Help needed: film advance stuck

[Little Prince]

The advance lever on my CLE is stuck. I was loading a roll and advancing the first few frames. I might have done something weird like rewind a little to take up the slack. But the shutter fired and the advance wont move beyond a point. I've been fiddling around with it to try and make the lever move, but no luck 🙁 .

Don't have a manual so I'm hoping it's some common pitfall. Please advise. I did do a test roll after getting the camera (recently) and it worked fine.

 

[fraley]

Well you could press the film rewind release and crank it back a few turns. Then cap it, try the advance again and shoot with the cap on to get past any frames you've taken.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I'm at loss here... I'd probably would open it after doing what fraley recommends, just to make sure the film is at fault, not the camera.

Good luck!

 

[Little Prince]

Sorry I was away all day today. I guess I didn't make the problem very clear. I haven't actually shot any frames. That was just the first few that you shoot to advance the film so that the counter reaches 1 at the beginning of the roll.

Don't see how the film can be at fault. It wound on fine. As I said earlier, I might have used the rewind lever a little because there was too much slack. I'm not sure I pressed in the rewind button. I know it's not supposed to rewind without pressing the rewind button in, but I'm just not sure it happened that way. Anyway, during all this, after firing the shutter the film advance lever just stopped moving any further. It just gets stuck and does not wind. I can't fire the shutter either since that will happen only after I have advanced. I rewound and removed the film roll. So right now there is no film in the camera and I can't wind the lever.

Please tell me I don't have to send it away for repair. I've had it only about a week.

 

[back alley]

is the battery fresh?

take it out and then put it back in.

joe

 

[Little Prince]

Yup Joe, the batteries are fresh. I had also tried removing them and putting them back in earlier. Didn't help. It advanced fine in the earlier roll and the first 2 or 3 frames of the current roll.

 

[wierdcollector]

Might sound silly, but try turning the tractor wheel assembly (cogged wheel before the take up spool) after removing the film. It seems like your camera is only partially cocked especially if you could rewind the film. Can't see how you'd rewind it without depressing the rewind button maybe inadvertantly.

 

[Doug]

My first thought was you had the shutter stuck open on a loonnnnng exposure due to leaving the shutter on A while the lens is capped! But too much time has elapsed now for that I think. Not being experienced in camera repair, I'd be inclined to drop by my favorite camera repair shop... 🙁

 

[Little Prince]

I thought about that too Doug. But I don't think the shutter is open. I have unmounted the lens and I can see the curtain with the metering pattern, and the cloth on the back and everything. Looks like I'll have to take it for surgery.

Repairs don't seem to be cheap, are they? I might have to pay up a signifcant percentage of the camera's price 😱 for what I'm guessing is not a major problem. I don't know if I should conclude that something was already wrong with the camera when I bought it (only a week or two back) or something happened just now. If it's the former I can at least be really mad 😡 .

Series of unfortunate events (did I hear that somewhere?) occuring these days. I'm just back from a trip to the hills in Tennessee/NC. The big and heavy SQAi I carried with me started acting up. First, the AE prism finder just kept showing that dratted 'err' and it was the first time I was using the metered finder so I didn't know the usual causes (read don't bother to read manuals). After a lot of banging the head against tree stumps, I figured out that the lens was not properly mounted. Somehow, it had got free of the bayonet engagement and still seemed to be firmly in place. So I thought to myself, we missed some but we'll still get some. Then, the shutter just refused to fire! Couldn't figure that out at all. Still had the F3 so I got some shots after all. Looks like it's conspiring to be the only camera on the shelf. If things keep going this way, it very well may be.

However, something (past experience and profound knowledge of the self) tells me it's all user error 😱 . I just had to rant.

 

[Doug]

It'll be interesting to know just what has your CLE hung up... I know what you mean about "safety" interlocks! I've heard stories of frustration with Hasselblads, where all components have to be in the same status to fit, and it can get seriously jammed. Friend of mine had his out shooting recently, and he couldn't get his next loaded magazine to latch. After much colorful language and suggestions for a bigger hammer, he found that the dark slide was not quite seated all the way!

Just today I was wrestling with a borrowed Mamiya C220. I was lined up for my first shot and it wouldn't go "click"! What the... Yes, the shutter was cocked; yes the light shield behind the taking lens was flipped out of the way... what could it be? I finally thought ok I'll waste one exposure and try winding the film again. THAT did it! I must have inadvertently moved the shutter release, maybe while taking it out of the bag. Duh!

For a medium format camera, my Bronica RF645 is remarkably simple that way. The light shield deploys and retracts automatically when lenses are dismounted and mounted, there's no dark slide or removable back... about as simple to run as a Leica M! Simpler, in the A or P mode. More and more I appreciate "simple". 😀

 

[back alley]

is there no way to reset the cle?

i seem to recall this same story before but for the life of me i can't remember the details.

have you asked the folks at photo.net? they have a few cle users there also.

joe

 

[RayPA]

I have a CLE. It's currently loaded with film, so I can't open the back and check anthing. But I did burn an exposure and shut off the camera to see if it could possibly be a power issue. The camera did advance just fine. I do the same thing with the rewind knob—take up tension. Try running the self-timer to see if that activates the shutter.

 

[Little Prince]

I'm pleased to inform everyone that the problem seems to be solved for the moment. I tried all I could without opening up the camera. Finally, I opened the back and the lens, took hold of the shutter/curtain using two fingers from opposite sides of the camera and moved it! After moving it slightly to the film canister side, the film advance worked. I guess after firing, the shutter had not gone back to the correct position. I remember reading this solution somewhere but can't remember the source. Actually, all is probably not very well because within a few frames, this happened again. I did the same thing.

So, as it stands, I'm back to being able to shoot. But there is certainly some problem. Is this what is called a sticky shutter? I don't know, I've never had any shutter problem happen to me before. I'm glad I didn't have to put down $150 for this!