fell in love with Mamiya RB67 ProS

[h_s1]

<p>After a hiatus, I returned to shooting some film. This time, however, I acquired a Mamiya RB67 ProS. My motivations was my new found love of MF photography.</p>

<p>The camera had its sealing all peeling away being sticky. As I have done in the past some times, I used sharpened match sticks to scrap away the old seals using naphtha. That was the most tedious work. The camera has many seals, and I was only changing the ones on the back. The rest of them were okay, thankfully.</p>

<p>The bad seals are shown in the photo below.</p>

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[h_s1]

<p>Next, I use pure wool yarn and installed that in place of the older seals. I used spots of glue to secure the yarn to the back. The photo below shows the installation in progress. The white spots are the glue.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[h_s1]

<p>The camera has seals in every nook and corner! The ones on the rounded edges of the film holder were also gone, as shown below. There were replaced with small strips of black felt.</p>

<p>All the materials for replacement were obtained from a fabric store. The naphtha that I used for the removal of the sticky stuff was bought from Home Depot (VM&P Naphtha).</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[h_s1]

<p>After doing these DIY repairs, I shot a roll of FujiChrome Provia slide film and was happy to see that the new seals were working very very well. No light leaks at all.</p>

<p>And here is the result. Processed the film at home (yeah, I just started to learn E-6 processing as well :) ).</p>

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[chris_waller]

<p>I love the RB67. Mine is a good 20 years old. I had the seals replaced last year. Mechanically it still works fine, though the dark-slide interlock is now so worn that I can fire the camera without pulling the dark-slide. This has caused a loss of pictures on a couple of occasions. I'll get it repaired sometime but in the meantime I have attached a coloured 'flag' to it to catch my eye and remind me.</p>

[mtk]

<p>Hi HS, I have two of these guys, absolutely love them! Just an FYI, check out KEH as is section for additional film backs...I picked up a couple of "ugly" grade backs that needed seals for cheap...<br>

Mark</p>

[h_s1]

<p>I did check Keh a few days ago. I am waiting to receive a 220 back I bought on e-bay. I am looking to buy an additional 120 as well.<br>

At the moment though, I am sort of leaning towards buying another lens, but I am not sure which one will be a better investment at this point. I am torn between 180 mm and 65 mm (hope I got those right).</p>

<p> </p>

[marc_batters]

<p>If you have the 90mm lens as your standard lens, then go for the 180mm. <br /> If your present standard lens is the 127mm, then get the 65mm. <br /> That way you will have a nice spread between focal lengths until you acquire more lenses. <br /> Of course you may disregard this advice if your preference in shooting leans towards all shorter/wider,<br /> or longer focal length shooting. The 65 will probably cost more than the 180.</p>

[h_s1]

<p>Yes, I have the 90 mm.</p>

<p>Yes, I have noticed that 65 costs more. I have been keeping an eye on the prices for the last some weeks. 180 seems to be more affordable at present.</p>

[rashed_s]

<p>I had to replace the adopter between the back and the camera with a new one and its is all ok.</p>

[frank_major]

<p>I have a 65mm C and i absolutely love it! I paid a little more (from a reputable dealer), but it's like new - doesn't look like it was used more than a few times. I'm so satisifed with it - especially for what i paid compared to good 35mm FF dSLR lenses.</p>

<p>My only other RB67 lens is a 180mm and it's pretty sweet, though i've not used it much (especially since i bought the 65mm!!!!).</p>

[BernardMiller]

<p>If you haven't got a 180, I'd grab one. They're very sharp, and dirt cheap. I've got a 127 and the 140 macro as well as the 90 and 180, and they're both razor sharp, too. And at KEH, they're unbelievably inexpensive.</p>

[frederick_joicey]

<p>Interesting solution to repairing light seals on the RB. I bought one 2 years back (used) and the dealer had replaced the seals, but from your photos, I do not think he has done a repair as good as what you have. I will make a note of what you used, and I suppose it will be suitable for any camera, including 35 mm format. </p>

[BernardMiller]

Another way to go about replacing the seals - although it is just a bit more expensive - is to look up the fellow who

goes by Interslice on eBay. He sells top quality but reasonably priced pre-cut seal kits for a number of cameras,

including RB67 bodies and backs. He also, if I recall correctly, includes simple tools for removing the old light seals.

[photo5]

<p>I sold my 3 lens RB67 Pro-S with 120 back, Mamiya Grip, Mamiya Cable release (the two-part release, the first half releases the mirror, the second half of the press releases the lens), neck strap, 50mm 'C', 90mm 'C' and 180mm 'C' lenses, and waist level finder, all in EXC+ condition, for $2000.00 on the auction site way back in 2002. Haven't missed it a bit, but what a wonderful camera it was. Hated the two step cock the body and wind the film. The RZ67 really solved that one! When shooting portraits with my RB67 I frequently would forget to wind the back and couldn't take a photo. But superb lenses, a superb camera, on a tripod! Handholding was hard, and I got a sore neck in the process.</p>