Mamiya Misadventures

[User_502260]

<p>Over the weekend a 120 back for my RZ67 arrived. I was looking forward to shooting some test film. My lenses are all RB types and the finder which came with the RZ is an RB CdS chimney type. I loaded a roll of Portra 400, went outside and shot all ten frames. When I got back to my desk I was looking for the dark slide so I could remove the back. The dark slide was in the back. I had advanced the film through all ten frames but I had not exposed any of it. My guess is that the interlock which prevents the shutter from firing when the dark slide is in will only work with an RZ lens. I may try to rewind the unexposed roll back onto another spool at some point but I put in a new roll and this time I made sure to remove the dark slide before shooting. The spacing was OK and there were no light leaks or scratches. When you have been using an RB Pro or Pro S there is some novelty to seeing the film winding knob turn and hearing the film winding through when the camera is cocked. The 90/3.8 C worked well and having the 6X7 frame lines adjust automatically when the back is revolved is a nice touch. I did the shooting without a battery in the RZ and just shot by sunny 16. When I get an RZ lens I will be able to test the RZ's electronics but as a mechanical camera it's fine. Having the film advance when cocking the camera is a bigger convenience than having electronically governed shutter speeds, at least for now. One of my Bronica SQ-A backs has the wrong dark slide. The dark slide still needs to be in for the back to come off but the shutter will fire while it's in. </p>