Bessa Rewind Lever Problem

[gbb]

Hi, All

I noticed the film advance on my new to me bessa r was kind of scratchy, so I startted releasing the tension on the film rewind lever. I now checked the rewind and noticed it doesn't turn in the down position, i.e. locked down, which doesn't let the film turn in the canister :bang: . I'm guessing this isn't part of the camera's design, so would be grateful for help fixing it. TIA,

GBB

 

[pvdhaar]

The tension on the rewind lever should never be the cause of a 'scratchy' wind. Instead, I think you misloaded the film, and perhaps didn't align the film sprocket holes with the sprocket wheel. You may have damaged the film between the sprocket holes, so that the sprocket wheel can not grip the film anymore when turning the advance lever (am I still making sense?). I've ran into this with the second film I loaded in my Bessa-T as well. The Bessa's seem to require some care loading the film, especially making sure that the sprocket holes remain aligned with the sprocket wheel when closing the back door if the film curls a lot.

I guess you'll have to open the back and see for yourself. I doubt that the film has advanced at all, so there are probably no images wasted anyway.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Click and wind while watching the rewind. It should turn. It may take three or four shots before it starts to turn. Or you may take up the slack beforehand to save 'wasted' frames.