Hi! Could anyone help me find instructions on disassembling the ZE-2 body, or give me some hints? Or maybe someone could tell me what is the cause of such behaviour: the shutter fires only at sync speed when set to it or faster, when slower - it behaves like "B". Lightmeter doesn`t work, automatics too - fires at sync. What could cause this? AFAIK it is quite common damage. Thanks in advance. T. Holdowanski.

-- Tomasz Holdowanski (mordazy@poczta.onet.pl), December 13, 2002

Answers

OK, I `ve solved the problem. Don`t bother yourselves with answering :-)))

-- T. Holdowanski (mordazy@poczta.onet.pl), December 16, 2002.

Tomasz: Don't keep us in suspense! What was the problem and solution?

-- Ron Herron (rlh2663@aol.com), December 17, 2002.

The problem was trivial, but it also proves that legendary quality of the 35mm Mamiyas (especially Z-series) is - a legend. A myth. A friend of mine, who is a repairman, had my Mamiya on his table and said that it was a primitive construction, an "ocean of plastic" with some serious weak points. One of them causes a problem which I`ve described: lightmeter and automatics dead, shutter works only at flash sync speed when set to 1/90 and faster (this includes Manual, A and AEL modes), and at B when set to lower. I believe that you have encountered Mamiyas Z* with this problem, especially those used intensively over a long period of time. The repair requires two things: a small screwdriver and tweezers. Remove the bottom plate of the camera. Locate winder coupling. In the very neighbourhood of the coupling you should see two very, very delicate metal strips pressed together. They shouldn`t be. When advancing the wind lever, the pin on the ring below the winder coupling should push one metal strip and make it contact with the other one, when the wind lever goes back, the pin should pull the strip away. Make it work this way and that`s it - the camera should resurrect :-))) My friend overlooked this and I`m not surprised - those strips are so tiny and fragile, that it`s hard to see them. They shouldn`t be in a camera. Anyway, now my Mamiya works properly. That`s all.

-- Tomasz Holdowanski (mordazy@poczta.onet.pl), December 18, 2002.