KoNickon
Nick Merritt
A little user help for what it's worth, if you have this version of the camera. No pictures, so, 1,000 words (if not more)....
I should say that I believe this version is the Type IV, based on others' descriptions of it -- Mamiya didn't designate it as such. I think it dates from the late 1940s-early 1950s. From a taxonomy standpoint, this version is identifiable by having two windows in the front, with the RF window being circular. No waist-level finder, as with earlier versions. The button to erect the lens assembly is in the center front of the top deck. It has a red signal that appears in the viewfinder to tell you when a frame has been exposed.
I had put this away a while ago, and when I retrieved it yesterday I realized I forgot how the frame counter works, and there's no manual or other instructions available online that I've found. Getting this to work correctly is key to winding film on properly, and it took me a while to recall how to do it. So I thought I'd post this for others who are trying to figure this out.
Unlike later versions, which seem to have a more intuitive film wind/frame counter mechanism, the Type IV has a wind knob with 1 - 12 around the base. The frame counter rotates as the wind knob is turned; an arrow indicates the current frame number. What I couldn't figure out was, once a film is fully exposed, how do I wind the end of the roll off without the frame counter advancing to frame 1 all over again? What's more, how do I load a new roll of film and wind it on to frame 1?
The Type IV has a red window to enable positioning of the roll at frame 1. Thereafter the wind mechanism should automatically stop the film at each frame and space the frames properly. Once you take a picture, you push to the left (as shown by an arrow) a small lever on the back of the camera under the wind knob; doing so releases the wind lock. If you keep the lever pushed to the left, you can wind through all the frames without the wind lock engaging. But if you do that when winding the end of a roll onto the takeup spool, or in winding a new roll onto the takeup spool, you will wind past frame 1 and lose a frame or more.
Here is what you should do: Keep this lever held to the right -- do not let it shift to the left, which it will want to do if you start winding the advance knob without touching the lever. Holding it in position to the right lets the frame counter wind past frame 12 and go to, but not past, frame 1.
So the process is as follows: After you expose frame 12, hold this lever to the right while you wind the roll off the camera. The frame counter will have advanced to frame 1 by the time you have finished winding the roll onto the takeup spool. In loading the next roll, and this can get a little fiddly, insert the leader of the roll onto the takeup spool as usual, but keep the lever in place to the right as you wind the new roll onto the takeup spool. (Remember to slide the pressure plate into place behind the film! It's the key to the entire focusing mechanism with this camera.) Once you've wound on enough of the leader to be sure the film is advancing properly, close the back, open the red window and resume winding -- keeping the lever in place to the right. Stop when you see the 1 in the red window, slide the window shut and you're ready to shoot frame 1. (Now you can let go of that lever finally!) And when you reach the end of the roll, hold the lever to the right again to wind off the rest of the roll.
Maybe someone out there with one of these Type IVs should post a YouTube of this process. There are some out there, but not of this version. Hope the above is helpful to some folks.
I should say that I believe this version is the Type IV, based on others' descriptions of it -- Mamiya didn't designate it as such. I think it dates from the late 1940s-early 1950s. From a taxonomy standpoint, this version is identifiable by having two windows in the front, with the RF window being circular. No waist-level finder, as with earlier versions. The button to erect the lens assembly is in the center front of the top deck. It has a red signal that appears in the viewfinder to tell you when a frame has been exposed.
I had put this away a while ago, and when I retrieved it yesterday I realized I forgot how the frame counter works, and there's no manual or other instructions available online that I've found. Getting this to work correctly is key to winding film on properly, and it took me a while to recall how to do it. So I thought I'd post this for others who are trying to figure this out.
Unlike later versions, which seem to have a more intuitive film wind/frame counter mechanism, the Type IV has a wind knob with 1 - 12 around the base. The frame counter rotates as the wind knob is turned; an arrow indicates the current frame number. What I couldn't figure out was, once a film is fully exposed, how do I wind the end of the roll off without the frame counter advancing to frame 1 all over again? What's more, how do I load a new roll of film and wind it on to frame 1?
The Type IV has a red window to enable positioning of the roll at frame 1. Thereafter the wind mechanism should automatically stop the film at each frame and space the frames properly. Once you take a picture, you push to the left (as shown by an arrow) a small lever on the back of the camera under the wind knob; doing so releases the wind lock. If you keep the lever pushed to the left, you can wind through all the frames without the wind lock engaging. But if you do that when winding the end of a roll onto the takeup spool, or in winding a new roll onto the takeup spool, you will wind past frame 1 and lose a frame or more.
Here is what you should do: Keep this lever held to the right -- do not let it shift to the left, which it will want to do if you start winding the advance knob without touching the lever. Holding it in position to the right lets the frame counter wind past frame 12 and go to, but not past, frame 1.
So the process is as follows: After you expose frame 12, hold this lever to the right while you wind the roll off the camera. The frame counter will have advanced to frame 1 by the time you have finished winding the roll onto the takeup spool. In loading the next roll, and this can get a little fiddly, insert the leader of the roll onto the takeup spool as usual, but keep the lever in place to the right as you wind the new roll onto the takeup spool. (Remember to slide the pressure plate into place behind the film! It's the key to the entire focusing mechanism with this camera.) Once you've wound on enough of the leader to be sure the film is advancing properly, close the back, open the red window and resume winding -- keeping the lever in place to the right. Stop when you see the 1 in the red window, slide the window shut and you're ready to shoot frame 1. (Now you can let go of that lever finally!) And when you reach the end of the roll, hold the lever to the right again to wind off the rest of the roll.
Maybe someone out there with one of these Type IVs should post a YouTube of this process. There are some out there, but not of this version. Hope the above is helpful to some folks.