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Archive for July, 2010
Mamiya RZ67 AE Prism Finder Compatibility
2010/07/25
3 comments
I was looking around Adorama’s used medium format gear and I found a deal that seemed too good to be true. Well, indeed it was. I thought that I found an AE prism finder for my RZ67 Pro II. I snatched it up since it was only $300. New ones go for over a grand. I found out later though that the particular finder I bought was not compatible with my camera. Oh, it fit on there just fine, and it seemed to meter just fine, but something just didn’t seem correct since the picture of the finder from the website didn’t match what I had in my hands.
I contacted Mamiya to get the scoop. The finder that I bought was the RZ AE Prism Finder (i.e. notice there’s no “II” in that title). This finder has a single dial on the right-hand side, and is for the older RZ67 camera. I asked Mamiya if this camera would work with my camera. Their response was, “If you have the original finder (with the dials on the side), its electronics will not interface with the camera correctly and produce incorrect light readings”. Well, that doesn’t sound good, now does it?
The new finder, the RZ II AE Prism Finder, has two dials on the top of the prism. This is obviously different from the older one, but many sites use the wrong finder image when selling these things…. Just look at Adorama. You may also see these guys referred to as FE701 finder. I assume this is in reference to those numbers listed on the manual.
Another thing that made this so confusing is that Mamiya seems to refer to all of these with the same part number (212-407).
So, I hope this information is helpful to someone else as well. I’ve included images of the two models, and also the manuals(from Mamiya) for each model.
On a side note, I did read on KEH.com’s site that the old AE prism can be used on the Pro II body, but you need to take it to Mamiya service to have it modified. No detail was given on what they do, or how much it cost.
Categories: medium format cameras
