film advance

[kennyg]

I am a new Bessa R user and I recently finished it's second roll of film. The film had 24 frames, but it kept going even after 32 frames. After 32 frames, I did a rewind and took it out for processing. Is it possible I did not load the film properly, or does this happen sometimes? Just wondering if they will develop ok.

 

[captainslack]

Sounds like the film was loaded improperly and didn't advance. You'll probably get back a set of blank negs.

I regularly get 25-27 frames out of a 24 exp roll. Thirty-two is waaay to much.

 

[traveller]

Not loading properly happened to me too once. Now I always take a look at the rewind spool, should rotate when winding the film.

Have fun with the Bessa, it is a great camera.

 

[kmack]

Yep, I've screwed up loading the R once myself. It's an interesting quirk of the R. It would be interesting to find out how many R owners have done this.

Sometimes the tooth in the spool slot will not grab the film. As John mentioned: check the spool before closing the camera back.

 

[Scarpia]

I did this at the worst time with my L. It was a meeting of myself, Rover, Joe and Scott in NYC in June, last year. Lost everything.
Kurt M.

 

[kennyg]

Oh man. Those were recent vacation pictures. I notice it took very little rewinding. Following the instructions when I load the film, it says to catch the film on the teeth and then advance the film a few times. I notice the advance does not work until I press the shutter button a few times. In the future I will watch the crank and make sure it rotates when I advance the film.

 

[tedwhite]

I haven't had this problem, being an old pro with a variety of film cameras and understanding how to make sure that the film is actually engaged with the take-up spool . But the consistent problem I do have with the Bessa R is this:

Let's say I load a roll of 24 exposure film. Making sure of the above problem might cost me a frame and it's easy to forget this. So there I am, shooting away, looking at the frame counter and it says 23. I try to advance to 24 and Ooops! Can't fully advance the lever. Then the camera jams. I push in the rewind pin. Waste of time. At this point you either need a change bag or a darkroom nearby so you can open the camera.

No other camera I've ever had did this. Aside from this, it's a wonderful camera. What I do now is quit at frame 21. Then it rewinds just fine.

Don't try to push it.

Has anyone else had this problem? Or is it just my camera?

Ted

 

[marknyc]

I started photograph eons ago with a really tempramental no name East German SLR that was a terror for film not catching and learned a trick I use to this day (now more out of habit than anything else). Once you have your film wound on and you close the back pull out the rewind lever and back it up to get some tension (don't wind too much -- you could mess up the film). Then, leaving the rewind handle up and engaged, wind on the film advance and watch the rewind handle turn with it. If it does not you've have not loaded correctly and can open up the back and fix. Sort of an obvious check, but worth doing to save a roll. Do it every time and you will never have a problem. By the way, I have never had a problem with the R -- it's always caught first time.