No pictures on first roll of 120 film:-(

FrankS said:
I suggest that you sacrifice the roll of film that's in the camera now that was loaded the same way as the first that came back blank. Open up the camera back to confirm the paper backing is not facing the lens.
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Good idea.

I have several med format cameras, and it's a challenge to load the film if the camera has not been used in a while. I have to make sure the film is actually facing the lens.
 
Make sure the small switch below the counter window is pointing up and not at "Multi"
If it's pointing at Multi it would appear as if everything was going good but your film won't even advance to the first frame leaving your roll blank or clear...
If you loaded another roll in the same fashion pull the film out (in the dark) roll it all back on and reload it...
Been there, done that...
 
Hi all - thanks for all your good ideas and comments on how to identify the error..

nikon_sam said:
Make sure the small switch below the counter window is pointing up and not at "Multi"
If it's pointing at Multi it would appear as if everything was going good but your film won't even advance to the first frame leaving your roll blank or clear...
If you loaded another roll in the same fashion pull the film out (in the dark) roll it all back on and reload it...
Been there, done that...
Click to expand...

Hi Nikon_sam - The Multi switch was turned down and thereby not in line with the multi-dot, so I do not suspect this to be the issue. After 15 frames the film was located on the lower spool, which thereby tells me that the camera has advanded by each frame..

Good idea with the current film inside the camera..I will have a look at it in he dark to check how it's loaded and maybe try to rewind the film. In the same go, I will try to make a long exposure to check if the shutter is functioning..
 
shadowfox said:
Don't rule out camera malfunction until you can verify by looking directly through the camera and actually see light coming in to the film plane when you trip the shutter.

If I'm not mistaken your camera has in-body shutter, correct? so take out the lens and see from the front, if the shutter is moving at all.

This is sometimes hard to do because some cameras have a small latch that you have to push to allow this.
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Thanks - I will remove the back and check the camera as you have suggested..
 
You can open the film door without the counter reverting back to zero...it will if you remove the film insert...
If you do check the shutter with the lens off...lock the mirror up to make seeing the shutter opening easier...looking from the front...
If you do it with the film insert removed...looking from the rear...there's no need to do it that way...
 
Demodres said:
Good idea with the current film inside the camera..I will have a look at it in he dark to check how it's loaded and maybe try to rewind the film.
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Don't bother with rewinding - 120 film is only attached to the backing paper at one end, attempts to rewind 120 create a bump between film and backing paper which will usually jam the camera.
 
If you have frame markers it's not a lab or development issue. Something camera related for sure. Verify the shutter speed is actually accurate and the lens is capable of going wide open and not permanently stopped down. Any light exposure will show up as some degree of black on a black and white negative - after all that's the silver that was exposed to light.
 
sevo said:
The film goes past the pressure plate with the film/black side facing out towards the camera and its print/colour side to the pressure plate.
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Hi sevo and all - thanks for all your good advise. I decided to take the back and film out to check if it was inserted proberly, and I suspected the this to be the most likely cause of error based on your inputs.

This is the top of the film holder..


IMG1067 (2) by DemoDres, on Flickr


I guess I´m the guilty one as the film/black is facing the pressure plate..:bang::(:bang: But the good thing is that it´s not the camera or lab as these would be harder to replace..

Thanks for all your good support and I will update you on my upcomning medium format adventures in Vietnam..
 
Demodres said:
I guess I´m the guilty one as the film/black is facing the pressure plate..
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No, it is not - that pink strip of plastic is the film, so you have loaded it right! That is, there is something wrong with the camera itself.

Set the multi switch to multi, wind, and release the camera while looking through the back with no magazine or lens attached, the camera pointed at a light - you should see a more or less brief flash of light corresponding to the selected shutter speed. If you don't, there is something wrong with the shutter. If you are lucky, it is merely the curtain guide or light trap that is binding due to dust or paper fragments (a common M645 issue which any camera service man can fix in a minute or two), but the Super is rather prone to electronics failures - if the shutter works on the mechanical emergency setting (selector ring around the release knob pointing to the yellow dot), but otherwise fails, the electronics are shot.

One more thing to test is whether there still is the dark slide inserted in the magazine - the camera is not supposed to release at all in that state, but I've seen that interlock fail.
 
Hi and thanks Sevo - I checket the shutter mechanism as you described - no back or lens attached, the camera on multi - and I can see the shutter opening with a small light flash as it goes..

I also checked the camera with the dark slide in, and it cannot fire if it´s in which is correct.

I also checked the aperture blade of the lens. I can hardly see them move when I adjust the aperture. However, the light clearly changes in the viewfinder when using the manual function on the lens, where the light vs. aperture is visible in the viewfinder. Also, when changing aperture the shutter speeds follows the same f-stops, which tells me that the aperture and electronic light metering are working proberly. Please correct me if I´m wrong.

Hmm, any other good advise for testing the camera..?
 
Hi - Just to confirm I want to show you guys how I load the back, which I do like described in the manual, your advice and youtube.

From the side and the film goes to the left and down in alignment with the pressure plate..this way the black side and later pink is towards is the lens and the yellow part is towards the pressure plate..


download (1) by DemoDres, on Flickr

Please correct me if I am wrong.?

I also checked the film I previous had in the camera..


download by DemoDres, on Flickr

This is my first experince with medium format film, but I assume that this looks right. The black part is followed by the pink part of the film facing the lens..

again, please correct me if I´m wrong or if you have any ideas which caused the error..
 
Well, you certainly loaded this film right. Were you perhaps wrong about the first one?

One more thing to test is whether the shutter is properly adjusted and not stuck on its shortest time throughout - for long exposure times upwards of 1/2s you should be able to check against the seconds on a watch whether the times are roughly accurate. If the camera fires at a very short time there, it may be stuck on 1/500, if it is consistently much faster than expected (like taking a second when it is set for eight), it may be misadjusted.
 
Okay and thanhs for verifying the insert of film. I am almost certain that the first film was inserted in the samme manner, but hoepfully I am mistaken..

The shutter speeds seems okay, and based on my experinces with dslr the speeds seems and feels okay..

I will test with a new film, maybe another lab and cross my fingers..
 
The Mamiya curtain can get stuck. A wedding photographer with over 45 years experience tutored me in wedding photography ome years ago, and oe of his tips was to look through the Mamiya with the lens removed after completing each roll to check the curtain.
 
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