that the problem is either with the meter, or I just don't know how to make it work.

 

I hope someone with experience with this animal will respond and tell me what I'm doing wrong - or tell me that either the camera needs repair or the meter needs to go back to KEH.

 

Jerry

[golden]

if it has a needle, it sounds like a cds,, look at that picture in the manual on page 41. good luck

[jerry_plemons1]

John,

 

Unfortunately, my meter doesn't look like the one on page 41. It looks more like the attched image. My suspician is that either the meter is defective or my camera needs repair.

 

Jerry<div></div>

[golden]

Oh ok, well im stumped, I think I would just get a waist level and a hand held and forget about it. hand held meters are more accurate anyway. Good luck

John

[jim_reiss]

Hi all,

My first post here. Try this site http://66.49.230.119/mamiya_pdf/mamiya_m645-2.pdf

It has every this you need (See page 35).

 

Jim

[jerry_plemons1]

Jim,

 

That is exactly the meter I had. All worked as the manual described, except no matter what ASA setting or shutter speed the needle pointed to, the shutter in the camera would fire and stay open for the 2 seconds - indicating to me that the camera was not receiving the shutter speed signal from the prism. The camera acted as if the prism was turned off all the time.

 

After describing my situation to KEH, we decided I should return the meter.

 

Jerry

[patrick_ross]

This meter has a small screw just infront of the on/off switch.

This is used for setting the camera up for the 1000 sec newer version or the older 645J stlye which only has a 500th sec shutter.

 

Don't forget to set this switch. turn it anti clockwise for 500th and clockwise for the 1000th sec camera.

This might just have been adding to a problem, or the prism could just have been faulty in the first place.

This note is just for anyone who has not seen this extra Screw/switch.