Messed up roll with a leica iii (3rd roll)

[jusxusfanatic]

I posted this in a facebook group but I want some more replies

Has anyone experienced this with a Leica iii?

So I put a roll in it around 2 weeks ago, and kept shooting with it until yesterday. The film counter was moving the whole time, even the rewind knob. Turned out there was only 10 shots! The 11th shot was cut halfway... did I put the film in a bit tilted? I can see my first 5 shots were close to the sprockets. It's my 3rd roll in it btw. Thanks

 

[easyrider]

If the rewind knob was moving it should have been working. Curious that there were 10 shots. Maybe it disengaged? Any damage to the sprockets?

 

[jusxusfanatic]

Nope nothing. I'm sure the rewind knob was moving

 

[jusxusfanatic]

So maybe it's the developers fault?

 

[Robert Lai]

The cameras that came after the III have a little projection on their baseplate to keep the film cassette from sliding down. I see this on the baseplate of the IIIF and IIIG. With the older cameras, which were designed for the Leica film cassettes (reloadable), the modern film cassettes are a bit too small, and can drift down with use. It is possible that your film cassette may have drifted down sufficiently to get the film sprocket holes out of the film advance sprockets. In that case - no more film advance.

I've heard of people using a bit of spongy foam or some such device to keep the film cassette up.

 

[jusxusfanatic]

Oh, but my other 2 rolls were fine. Might put some foam under the film cassette. Thanks for your suggestion 🙂

 

[michaelwj]

Did you shoot 36 frames? Or did it jam after 10? Are the blank frames clear, or black (as in not exposed or over exposed)? Is the half shot a clear cut?
In any case, it's unlikely to be a development issue as that would effect the whole roll.

I think the most likely cause is a stuck shutter, as in the front and rear curtains are not coming apart, whether or not they're actually travelling across the frame. You can check this by taking the lens off and taking a shot with no film in it. Check all the speeds, starting with the slowest.

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

It's much simpler:

It's the M2.

Your previous Leica.

The one covered with snake skin.

It's the snake's curse.

[haha]

 

[jusxusfanatic]

Michael, it was perfectly fine. The negatives were clear

 

[jusxusfanatic]

Kinda pissed off right now. Oh well, I guess that's the fun part of shooting a barnack leica 🙂

 

[michaelwj]

Michael, it was perfectly fine. The negatives were clear

If they were clear then one of two things happened:
1. The shutter didn't open (it could be intermittent and might work fine now)
2. The film didn't wind on (are you sure the knob moved when you would the whole time)

If it was #2 then you would have ~25 superimposed frames on the last image, which might just look like an extreme overexposure. If the last exploded frame looks normal, then it's likely to be #1.

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

[…] The 11th shot was cut halfway... […]

If they were clear then one of two things happened:
1. The shutter didn't open (it could be intermittent and might work fine now)
[…] If the last exploded frame looks normal, then it's likely to be #1.

In other words, shutter tapering?

 

[jusxusfanatic]

Nope. It was all fine

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

Nope. It was all fine

What was fine?

 

[jusxusfanatic]

Everything. The rewind knob was turning while I was advancing the film

 

[nhchen]

Have you actually checked the shutter of your camera. Is it actually firing properly?
Nathan

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

Everything. The rewind knob was turning while I was advancing the film

🙄 Do you think that your monosyllabic answers are useful?

We need an exact anamnesis.

E.g.: How often did you change the shutter speed during that 3rd roll?

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Get a business card, draw some red lines on it with a marker (running parallel and at 45 degrees to the edge of the card).
Insert the card in the film slot and fire the shutter. You can see if the shutter opens (and doesn't cap) for speeds up to 1/200th. (The openings for 1/500th and 1/1000th are hard to spot).

 

[jusxusfanatic]

The shutter is firing properly.

 

[michaelwj]

The shutter is firing properly.

Then it's one of four things (once again)

1. The rewind knob only turned for 10 or so frames and then stopped but you didn't notice.
2. The shutter has an intermittent fault (or only at certain speeds)
3. You didn't reset the frame counter and just stopped shooting after 10 or so frames, thinking you were at the end of the roll.
4. If the last frame has lots of images (you say the last one is only half a frame, is the spacing still the same to the previous frame?) or the last half frame overlaps with the previous frame (i.e. no space) then the film slipped.

Most obvious (and easiest to fix) is 3, then 1, so best hope it's that.

But at this point, a picture of the last few frames would help - as in a shot of the film strip, so we can see the perforations and all.