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From the bench

Real repairs, start to finish.

From the bench ·

Mamiya 645AF 80mm AF Lens: Broken Aperture Ring Gear

Servicing a Mamiya 80mm AF lens for 645AF cameras. Had to replace a broken plastic aperture ring gear. The diaphragm in this lens is electrically…

645 · 645AF · 645AFD · Lenses

From the bench ·

Fuji GS645S Wide 60: Replacing a Worn Spool Pin Lock

Servicing a Fuji GS645S Wide 60 camera. Camera came into the shop with one of the spool pins unable to lock in place. The second photo shows the camera…

Winding & transport · Parts

From the bench ·

RZ67II: Rough Focus From a Broken Fine Focus Gear

Servicing a Mamiya RZ67II. This body came into the shop with rough focus. In the case of an RZ67II, this is almost always a broken fine focus gear. My…

RZ67 · Focus · Parts

From the bench ·

Mamiya 6 75mm f/3.5 L Lens: Loose Focus Ring and Helix Guides

Servicing a Mamiya 75mm f/3.5 L lens for Mamiya 6. Focus ring was loose so the lens was no longer able to focus properly. After tightening the focus…

Mamiya 7 · Mamiya 6 · Focus · Lenses

From the bench ·

RB67 Pro SD 120 Film Back: Broken Wind Pawl Locking the Lever

Servicing a Mamiya RB67 Pro SD 120 film back. This back came into the shop locked up, the wind lever would not move. During disassembly, I found a broken…

RB67 · Film backs · Winding & transport · Parts

From the bench ·

Ilex 5 Shutter: Cleaning the Slow Speeds Escapement

Servicing an Ilex 5 shutter. These are about the largest leaf shutters that you normally will find on large format cameras. This one needed a typical…

Shutters · Cleaning

From the bench ·

Mamiya 645 80mm f/1.9 Lens: Why It Comes Apart in Two Pieces

Servicing a Mamiya 80mm f/1.9 lens for the 645. This is the third 80mm f/1.9 to come into the shop this month in two pieces. Here is why: the lens has a…

645 · Helicoid grease · Focus · Lenses

From the bench ·

Mamiya 6 75mm Lens: Cleaning Residue from the Rear Elements

Servicing a Mamiya 6 75mm lens. As you can see in the second photo, this lens had quite a bit of residue in the rear element group. Fortunately, I was able…

Mamiya 6 · Lenses · Cleaning · Focus

From the bench ·

Mamiya Super Omegon 90mm f/3.5 Lens: Oil on Shutter Blades

Super Omegon 90mm f/3.5 lens by Mamiya. Servicing this lens (fits the Rapid Omega 100/200) with oil on the shutter blades. If you look at the number three…

Universal Press · Shutters · Cleaning · History

From the bench ·

RZ67 6x6 120/220 Back: Light Leaks and Overlapping Frames

Servicing a Mamiya RZ67 6x6 120/220 back. Not too common of a back for the RZ67. Complaint here was of light leaks and overlapping frames. Removing the top…

RZ67 · Film backs · Light seals

From the bench ·

Mamiya 7 80mm Lens: Cleaning Haze from the Elements

Servicing a Mamiya 7 80mm lens. This lens had so called "haze" which turned out to be cleanable. Sometimes, with fungus, the glass/coating is damaged and…

Mamiya 7 · Lenses · Cleaning · Fungus

From the bench ·

Konica AR 57mm f/1.2 Lens: Insect Remains Inside

Konica AR 57mm f/1.2 lens with bug inside. I acquired this lens from a friend and he described it as having a "giant bug inside". Sure enough, there were…

Nikon · Pentax · Lenses · Cleaning

From the bench ·

Mamiya Sekor 55mm f/1.4 M42 Lens: Damaged Filter Ring and Versions

Servicing a 55mm f/1.4 Mamiya Sekor M42 thread mount lens. As you can see in the first photo, the filter threads have been damaged beyond repair by what…

Lenses · Parts · History

From the bench ·

Mamiya 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens: Repair and Versions

Mamiya 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens. Another lens that arrived in two pieces. Seems to be a lot of that going around lately. This lens I find interesting, not too…

Lenses · History

From the bench ·

Mamiya 105mm C Lens for TLR: The Six Versions Explained

Servicing a Mamiya 105mm f/3.5 D Lens for TLR. The 105mm lens had the most variations of all the C lenses made for the TLR series with a total of six…

C Series TLR · Lenses · History · Buying advice

From the bench ·

RZ67: Dead Electronic Release, Burned Diode and Moisture Damage

Repair on Mamiya RZ67. This RZ67 came into the shop with mechanical release working, but electronic release inoperative. After removing one of the side…

RZ67 · Electronics · Parts

From the bench ·

Nikkor-O 55mm f/1.2 Instrumentation Lens: Diaphragm Blade Repair

Servicing an unusual lens: Nikkor-O 55mm f/1.2 instrumentation lens. These lenses were designed for close focus work and have no focus helix. They were…

Nikon · Lenses · Parts · History

From the bench ·

Mamiya 55mm SX f/1.4 Lens: Cleaning and Regreasing the Focus Helix

Repair on Mamiya 55mm SX f/1.4 lens. This particular lens, from around 1975, needed the focus helix disassembled, cleaned and re-lubricated. The focus ring…

Nikon · Canon · Helicoid grease · Lenses

From the bench ·

Mamiya 80mm f/2.8 C Lens Variations

Mamiya 80mm f/2.8 C lens variations. I get many questions on the different styles of 80mm f/2.8 lenses that were made for the Mamiya TLR series. Here is…

C Series TLR · Lenses · History · Buying advice

From the bench ·

Mamiya 645 55mm f/2.8 Lens: Oily Blades and Flange Distance

Repair on Mamiya 55mm f/2.8 lens for 645 plus some technical info. This lens came into the shop with the typical oily blades. After cleaning, the blades in…

645 · Cleaning · Focus · Lenses

From the bench ·

RB67 90mm K/L Lens: Floating Elements and Spacing Adjustment

Mamiya RB67 90mm K/L lens repair and info. First, some information on these lenses regarding a question that I am frequently asked: All the Mamiya RB67…

RB67 · Lenses · Calibration

From the bench ·

Mamiya 6x7 120 Roll Back: Broken Wind Lever Bushing

Mamiya 120 6x7 Roll back repair. This back needed a replacement winding base plate due to a broken wind lever bushing. The number five photo shows the…

RB67 · Film backs · Winding & transport · Parts

From the bench ·

RB67 Lens: Fitting a Newer Shutter with External Sync Terminal

Mamiya RB67 lens replacement of shutter. I am getting ready to replace an old style RB shutter (circa 1972) with a newer designed shutter. The new shutters…

RB67 · Shutters · Lenses

From the bench ·

Mamiya 645 80mm f/1.9 Lens: Repairing a Lens in Two Pieces

Mamiya 80mm f/1.9 lens for 645. This lens arrived in two pieces. Not sure how this happened but after some repair to the helical guides, complete cleaning…

645 · Helicoid grease · Focus · Lenses