Big problems with IIIf

[Paul1287]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a IIIf RD/ST from the classifieds on this forum. Just this morning I developed my first roll of film to see how it was acting and I am finding that I have a big problem.

Basically, here is what happened: the first few frames ran through OK and then the film stopped advancing. All of my pictures were concentrated within 4 or 5 frames. With the bottom plate off, the mechanism seems to be moving just fine so I can't figure out why it would stop advancing unless the film was slipping off the cams.

Does anyone have any idea why this would happen? How can it be remedied?

Thanks very much,

Paul

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

Did you trim the leader of the film a bit longer?
Did you check after loading if the film was loaded correct? That is, rewinding the rewind knob to check if the film is not loose?

Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema

 

[Paul1287]

I did trim the end of the film and it was very tight under the spool "flap". The advance/rewind lever was definitely in the "A" position. I did forget to check if the film was tight by rewinding slightly before closing up the bottom plate. However, I had the lens off, shutter to "T" and I saw that the film was advancing.

The first few frames forwarded OK, then the rest of the exposures were crowded up on two frames, as if the film just stopped in its tracks.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[totst]

I would bet that the film leader came loose. It has happened to ma few times, but I would think you could feel the resistance as you advance the film. Have you tried another roll?

 

[maddoc]

If you don't mind to waste one film: remove the lens, set the shutter to "T", load your IIIf as usual and then carefully (!!!) mark with a pen the left and right side of the frame visible through the open shutter. Then close the shutter, wind on, open the shutter again at "T" and mark the next frame. If you repeat this until the end of the film, rewind and remove the film you should have a series of evenly marked frames on the film if your loading procedure was correct and the winding mechanism is working.

 

[Paul1287]

Excellent idea! I'll give that a shot. Thanks you for the suggestion.

Yes, at some point the resistance seemed to lessen significantly. I figured it was just the old camera loosening up since it probably hadn't been used in years. Maybe the resistance was such that it pulled the leader out of the spool. The old guy needs a CLA, anyway.

Thanks again,

Paul

 

[john neal]

Paul,

After the two initial exposures (to get to the first proper exposure) the spool does not pull the leader - the sprockets drive the film, and the spool collects what has been driven. If you got 4 or 5 normal shots and then a group of overlapped shots, there must have been a problem with one of the following:-

the film riding over the sprockets, or,
the A/R lever mechanism being out of adjustment if it was definitely at A, or,
the only other opssibility, and it is very rare, is that the slipping clutch in the wind-on spindle is so loose that the spool is not rotating to collect all the film (assuming that the cassette is not jammed) - this will cause the film to buckle and ride over the sprockets

The suggestion of sacrificing a film to check frame spacing might reveal something here - run a few frames, then put your finger on the rewind knob to provide some resistance to rotation and shoot a few more to see if the spacing changes. If it proves that the spool is not advancing correctly, a competant repairman will be able to adjust the spring in the wind shaft to restore proper function.

 

[Paul1287]

John,

Great advice, thanks very much. I ran half a roll through as you suggested with no problems. I was carefult to cut the leaded correctly, avoiding cutting the sproket-holes, etc. Then loaded it and made sure that it caught the gear properly - which took a bit of "finagaling". I used a sharpie pen, and ran a couple of exposures on "T" and then applied some resistance on the rewind knob and all went perfectly well. I re-loaded the film after checking the exposures and will shoot the rest of the roll to see what happens.

Thanks again!

Paul