Fuji 645i locking up with 220 film?

[kzphoto]

I borrowed a Fuji 645i from a friend and loaded some of the new Kodak Portra 400 into the camera to see how it performs. I changed the pressure plate to 220 and began to shoot a few exposures throughout town. At exposure 20, the camera locked up and began to blink "20".

I've tried all the different modes but I can't seem to get the shutter to fire. I looked at the manual but there don't seem to be any sections regarding the blinking frame indicator on the LCD screen.

I can access the rest of the functions and put the camera into all 3 exposure modes. It just won't focus or fire.
Any ideas?

 

[sevo]

Jammed? The GS and GA do not behave nice whenever the film still has some slack when the back is closed. I've had 120 bulge and wind with a terrible noise as the paper and film separated (and eventually come stuck), and 220 that wound onto the take-up spool very loosely so that it became thicker than the spool. I haven't had it jam, but it was thick enough that it was caught inside the compartment, so that I could only remove it by unwinding the film in the darkroom - only to discover that me opening the back initially had already fogged all frames from the edges.

Whenever anything like that happens, only the first frame or two will have reasonably good planarity and be free from light leaking - by now I've gone over to sacrificing that film and re-shoot rather than attempt to salvage it in the darkroom.

 

[kzphoto]

Solved the issue by opening the back in a dark room and re-closing it. The camera wound up the film, and fired another 10 frames on the roll.

Really weird.

 

[kuzano]

Agree with Sevo on this problem

Agree with Sevo on this problem

Fuji cameras that transport the film horizontally, as well as the Bronica RF645 do not behave well when the film is not tight across the frame as the back door is closed. That's not uncommon even with 120, and is even more-so with 220. The film starts with a bulge on the take-up spool which gets progressively bigger as the film goes through the camera.

The proof of this is that you opened the camera and allowed the film to reposition slightly on the take up spool.

Load film tightly and hold pressure on the wind on lever, and the feed spool, as you close the door. Yes... I know, where does the third hand come from when doing this.

One reason why I never use 220, plus it take me too long to fill a roll. I hardly ever get close to 30 shots in one outing.