Mamiya 6 and 7: Three Items Rejected as Unrepairable
Originally posted on Instagram. Notes from the repair bench, kept here as a searchable archive. View the original on Instagram
While I try to prevent items from being shipped to me that are not repairable so that my client does not have to spend money on needless shipping and re-shipping of equipment, some items do get through to me and get rejected for repair once they are examined. These are three recent items.
First, this Mamiya 6 was sent for viewfinder glass replacement, a fairly common service on the Mamiya 6, I do a good number of these. I estimated the repair and once a got approval, removed the top cover to begin service. As the second photo shows, the issue was not just a broken viewfinder window: the actual rangefinder front glass/lens was missing! Obviously, it had broken during an impact and all remnants of it were carefully removed. The rangefinder is not usable without this lens so a complete rangefinder would be needed for repair. This camera was not repaired and was returned to the owner.
Second item, Mamiya 7II in the third photo with a broken viewfinder window. Again a standard repair for me. The client did warn me that the camera had water damage. Photos four, five and six show the rust and corrosion visible on parts once the camera had been slightly disassembled. Salt water is very damaging to cameras. Again, another camera not repaired.
Finally, the last photo is of an 80mm Mamiya 7 lens that had mechanical damage to the shutter visible when the rear baffle was removed. From the looks of it, an attempt was made to disassemble this lens and the front filter ring was dented quite a bit and there was haze/fungus in the front element group. The solution for repair would be shutter replacement and even then there would be attempted repair damage to the lens, so this item was returned to the client.
Fortunately, most of the repairs that arrive are not in these conditions.
