mamiya 6mf reliability

[roger_michel]

i owned a 6mf once and had some reliability problems involving the AE

and the film transport. i am now thinking of getting another one

(they are such wonderful cameras in concept!!). was my reliability

issue an isolated instance or is this typical of the 6/6mf?? thanks

all!!

[doug_lee__cinnaminson__nj]

Roger, the studio owner I shoot for owns approx. 15 6/6MFs. I own one. He doesn't use AE, so can't help there. Based on what he had told me it is the winding mechanism that breaks most often. He uses his alot. He claims to get about 2 years between repairs.

 

Important to note. Mamiya is no longer shipping the winding mechanisms. You can prolong the life of the winding mechanism by using 120 film as it does not stress the mechanism as much as 220, or so I have been told.

 

Good luck

[aly price]

I have owned a Mamiya 6mf for about 5 years and have had some problems

with the AE and the winding mechanism. However, I have managed to find

some solutions that work for me.

The camera meter is very basic and very easily fooled (which I knew), but

even having taken that into account, I was pretty sure it wasn't metering

correctly. Mamiya checked it and said it was ok, but I still had problems. I

eventually determined that it was underexposing by a stop and so now have

the exposure compensation dial permanently set at +1. Admittedly, I use a

handheld meter in many instances, but with this alteration have found the

Mamiya surprising accurate.

I also had problems with the winding mechanism jamming. After this

happened the second time (at a wedding - typical!), I got someone to remove

this part of the mechanism. As far as I can see the only disadvantage this has,

is the theorectical risk that I could wind the film on without having taken a

picture (in reality I have never done this, and I'd rather waste some film than

risk the camera jamming again). That was about 3 years ago and since then

the camera has worked perfectly. Obviously, I'm not recommending this

course of action!! And I would probably never be able to sell the camera.

However, it has worked very well me and I feel much more confident in its

reliability.

Perhaps I should just add that I think this is a really great camera with

absolutely outstanding lenses.

I hope this helps and hasn't gone too off-topic for you. Good luck if you go for

the Mamiya!

 

Aly Price

[richard_srienz]

Roger, I have a Mamiya 6 (no mf) now for 7 years and never had problems with the film transport. To be fair, I don't think I shoot more than 150 rolls of 120 a year with this camera. Never 220. But in AE mode the camera is so constantly underexposing, that I have my exposure correction dial nearly fixed at +1.5. Great camera, great lenses though. But use my Rolleiflex GX more.

[._.]

In the past two years I've had my 6 die on me twice. The first time the electronic system failed, resulting in the meter readings jumping about all over the place and the shutter not firing. Recently the lens became stuck in the retracted position and I couldn't even get the lens off. That said I adore my 6 and would never get rid of it, however it is getting rather expensive having to repair it so often. I spend a lot of time cycling with it on dirt roads though so it certainly gets shaken about more than it wants to. I think soon enough I will have had everything that can go wrong repaired on it and it will be a super mamiya 6, sort of an invincible mutant clone...I, err, hope.

 

good luck,

benjamin

 

benjaminbroad.org

[pete_su]

I bought one of these used back in 2000. Since then and after a couple hundred rolls

of film, I've had the transport fixed twice.