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- Produced 1974-? Mamiya Camera Co. Ltd., Japan
- Film type 135 (35mm)
- Picture size 24 x 36mm
- Weight 25.6oz (725.8g) body only; 32.1oz (910g) with 1.8 lens
- Lens M42 screw-mount Mamiya/Sekor SX 1.8/55mm (6 elements, 5 groups)
- Filter size 52mm
- Shutter cloth focal plane
- Shutter speeds B-1000
- Viewfinder SLR (fresnel, microprism)
- Exposure meter CdS with match needle
- ASA settings 25-3200
- Battery SR44
- PC X and FP Sync terminals, hot shoe
- Fast wind lever
- Siblings and Close Cousins sold as Sears TLS 1000 MXB; DSX version has spot and average metering
Overview
Finally, some Mamiya glass! This classic SLR is a solid piece of work. Well-made and comfortable to use, with some nice touches like through-the mirror spot metering, hidden meter ‘off’ switch, and a nice soft touch return lever.
The MSX and the DSX that followed it were made to take M42 (Pentax screw-mount) lenses as well as the the special Mamiya SX screwmount lenses that have a locking pin that transmits aperture information to the camera for full-aperture metering. Special note: the 55mm 1.4 SX lens actually has 7 elements, 5 groups instead of the 6 in the 1.8 version. There was also a MSX 500 with a top speed of 1/500 and no hotshoe, and the Sears-branded version (MXB) was black.
Not much else to say about it but that I’ve wanted one for a while and am very happy with it! $15 plus shipping ain’t bad…
Note that with regular M42 lenses (non Mamiya-SX) the metering is stop-down. See below for more details.
Repairs
Light seals! Then I found that the shutter speeds were off a bit. In attempting to adjust them I somehow screwed up both the flash sync and the high speeds. It’s currently waiting in line for its turn to be fixed. That line keeps getting longer somehow…
Tips & Tricks
To turn on the meter, set the wind lever at its standoff angle (like on the Autoreflex TC). To turn it off, push the button on the top of the wind lever and it springs back into place. Ancient Japanese secret!
Special notes on the SX lenses and lack thereof: before you remove the SX lens make sure the meter is off (wind lever in closed position) so the aperture pin is not engaged. When using non-SX screw-mount lenses, set your A-M switch to Auto and meter your subject with the wind lever in the closed, not standoff, position.
Related Links
- The manual at the great buktus.org orphaned camera manual page
- Ron Herron’s excellent Mamiya 35mm Cameras Page includes a page on the MSX/DSX