Is this RZ67 Tilt-Shift Adapter Broken or Missing a Piece?

[williaty]

<p>I bought a Mamiya RZ67 Tilt-Shift Adapter off ebay and I paid reasonable for buying one in full working order. It just arrived and I think it's missing an important piece. The tilt movement works as you'd expect: loosen locking knob, turn tilt knob, and the thing tilts up and down. However, the shift movement isn't behaving the same way. Loosen the locking knob and the shift falls to the bottom of its travel. Turn the shift adjustment knob and nothing happens. At first, I thought maybe the shift adjusting knob worked as a stop and not as a positive control but you can't turn the shift adjusting knob far enough to touch anything that might let it function as a stop. The tip of the shift adjusting knob is ball shaped like it's the male half of a ball and socket joint (makes sense since it has to work even with tilt applied) but there's no female part for it to fit into.<br /> <br /> How is the shift actually supposed to work? Is this TS Adapter missing something?</p>

<p>Looking at it closely, it really looks like it's missing a piece. It looks like there was some sort of an extension/pusher that fit up into the housing for the shift adjustment screw and pressed down against the small black bracket with the 3 tiny screws in it. You can see a dab of grease up inside the shift adjustment screw housing as though there was something sliding there in the past. Can anyone confirm?<br>

<img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7037/26824557842_ab07079912_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="634" /></p>

<p><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7524/26850765111_8317951595_b.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[iangillett]

<p>I apologise for not replying sooner. I had hoped that, by now, someone with greater expertise and experience with the Tilt-Shift Adapter than I have would have replied to you. I have just got my own adapter out and photographed it (see attached images). As you already know, the Tilt mechanism works by loosening the knob on the scale and turning the large knob on the front of the adapter to get the amount of shift you require. The Shift mechanism works in a similar style, you need to loosen the knob on the scale and then turn the longer knob on the top of the adapter to get the amount of shift you require. Both of the mechanisms on my adapter work smoothly. Comparing your, closer, images (I only used a compact camera to take the attached images) with my adapter: the second picture is identical with my adapter; the only difference I see in the first image is that my adapter has a small plate covering the bottom of the screw mechanism. Your photographs have been taken so close to the mechanisms that I cannot tell if you have the longer knob for the shift adjustment - please see my images.<br>

I was very fortunate to pick up my adapter for a bargain price complete with the 75mm short-barrel lens - I don't think the dealer knew what he was selling (but seemed happy with the price I paid!). I have since added the 180mm short-barrel lens, which I got 'new' from Japan. It was so new that when I got it I thought it was broken as the shutter was not cocked. I am somewhat ashamed to say that I am yet to use the adapter or either of the lenses as I now am mostly digital. Nevertheless I seem to have become something of a collector and have an extensive amount of RZ equipment.<br>

I hope the above comments are of use and look forward to hearing how you get on with your Tilt-Shift Adapter.</p><div></div>

[iangillett]

<p>Here is another image.</p><div></div>

[iangillett]

<p>And a third.</p><div></div>

[williaty]

<p>The "small plate covering the bottom of the screw mechanism" is what I'm missing. The tip of the screw should bear against the missing piece. The screw mechanism is bolted to the front plate of the adapter. The missing piece should be bolted to the rear plate of the adapter. When you turn the screw, this should force the front and rear plates to move relative to each other.</p>