How this camera came into my hand is a bit of a traumatic story, but it all worked out in the end. I knew my friend had this camera and that she didn’t use it much. She said it was a bit heavy and wanted something a little lighter, something like my Mamiya C2. So I said, “OK, why don’t we swap for a while? That way you can try it out and see if you really want it.”
She readily agreed and we arranged a swap over date.

We were supposed to meet in Manchester, exchange cameras and visit the Manchester Art Fair at the same time. Off I trundled, ready to get there early as per my usual habit. Once it was the right time, I headed to the meeting point…she wasn’t there, and neither were some of the other people we were meeting. One gentleman was and he was on the phone, looking a bit worried. Once I got to him and he completed the call he said our friend, the owner of the camera, had collapsed on the platform at another Manchester station. The other friends had called an ambulance, which was expected in 30 minutes as it didn’t seem to be life-threatening. That gave us enough time to walk/rush to the other station and be with them. Once there, our friend was looking very pale, lying on a bench on the platform. The first thing she said was, “Give Peggy the camera!!”. Silly moo, that wasn’t important, but I took it as she would be going to the hospital and didn’t want her to be worried about bags. Of course, I kept my C2 for the same reason.

The ambulance came, off she went with one of our mutual friends in tow. The rest of us wondered if we should go home or carry on with our plan. We decided on the latter, but it felt weird. As for me, I now had 2 heavy cameras in a backpack and was also wearing too many clothes. It was cold when I set off but wasn’t now. So I eventually ditched the others and got the train home…or tried to. The train’s engine caught fire at a station along the route so I was stranded for a while. It was not a successful start to the RB67 ownership.

Anyway, here is the camera…this is a camera blog 😉

Actually, these are the only photos I have of the outside of the camera as I will explain later. I took these on a walk in Leeds while I was getting to know it. I loaded it with Kodak Tri-X 400 as it was a dull day and took a few shots while on the way to meet some friends for a cyanotype lesson. I saved some of the film as I suspected a friend of mine ‘might’ want to try it.

Here are my results.

While using the camera this first time, I noticed some dirt on the mirror so thought I would clean it. Once I opened up the mirror box the cause was evident. The seals had completely disintegrated. I gently touched one section and it crumbled in a sticky mess onto the mirror. I tried to clean it off and it just got worse. I looked at a few other seals and they were all the same. When I developed the film I could see evidence of light leaks on the negatives. Now, after I had further disturbed the seals, the leaks would surely be worse.

There was no way around it, I would have to replace them. I didn’t want to cut them myself as this camera was special, so I ordered laser-cut ones from Japan. They were £25 for a set of 2, a bargain compared to getting it done at a shop. It was a bit daunting though.

I then left the camera on the side and waited for the replacements to arrive. It took less time than I expected and even less time to actually change them. Pre-cut seals are the way to go.

Just look at that sparkling mirror! I loaded the camera with some Ilford Delta 3200 and set off to meet another friend for a cosplay outing at a castle ruin. It was soooooo cold, we didn’t take many shots. Once I developed that film, I could see by the negs that I had done a bang-up job on the seals, no leaks at all.

Here are some of the results from that outing.

As this was a special camera, and I still had to officially swap the Mamiya C2, I took a trip to see the owner. She was now fully recovered and eager to try my camera. It turns out she had been overworking herself, then carrying the heavy camera on a packed train was just enough to tip her over the edge. Nothing a rest with proper food and fluids would not cure.

If you don’t live in the UK, you might not know that over the Christmas holidays, the weather here SUCKED!!!!! Honestly, it rained every single day. So when I went to take the C2 to my friend, we could not go out for a walk to exchange notes on the two cameras. Not to be defeated, I loaded some Kentmere 400 and pushed it to 800. It was still quite dark inside the gallery, so I used a portable light for some shots. Then I took portraits of anyone who I could press into being a model. It was tricky to hold the camera and the light at the slow speeds needed, maybe about 1/30th. The others helped for some of the shots…probably the ones that are more in focus.

With the final exposure, I took a photo of Dad for that project…because I can and I like to annoy him 🙂

And that is it, that is when I lost the camera. The female friend in the first set of photos was highly enamoured with the camera and said she was very interested in buying one. She doesn’t need it, she has a nice collection of medium-format cameras. But I asked the owner if she could borrow it and of course, she said yes. So that is where the camera currently is.

To be honest, I love this camera and I would be reluctant to give it back, but it is heavy and I do have many other cameras which I also love. For instance, the C2, which I usually use to take portraits. I should be getting that back soon as the swapee has now bought her own.

Oh, I forgot to tell you anything about the actual camera 🙂

You can read other reviews with more technical details and sample photos in the links below:
https://emulsive.org/reviews/camera-reviews/camera-review-mamiya-rb67-pro-s-by-scott-mcclarin#
https://alysvintagecameraalley.com/2021/05/06/mamiya-rb67-pro-sd-my-first-images/
https://www.landandcolors.com/blog/mamiya-rb-67
https://soperfectimages.co.uk/reviews/mamiya-rb67-pros-review/
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Mamiya_RB67

Final remark…if you can get one of these and don’t mind the weight, do it, they are fantastic.